MAX Burner

Awesome troubleshooting, @Tom and Doreen! Way to think through the issue and fix it! Definitely let OTT and Truma know about your issue...

Frankly, we enjoy having the extra 6 gallons of available water in our standard Atwood water heater. Been using either an Atwood or Suburban in our RV's since the early '90's - we know them and how to keep them working. With the fresh tank syphon tube mod and the Atwood we're toting north of 38 gallons usable... plus a 6 gallon tote in the TV.

Hey, hey, hey! It's a "cold one" - it counts! HA!

@Jps190: Here's an idea for you, brother... We made a Lagun table with Red Oak and fitted it with slots to fit onto the overhanging bed "wings" - its purpose was to be used as both a table and dog log rack. More space for the humans and the canines during slumber operations. I'm pointing to the slots here: The table top can be lowered onto the bed wings and pillows fill in the height gap between the table top and the mattresses. One or both of the Huskies fight for the cushy pillow addition... (Pls. ignore the dog logs in the pix below): Magnus won the fight: You wouldn't need to remove the night stand as the dimensions of the extended (port/stbd) sleeping area is approximately 52.5"W x 80"L. A standard queen is 60"W x 80", FYI. To make this design into a larger sleeping area work for you and save some $'s... All you'd need to do is 1. Make the table top 14" longer or 2. Use the existing Lagun table top dimensions and make a separate 14" section to fill the gap from the table top to the head of the bed. Then it's just a matter of getting a memory foam insert to match the height of your mattresses. The advantage to this system is its versatility - you can have the extra table space of the Lagun-style table plus the larger sleeping area with just a single additional component to your load-out. FYI: We store/strap our Lagun table top onto the inboard bulkhead in the closet - out of the way completely until we need it. Easy peasy. PM me if you need additional details - happy to help out. Cheers!

This is a great hack! We do the same here...

@Mike and Carol: What ever the culprit malady is - please keep us informed. I'm thinking it's related to either inner or outer bearing issues, which could lead to a spindle problem. But as mentioned, an IR temp gauge reading after a few dozen miles might show a higher heat level on the suspect hub. Good luck, Mike.

NEWSFLASH: They don't die...

We're all over the map on camp stoves... We're both pretty much "foodies" and love to cook. Volume and weight not being an issue we'd have our Weber grill, 22" BS, and the 10" Smithy dutch oven for full range of outdoor cooking options. Depending on the trip, we may take all 3 - this current trip, only the BS came along because I'm flying solo and I like the griddle for breakfast and dinner options. Here's a snap of last night's "BS Fest": Strip steak seared to med-rare, potatoes with rosemary and garlic.... What's not to like?

When your position is at the west-end of a given time zone, in this case only 25 miles east of PST, the sun comes up quite late in the AM. 0753, in fact: Nice having a room with a view (the not-so-Tactical OTT Operation Center): Cheers...

Well, let's see... The ultimate answer should be - "It depends". Why? The situation for us is fluid. Currently, the boys and I are solo in Quartzsite... Therefore, I get which ever "side" I want - port or starboard. Last night I chose the port side, head fore because we were watching a Netflix movie - Magnus did too. Oscar was banished to the starboard rack. When D is aboard - she opts for the port side and usually takes Oscar with her, he's smaller and gives her more room. Magnus and my 6'1" old bones get the STBD side and make due. What about morning coffee/shower time? Similar to @ScubaRx's comment, interestingly, after the coffee is made we switch from heads fore to aft... Why? Better view - especially when D climbs out of the shower... Cheers!

Just another sun rise at The Q... The 'yotes were singing all night! 41F here now and expecting "Wall-to-Wall" sunshine today... Cheers!

Some Sun setting pix from this evening at The Q... ...and if you look closely, you'll see where the locals placed their "Q" in Dome Rock: Cheers, All!

Where's Ollie? Well, this one's at Picacho Peak SP near Tucson enroute to "The Q" after breakfast this morning... Sunset last night: Sunrise this morning: The next sunset will be at Quartzsite later this PM... Cheers!

FYI: The Victron instructions for the unit recommend mounting as we did instead of flat - they also recommend at least an inch of clearance behind the cooling fins for obvious reasons. We used aluminum angle for the mount, easy peasy. Did the same for the Cerbo S GX unit which now resides under the forward hatch under the port-side rack. Yesterday from Elephant Butte SP, NM to Lordsburg, NM (about 160 miles) - the charger moved the departure SOC of 76% up to 100%, this was sooner than I had calculated. Heat build-up wasn't an issue as the IR temp gauge measured 105F on the cooling fins at an intermediate stop with engine running in park during bulk charge mode. Cool gear, Victron, IMO.

Concur 100%. That's why we did it ourselves - it took less than a half-day to configure the Tundra with wires, fuse, and Anderson plug/mount from engine compartment to hitch area. Took about the same time (maybe a bit less) for the OTT side of the equation. We used clam hull penetration hardware to introduce the cables into the area below the bathroom sink, underneath and in front of the head, under the forward dinette, to the aft dinette area where we mounted the DC/DC charger. Note: In bulk charge mode this particular charger kicks off some heat. We've been leaving the aft seat hatch off while towing to better circulate air around the cooling fins of the charger. There's a ton of YouTube videos of how some RV fabricators attach cooling fans. As described and photographed earlier, having two of these bad boys in close proximity will create some serious heat and auxiliary fans would definitely be helpful. As of this post, currently boondocking just south of Elephant Butte Lake SP waiting for the temps to rise above freezing before heading off to "The Q" - planning for a mid-afternoon arrival in the Sonoran Desert where its been above freezing temps for a few weeks now. FYI: OATs here last night dropped to 20F. Starting a 10pm last night with 96% SOC, ran the furnace and water heater all night and woke up at 5am to a 78% SOC. Not too bad.... I'm expecting to have 100% SOC by the time we hit Benson, AZ, with the DC/DC charger cranking +/-30A/14.4vDC into the BBs. Cheers!

Great mod, brother! Thanks for sharing this with the OTT family! BRAVO ZULU!

Concur 100%. After receiving "DC/DC Charger - 101" from @Geronimo John last summer, it was a "no-brainer". One nice key feature with the "smart" DC/DC Chargers is that there's an option to select an "engine-off" sensor. When selected, the charger senses that there's no alternator generating current and will secure itself thus not draining the TV starter battery when parked w/engine off. Not true when that 7-pin black 12AWG wire is connected. We've known of those who didn't disconnect the 7-pin after landing in a nice boondocking area and woke up the next morning to a dead TV battery.

@Geronimo John: FYI - after having serviced each of the 30# tanks 2 or 3 times since installing the "Halos" - keeping them in place is not an issue, a very tight fitment. My concern is getting them back into the cradle - it's almost a "press-fit", but once they're in and seated, they don't budge! Also, like @ScubaRx noted, they give a bit more recess for the Mopeaka sensors... Bottom line, the Halos should keep the steel cradle and bottom tank rings from rusting out and generally helps keep the compartment neat and tidy.

Definitely familiar with the Victron Dongle, but didn't realize it can extend the bluetooth signal reception. Will need to look into it - if only to get another 25 feet of coverage, we'd be able to monitor while towing. That would be nice. Real nice.

For our application, the Victron Cerbo unit receives the input from each of our other Victron devices (MPPT solar charger, portable solar modules, SmartShunt, DC-DC charger, 3kw Inverter/charger (TBD), etc.) and depicts the flow of AC and DC current at that moment. It tracks a historical trend of power usage. Displays are provided on the optional 7" touch-screen. It gives us a snapshot view using a "flow-chart" graphic of exactly what's happening electrically at a given moment. We fitted the touch-screen into the space where the Zamp PWM solar charge controller used to be, FYI. This screen selection is actually animated a bit. It displays moving "dots" between the power sources and the usage points in the direction the current is flowing. Pretty cool and easy to get your head around what's happening at the moment. Cheers!

Very clean mod - many thanks for posting!

It's 17F here this AM as I read @Ronbrink's FYI.... We're getting ready to head to "The Q" this Friday (where its warm) and we're planning to depart once the temps are above freezing - probably around noon! HA!

You'll definitely want to check which type of control board you've got in your current converter/charger. We had to buy (approx $65) a new control board for ours because it didn't have the "Li micro switch" - you won't hurt your Li's, but the max charge you'll see without the Li-capable board is about 13.6vDC. After installing the new board - we saw the full 14.4vDC which is indicative of the Li charging profile. No biggie to replace the board - less than 30 minutes; if you even need it as your C/C may have the optional micro switch for the Li charging profile.

...I used to be able to eat that much! Whew, that look DEEEELISH! HA!

Well deserved "Congrats", Jason! You'll have plenty of time to post those great pics of your wonderful new OTT after all those future excursions! Very nice rig - inside and out! Cheers!