MAX Burner

@Sully: How's the Q7 behaving? We're interested in them as another TV.

Great mod, thanks for sharing!

Looks very interesting! We've towed through snowy/sleety conditions with our SOBs (but not Casablanca), how would you think the Bow Buddy would handle snow and rime ice build-up? Just curious...

FYI: We also have filtered and softened well water at home which we use to top off the sanitized fresh water tank before our trips. However, like @Wolfepack, we use a Berkey Travel filter on the road and a Berkey Royal at home. We've never had an issue with the Berkey - using it to filter the well water from our OTT tank. The Berkey travels in a case beneath the forward dinette seat and on the night stand when not towing. Its really nice to just lean over and fill your glass from it when thirsty at night... OK, spoiling the wife - totally worth it! Cheers! A & D

HA! No worries! Just hope it helps them out - there's quite some hesitation by many to drill into the fiberglass and gelcoat. Totally get that - but with correct procedures and thoughtfulness, it's usually a DIY procedure, IMO...

@MobileJoy: Hear, hear! Well said, amigo!

We replace our Ventline bath fan with the Maxxair/LED model as described above. Expecting that the holes weren't going to line up (because of the two different manufacturers) either with the exterior assembly or the interior trim piece, we prepared ourselves to fill the existing holes and make new ones in the gelcoat to make this install happen. It wasn't a big deal drilling into the gelcoat and fiberglass material beneath - we applied blue painter's tape, marked/spring-punched the hole locations, and used the proper bit to drill them. FYI: We definitely used modern gray-colored butyl tape between the exterior pieces and the hull, just as @SeaDawgdescribes. It's a very straight forward mod and gives you a nice additional LED in the head which D really loves a lot... HWHL! Above pic with vent closed/light on. ...vent open/light on. Exterior view of the vent and vent guard. @Steve and Cindy: If you've got any specific questions, you can PM us anytime and we'll try to answer any questions you may have. In any case, good luck with your mod! Best regards, A & D

@Steve Morris, @John E Davies: As mentioned in previous thread, same subject - we were not pleased with the jostling around back in the back with the bike rack loaded with two 30#+ bikes. OK... So here's what we did yesterday for a possible solution of reducing the slop in the 1UP/OTT "bike carry" system... After our previous 350-mile trip a couple weekends ago, it was clear that there needed to be some sort of "high" and "low" tie-down hard points from the bikes to the OTT frame in order to reduce the movement of the entire rack/bike arrangement when encountering rough pavement while towing. We applied two 300# rated tie-down straps port/stbd linking both bike's top tubes (triple-wrapped) to the end of the factory OTT accessory hitch, and 2 more straps linking the bottom of the wheels/rails together with the same hard-point at the hitch: Now, there's virtually no observable movement between the bikes themselves and the back of Casablanca while towing. Drawing the straps "snug" (not too tight) to the hard-points has replicated the same rock-solid mount of the 1UP rack when its on the Tundra alone (without straps on the truck). No S**t, this hasty solution may not look pleasing to the eye, but it considerably reduced the jostling (up/down and side/side) movement of the system when towing. The lower straps are triple-wrapped between wheels/rails adding more connectivity and safety as @John E Davies described earlier. We traveled 247 miles with this configuration yesterday, mostly interstate, stopped a couple times to inspect system integrity along the way - no issues. Also, as we described in a previous thread - on our rig, was a noticeable "up/down" slop in the factory installed optional 2" hitch assembly. If you look closely at the last pic, you'll notice where we slid in a wedge of Delrin between the male/female receiver connection near the two through pins. This wedge eliminated any up/down movement - it will be replaced with a lock-nutted 1/2" bolt tapped into where the black "X" is on the female receiver end after we get back (ran out of time before we departed to do this). Again, the tie-downs aren't pretty, but they sure do the job! Good luck, @Steve Morris- looking forward to learning about how you'll solve this issue on your rig, because our's is configured slightly differently. Cheers! A & D

Concur... 100%. I'm thinking the size of hail stone that causes damage to an Ollie is the key issue - just gut feel..., but its probably going to be a fairly large one to damage the OTT hull; larger than the marble-size that took out our friend's 2022 AS.

FYI: Our previous TV was a 2015 3500 Tradesman/Cummins and sold it last year for $4k more than we paid new after 155k miles! Great TV!

@ScubaRx: HA! We must have been responding to this thread simultaneously!

@SYoung: First off... WELCOME! You'll find an amazing amount of information on this forum to help guide you through your Oliver experience. Just some quick thoughts: 1. Depending on construction of your barns, to eliminate either standing or flowing water in the vicinity of the Ollie, it could be a good thing to cover the dirt with landscaping cloth and a few inches of gravel. This would allow better drainage and entry into the trailer without bringing in muddy feet. 2. A key consideration is keeping it covered and out of the sun to slow down the oxidation of the gelcoat - there are quite a few "chalky" OTT out there because of prolonged sun exposure. 3. It would be advisable to have at least a 20amp circuit available inside the barn for keeping batteries conditioned, and a potable water bib to allow for filling fresh water tank. 4. More "nice to have" items would be plenty of storage for RV-related accessories, a workbench, and septic tank access for flushing out gray/black water tanks. Hope this helps. Good luck with your purchase! Cheers!

Concur. I'm confused, how could there be damage to all categories listed and Zero cost?

@dmay56: Hello! Welcome to the OTT forums! After having read the above sage advice - there's really not a lot to add. Other than if you decide to "drop the hammer" and buy an Ollie, that the Oliver Family represented by these forums will certainly have the answer to any question or challenge you may have that pops up. There must be literally thousands of years of OTT experience on this platform from which you can exchange/obtain relevant information. People here are knowledgeable, friendly, kind, and always more than willing to help out another member of the OTT Family solve their issue. As said earlier, "there's a lot to learn" but don't let that deter or delay your decision to get an Oliver because you will learn what you need - largely from this website. Congrats on your upcoming retirement, have fun learning about RVing in general and Ollies in particular! Cheers!

"RIVIAN", peculiar name, right? Kinda sounds very J.R.R. Tolkien "Hobbit-y"....

@topgun2: It sure is, Bill! @Wandering Sagebrush: Are your white back-up lights visible from under the box? It's hard to see from that angle... Can you carry bikes up top? Pretty cool set-up.

@SeaDawg: Exactly right on. FYI/Clarification: The poll was intended to find out about how an OTT behaves when pelted by various sizes of hail. The idea came to mind after our friend's 1-yr old AS was totaled last month on their way through CO to the international AS rally there. The original version of the poll had a Y/N question regarding whether or not one experienced a hail storm while towing - feedback indicated this was unnecessary, so it was removed. @ScubaRx: Not the intent - that could be the subject of a different poll. Not being professional pollsters here, this was our first attempt designing a poll on this Forum, which was actually suggested we do by another member on a previous thread. Hopefully, as more members respond, the Poll will reveal how well OTTs survive after taking hits that may total SOB travel trailers. As for future polls, we'll apply lessons learned from this one and improve it next time around... Bottom line, the Forum is all about healthy/intertaining information exchange and more importantly, having fun, right? Cheers! A & D

@rangered: Awesome report Alan! Thanks for sharing it with great pix, too. How much do you think you might get for the Penguin II? Just curious...

The glides are soft-close style with a detent in the retracted position, just like the Oliver kitchen drawers... We ordered the slides yesterday, they arrived here this morning, it's an easy/quick DIY mod for less than $12: Cheers!

Several very slight chips/dings from debris impact.

PLEASE! Do not do that, JD.... See you at the eclipse!

I got this idea from a social media posting, but here's a quick mod that makes the "secret compartment" below the Pantry easier to access: 1. Pulled off VELCRO from cabinet. 2. Installed a couple 8" drawer slides from Amazon: 3. Replaced the VELCRO onto the drawer slides: 4. One and done, can't even tell the difference; except for the convenience factor - time for a cold one. Cheers! A & D

@Patriot: Looks great, brother. I just spoke with a local XPEL installer - he said the same about the small rock dings - we've got several. The gelcoat repair on those dings isn't a show-stopper - but you're correct, installing 10mil XPEL isn't a cheap date. He quoted $2,100 after the dings are fixed - is that in the ballpark?

Just imagine how loud it would have been inside from the hail impacting the Ollie!

Hey, @Patriot; When able, could you post a close-up of the EXPEL, preferably in the area of its edge termination with the gelcoat? Just curious... TKX! MAX