John Welte
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Posts
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Posts posted by John Welte
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25 minutes ago, topgun2 said:
True - but -
Actually for both the Ollie and for my Tow vehicle, the spare tire is a real pita to check the tire pressure. The extra sensors allow for checking these two tires without the hassle of actually getting to the tire stem.
Bill
How often do you have to change out the batteries on your tpms? Our TST lasts a year according to the packaging directions.
I wrote to Matt today.
John
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45 minutes ago, topgun2 said:
Don't forget an extra 2 sensors - 1 for the Ollie spare tire and one for the tow vehicle spare tire!
Bill
Bill, I have the ViAir air compressor which I plan to have with me. Initially I thought to get a couple extra for the spare tires, but if I should ever need to put the spare tire on, I figured that I could air up those spares and swap out the Tpms on the new tire. I think the batteries in those sensors only last a year. Might want to get eight batteries.
John
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2 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:
I got the idea for both from other threads here. Parts came from Amazon:
Esssentials UW05004 Polar White... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009IGF42G?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
White Water Plastic 5-Slotted... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075H3V8HG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
SIBE-R Plastic Supply - Dark... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071KGRGPP?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Plus some weatherstripping from the hardware store.
Good looking job that you did! Thanks
John
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13 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:
We love the second awning. A lot of our trips this season were summer dry camping on the shore with little to no shade. I tried to park the trailer in a north-south orientation with the bathroom to the south. As the day progressed we'd shift awnings from the east side to the west side. This kept the main cabin as cool as possible and maximized our shaded outdoor seating (we moved the chairs from one side of the trailer to the other).
We didn't use the awnings very much in the rain. The window vent I made, along with the added gutter, allowed us to keep the dinette window open, even in heavy rain. That's been enough so far.
"We didn't use the awnings very much in the rain. The window vent I made, along with the added gutter, allowed us to keep the dinette window open, even in heavy rain. That's been enough so far."
Do you have pictures of both of those?
John
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20 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:
I went over 10 so I'll post a link instead. 25 photos at the bottom, Oliver delivery to the last trip: https://stephndudb.blogspot.com/2022/10/2022-12-end-of-season.html?m=1
We chose the second awning too. We picked up on November 7, so basically have only spent ten days in ours just around Hohenwald and the six days coming back to Oregon. Do you find that second awning useful? I think it will be good for being able to have cross ventilation even on rainy days.
John
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1 hour ago, Rivernerd said:
Good suggestion.
Oliver has already chosen to install Truma Varioheat furnaces in all 2023 models. I believe the improvement in cold-weather performance in trailers with that furnace are due to Truma's insistence on use of Truma's specified ducting and design, including the return air vent in the bathroom.
But, our experience camping with our Varioheat-equipped Oliver in single digit overnight temps above 5000 feet indicates that additional improvements, including more insulation in critical areas and additional furnace return air vents, could move the Oliver toward becoming a true "4-season trailer" even in more extreme climates. I believe Oliver does care about improving the quality of its products as the model years go by, and so would welcome the input. In my judgment, the Oliver is already superior to Airstream's offerings, or we would own an Airstream. Such improvements may not cost much more during production, and yet could push Oliver even further ahead of its competition.
I agree. We both camped in very cold temperatures coming back in November and the Truma furnace was able to keep me warm even at 5°
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On 12/2/2022 at 6:23 AM, GAP said:
I already had a Makita 18v drill with a couple of batteries. My wife plays tennis and was looking for a way to clear standing water off courts and we stumbled on a nice, lightweight Makita blower which is small and light enough to climb ladders with and operate one handed. I borrow it to blow leaves of roof of our E2. Works great.
I agree with Patriot above. Leaves left behind by long standing leaves, especially caught in channel behind the awning, are a real pain to remove.
I took our corded Toro leaf blower and it was very easy. Cordless would have been nice. I aimed the air parallel to the sides of vents and the a/c and I think I didn't blow any debris into the a/c. The unit sits on top of a roof of a trailer that goes at freeway speeds so I think they have thought about how to keep some things out. The key seems to be to just get them off before they decompose. Mine were fresh fallen leaves that came out easily.
John
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37 minutes ago, Mainiac said:
Hook up and take a ride. A short trip at about 60 mph should clean off any debris?
Not a bad idea. Not sure if you're kidding or serious.
John
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1 hour ago, Patriot said:
I would remove those leaves soonest. Some can leave discoloration or tea stains on your gelcoat that can require a lot of elbow grease to remove if left to long.
David 🇺🇸
David,
Quite right. At this stage they're just dry leaves that haven't decomposed. A leaf blower would be fast, but I'm not sure if blowing them off will get any leaf bits in the a/c.
John
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On 11/30/2022 at 12:56 PM, chiwald said:
Thanks everyone!! We have been to several local campgrounds in our area just to get things figured out. Boondocking question, we haven't done this yet, but are planning to boondock up to the Adirondack Mountains in January 2023. After we get there we will be in a campground but want to boondock to and from. We want to go play in the snow! 🙂 ❄️ Could anyone tell me what kind of drain on the lithium batteries the furnace would be while not using shore power? We weren't planning on buying a generator just yet. Thank you!!
Pic of our new tag!
CW
Hull #1261.
Both Rivernerd and I boondocked coming back to the Pacific Northwest. He is #1291. I am #1290. We both used 14-15 % of the Lithium pro batteries using the furnace fan and some lights in sub zero temperatures with a Truma furnace for one night. We were both traveling during the day and the solar panels brought us back to nearly 100% even with mid November sunny or cloudy days. We weren't traveling together as we had a few days between our delivery day. In January in the Adirondacks, it will be even less sun. It sounds like you will hook up while there. You may not have city water with freezing temperatures at night.
John
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9 hours ago, CnC said:
Well, I think Dolly said "you can't put 10 pounds in a 5 pound sack" or something like that 😶
Charlie.
Someone said maybe the gauge was wrong. I just paid, but wondered how they got 6.4 gallons in a 20# container!
John
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1 hour ago, Steph and Dud B said:
We never stored mattresses on their sides in previous trailers. What's the concern, that there will be condensation under the mattresses? Would there be enough temperature difference, or humidity, inside a trailer stored without heat in winter conditions to form condensation under the mattresses?
Good point, it seems that condensation would only occur with differences of temperature and humidity. If stored with no heat and closed up, I am not sure where the problem is. Do you run a dehumidifier when it's stored with no heat? I have the heat on with a small heater during the day if I will be outside. Mostly I am not inside and I haven't seen any condensation yet on walls or windows. It's about 40°
John
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I couldn't find a thread on this topic, but is there an easy, effective way to get leaves off the roof? I have the second awning also. I am hesitant to take a blower up the ladder where I might blow leaf bits into the MaxxFan or A/C. I have mostly vine maple leaves up there so they're small and haven't had time to decompose yet and make a big mess. Maybe a garden hose aimed very carefully with a nozzle? The trailer is out in the open and we plan to get the Calmark cover that OTT sells, but we don't have it yet. Thanks.
John
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On 11/12/2022 at 9:01 AM, Patriot said:
I disagree. In our experience storing our 11” thick memory foam mattresses on their edge standing alone when we are not using our Ollie. We have had absolutely zero issues with either of them not retaining their original shape.
Just an observation.
Patriot 🇺🇸
I suspect yours store well upright due to their thickness. Mine are maybe 7 inches thick and don't have the same mass as yours. Yours can support themselves on the sides where a thinner mattress can't. So many variables that it would seem that what works for some might not work for others. You must sleep great on those!
John
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35 minutes ago, ScubaRx said:
I'll bet this has been stated thousands of times through the years. Yet still, there are folks that pick up and leave the same day. When they have a problem down the road a bit they want to get on here and complain. This is GREAT advice and and should be heeded by all. There's really no good excuse not to stick around a few days and check everything out, just build the extra time into your pickup experience. I promise you won't regret it.
John, it's really good to hear you've been taken care of by Oliver and I believe you will never be disappointed "...that I chose Oliver over some other brand."
We picked up on Monday and left the area on Friday. I should have returned before leaving as I suspected that I smelled gas, but I thought maybe it's was just new furnace smells. My error actually in not returning. Lesson learned.
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28 minutes ago, CnC said:
Sounds like a pump calibration problem to me. Wonder when the state last check it (if ever?)
Charlie.
Charlie,
It was in Tennessee. Usually they take a screwdriver on the tank and turn off the gas when some escapes. They didn't do that there. I thought, maybe it's a new style tank.
John
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13 hours ago, Rivernerd said:
We boondocked one cold night in Oklahoma on our way home from Hohenwald a couple of weeks ago. We ran the furnace all night. By morning there were white flakes falling from the sky. The power drain on our 390 Ah Lithium Pro Package was about 15% (meaning the Lithionics app showed about 85% State of Charge on all 3 of our batteries that morning).
Even though the next day was mostly cloudy, our batteries were back close to 100% State of Charge by that evening just from solar recharge. Our trailer, like all Olivers with lithium batteries, is not recharged by the tow vehicle alternator.
While battery drain should not be an issue when running the furnace overnight for up to 4-5 nights, you should also keep tabs on your propane supply. We burned through about 1.6 gallons of propane every cold night. So, with the two stock 5-gallon propane tanks, you should be o.k. for those same 4-5 nights before getting your propane tanks refilled.
I had a similar draw on our Lithium batteries in Wyoming. It was 5-10°f at night and I went from 100% to 84% soc with the furnace going for 12 hours. Driving in mostly sunny Utah/southern Idaho the solar panels brought the batteries back up to 97% soc the next day. When I went to fill up the propane tank from that one night, they only were able to put 0.6 gallon in. I wanted to see how much I had used.Oddly enough, after a week in Tennessee they put 6.4 gallons in one 20# tank. It was empty, but how is that even possible? I thought they only held 4.6 gallons when full. I watched him zero out the gauge. Still scratching my head on that one. Can a tank be over filled?
John
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On 6/30/2021 at 12:21 PM, SeaDawg said:
It would surely look much better than my gallon of rv antifreeze that I use as a door stop....
I have a gallon of that. I can put a red bow on it and no one will know it's a gallon of rv antifreeze.
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Hi y'all. Some of you know that I picked up #1290 on 11/7 and have now arrived back in Oregon where I discovered a gas leak from the flange nut on the Truma furnace. After weighing all the possibilities for a remedy, even considering just tightening the nut, I wrote Rodney Lomax who then talked to Jason Essary who contacted me and said he was now taking control of the gas leak ticket. Initially I was told by the service department it wasn't a warranty issue and I thought that was odd. That's why at the suggestion of a couple forum members, I wrote to see if they would pay for this repair. Jason assured me that they take gas leaks seriously and yes, OTT would make sure that a technician would fix the leak and test the propane system thoroughly. I made an appointment in Oregon which is two months out, but that's OK since we aren't going anywhere.
Key points. 1, make sure you test everything out. Stay nearby, ideally at the OTT campground. 2, if something isn't quite right, let them know so it's fixed before leaving Hohenwald. 3, this company makes a good product and does everything they can to be transparent and will work with you to fix a problem. At this point I am still happy that I chose Oliver over some other brand.
John
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4 minutes ago, Bill and Nancy said:
I thought it was kind of expensive from OTT and there are a lot on the market for less than 1/2. I didn't think it would be necessary but after getting off the wrong exit on the way home and ended up in the Bronx NY I wish I had one. By the way I crossed the George Washington bridge and the toll was $72.00 Yup you read it right $72.00 There is a guy and wife on youtube called fit RV and he does a ton of modifications to his camper. I know that he installed a back up camera basically to replace his rear view mirror. I will have to watch it again to see what he used.
Bill
Bill,
That's the beauty of these campers. They're built like a sailboat. Next time you have to cross a river just float it across the water and rehook. Our son lives in Australia so I need to outfit it with a propeller and take my time crossing the ocean.
I dread going through a city. On the way back to Oregon I avoided the cities by going around them. That must have been a white knuckle experience for you.
I might add a better back up camera if it's like a rear view mirror. Between the regular dash, the tire pressure monitoring system and the back up camera monitor it's beginning to look like a Boeing 777. 🛩️
John
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18 minutes ago, Bill and Nancy said:
John we have a GMC Diesel Canyon it was very easy to tow no problem at all. Altho I do find the mirrors a little small especially vertical, its hard to see the curb and side of the trailer at the same time I constantly re adjust them while backing up. I was wondering what back up camera do you have is it the one offered by Oliver?
Thanks Bill
Bill, yes, it's the Furrion camera. I went with that as OTT installs it. I don't know if it's the best on the market, but it works ok. At night the camera picks up glare from the three red lights at the base of the red Oliver sign making it hard to see. I don't know if there's a camera system that replicates the rear view mirror quality of vision. For my purposes, the camera works ok.
John
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57 minutes ago, Dave and Kimberly said:
That looks like Foy's table top. What size did you get? How is it working out?
John
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1 hour ago, MickeyMouseCamper said:
Thanks everyone for the pictures-helping with my perspective!
Kate
I am 6'2", 200 pounds and it feels spacious to me. Plenty of headroom and the bed doesn't feel cramped in the twin bed model. It looks small from the outside, but not inside. My standard mirrors on my 2017 Ford Expedition allows me to see the traffic as the trailer is the same width. I bought the back up camera for the trailer and that can be left on to see behind you while driving. It's more like a wide angle view, so don't expect the same view as you might have with your rear view mirror. After driving 2500 miles back home, I mostly just used my Ford side mirrors, but would check if anything was directly in back of me with the trailer camera. No pictures of the inside showing people which was your forum post request, but just my observation after a long trip back.
John
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4 hours ago, Mike and Carol said:
Even some of those that have a vent in the bath get really cold with the door left open, especially when using an electric space heater. Our bathroom door is open almost all the time, unless it’s being used. Mike
How do you keep it open? Mine has a 1/2 inch square clear soft bumper at the bottom.
John
2022 in 10 pix or less
in General Discussion
Posted
Great pictures! Same to you also. John