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Overland

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Everything posted by Overland

  1. Lucky you, lol. I feel like I've downgraded every time I go from the trailer to the house. I tell my wife that the trailer is much more expensive per square foot than the house, so it deserves better fixtures. I'm not sure she buys the argument, but she does like the end result.
  2. This particular version of the faucet is probably the least likely to work with the existing sink, though it might. The only reason I say that is just because of the size. It does send the water straight down instead of angled to the front so that alone might make it work with the original sink. Also, Grohe doesn't have nearly as aggressive of an aerator so the water comes out in a more gentle stream. They make another version that's the same height, but the spout turns down and the sprayer is smaller and pulls down instead of out. And they also make a smaller version that's about half the height and I think a little shallower and that one might be the better choice. We actually debated on getting the smaller one, and it would have been fine, but the larger one was on sale at the time.
  3. I think they'll look great on the road. The question is whether they're priced out of the market they're aiming at, at least for Airstream level sales. Most of the young but wealthy enough crowd that I've met have gravitated toward Sprinter vans, which are only slightly more expensive if you factor in a tow vehicle. Anyone older is going to be wary enough to spot the deficiencies. I mean, this seems like a great trailer for nice sunny spring days and smooth roads. That will sell to people who don't think past the pretty pictures in the brochure. What makes the Oliver a lifetime trailer is how it performs when it's cold and rainy and the roads are rough.
  4. That’s the upper vent for the isotherm fridge. The lower one is the same but on the opposite side near the floor.
  5. This, I like - I never cared much for Oliver's sink and faucet choices and I'd actually planned to supply them a sink and faucet to get installed on the line. Unfortunately the one I wanted wouldn't work and I was having trouble getting the proper dimensions from Oliver, so I just let it go and figured I'd replace it later. Well, that was a good idea until I realized that the cutout Oliver made for the sink was way too big for any of the bar sized sinks that I could find. And all of the full sized kitchen sinks were too big to fit. But finally I stumbled across this oversized bar sink from Franke. It's the 17" Franke Vector. Overall, it's the same width as the existing sink, but the lip is narrower, so the bowl itself is a bit wider. Mainly the sink is much longer and deeper. In overall volume, it's over twice as large as the original sink, but takes up no more counter space. Can't beat that. And because it's farther forward and 3" deeper, it doesn't splash all over the place like the original. In fact, I can even turn the faucet up all the way without it splashing over the front of the sink, which is novel. I like the Franke sinks in that they have the straight sides and look of a modern zero radius sink, but they do add a slight radius to the corners so that you can actually keep them clean. Installation wasn't too hard. I'd rate it 7/10. The difficulty was that I had to modify the base cabinet for it to fit. There's a wood brace running across the top front that is screwed to the fiberglass beneath the drawer trim, which had to be cut out, and also a portion of the left side of the cabinet. That sounds like a lot of structural support to remove, but the cabinets are mainly tied in at the bottom and I ran it past Jason beforehand to make sure I wasn't looking at it wrong. I have to say that the cabinets are stoutly built, and I'm not at all worried about it. The second problem I ran into was that my countertop wasn't perfectly flat. It bowed down in the middle slightly which wasn't apparent until I installed the sink. But I was able to temporarily shim the counter against the top of the cabinet while the silicone seal dried and then I glued PVC blocks around the perimeter of the sink to both hold it in place and to level the counter. The Franke sinks have an odd installation clip that wasn't designed with hollow core fiberglass in mind, so the blocks were necessary anyway. It's not going anywhere now. Of course I lost use of the flip out drawer but I hated that thing anyway. I glued a few ½" blocks to the front of the sink and then fixed the drawer front to the blocks with heavy duty velcro, just in case I ever need to remove it for some reason. The sink depth worked out perfectly with the existing cutout on the back of the middle drawer to clear the drain. I thought I was going to have to get a Hepvo trap to make it all clear but Oliver actually places the trap behind the cabinet, so no problem. I did have to get the narrowest profile elbow I could find to attach to the drain basket, so I had to go with cheap plastic rather than PVC, but such is life. At the end of the day, however, I decided to use a different drain basket that was a bit deeper, so I had to make the drawer cutout about a half inch deeper after all. The faucet is a Grohe that I found on sale at Home Depot for about half price, so that was a nice find. It has a really nice feel to it and unlike the sink, was a cinch to install. Grohe has a trick installation method that allows you to work from above so that one person can do it without crawling under the counter a hundred times. Oliver's hot and cold lines are convenient to get to and there's an access panel in the back of the cabinet that can be removed if you need more room to work. The only issue I ran into was that the counterweight for the sprayer was getting caught up on everything that's packed in the back of the cabinet. To fix it, I made a tube from some flexible plastic sheeting that I had lying around and just slid that over the sprayer hose. Now the hose slides easily inside the tube and as a benefit, the weight won't bang around inside the cabinet while traveling. So that's about it. I've learned that I don't have the patience or foresight to take progress pictures Like John does, so my description will have to do. But I'm happy to answer any questions.
  6. Thought I'd update this thread. The trailer, as of last week, is I think officially finished, at least from Oliver's standpoint. Oliver took it back after our Holiday trip to finish a few things they hadn't gotten to before our October deadline and trip, and to tweak several things that weren't quite right- mainly the brakes which were pretty flaky. Turned out they weren't grounded properly. Anyway, I told them to keep the trailer for as long as they wanted, and they did, but it all seems to have come together and we're pretty happy campers. Anyway, she's in the driveway now and I've spent all my spare time over the past week cutting random holes in the fiberglass. Hopefully, I'll get those logos finished up this weekend and get them cut next week. I came up with a side decal that I'm happy with but I need to get it finished. My project this past weekend was to replace the sink and faucet. I'll put up a thread and a pic. I'm super happy with it. I also had time a few days ago to mount a lamp on the nightstand. I just need to wire it up and mount a small switch to the nightstand as well. And finally I ordered a Lagun table mount and folding tabletop today so that will be an upcoming project. And I've got a pressure tank for the water system sitting here that needs to be installed also. Busy couple of weeks ahead.
  7. I think it's odd that they prioritized skylights over solar. Looks like their only option is a portable panel. I like the low profile AC unit. That must be new since the standard Dometic is what's shown in their brochure. The wrap around window will be a big selling point. I like the tilt out windows as well, Both of those really help give it a sleek look. The two-tone exterior I like also. The interior is nice. I think I prefer the small Ollie's floor plan, but the finishes look nice. In general, I think Airstream does a much better job of making their interiors feel homey. Oliver would be well served to get someone from the automotive custom interiors world involved in creating a better interior package for them. Things like the padded headliner and wall panels would help the Ollie a ton, imo. Would deaden the interior sound a good bit too. I've thought about making some sort of acoustic panels for ours, but I have no skills in that area and many more items further up the list. The back door I understand from a space planning standpoint, but I don't see any provision for an awning over it and that sort of ruins that. I like that they eliminated the sink from the bath. We never use ours. The kitchen sink is too handy and the bathroom one too small. I like their shower sprayer. The small Ollie would work better for us, though I do like the look. But I wouldn't buy one until they eliminate those parentheses from their name, anyway. I have standards.
  8. I don't remember the 4G-X RV when I was doing research a year ago, so it may be a new product. Regardless, it looks like the primary difference is better antennas, both inside and out, so it may be possible to upgrade yours by swapping out the antennas. At one point, I was planning on the 4G-X and I was going to make an extendable mast for the antenna. But then Cobra got me interested in the Cradlepoint router and the budget went there instead. We've been largely pleased with that decision, though I don't know if adding a cell booster might be a beneficial upgrade sometime down the road.
  9. Oliver caulks all of the accessories in addition to screwing them to the fiberglass. Judging from the feel of it, I assume they use the same 3M marine sealant they use everywhere else. That stuff is incredibly strong - enough so that I think the screws are mostly to hold the pieces in place while it dries. So I doubt if any of the mounting plates are loose, though it's worth checking of course. If they don't snap in place, it's probably poor manufacturing tolerances and some pieces just fit too loosely.
  10. Yours may have an older mount. If it's metal, then it is. The ones in our trailer had plastic mounts. Ours held fine, but looking at the hardware, I can't tell why it would. It's basically a compression fit and theres a single plastic tab that is supposed to lock them in, but it wasn't engaged on probably half the ones I removed. But the fit was tight enough that none of them moved. Maybe over time they would, and certainly if one is loose from the get go it isn't going to get any tighter. The odd thing is that they have these metal hooks on both sides that as far as I can tell don't do anything. We replaced all of ours just for the looks. We thought what Oliver supplied was fine, but a bit too froufrou for our tastes. We found some art deco hooks and modern towel bars at House of Antique Hardware, and I think they go much better with the trailer.
  11. This is what was in ours - Moen Brantford
  12. I'll have to do that. John, if you're adding extra ports, you might think about placing one in the hidden compartment. Oliver added one for us and it's great for charging iPads, laptop, etc. while stored out of sight.
  13. Higher wattage would be nice, but also one without that annoying little green light, especially right by the bed.
  14. Thanks for the tip - those look like ideal spots.
  15. The license plate thing is definitely the weird part, given that he hasn't denied it. Like you said, who carries a fake license plate around unless you're planning to do something wrong??? So I do appreciate his apology, but I also have to wonder if he's not just well practiced at giving them.
  16. Yeah, I'm cleaning out the pink stuff this weekend, and that's the last I'll ever use it. What a pain. I'm doing the compressed air method from now on. Another tip, which is probably obvious - if you do a 'shock' of your fresh water tank, don't use the tank drain but run that water through the faucets into the gray tank and let it sit there for a bit to keep that funk down to a minimum.
  17. We do the same thing with the fridge and bath door swings to fine tune our leveling. Beats using a level.
  18. I'm not sure how that lessens what he did. He's a grown man, teaching his kids that they're privileged enough to get away with defacing public monuments. Well, if someone had been planning a lynch mob, I think that should be called off. Otherwise, people who are paid to represent a company are paid to answer questions about their company's, and by extension, their CEO's, ethics. Particularly if it's a tightly held 'family' company, I'd be interested to know how they plan to react. And if people think it's wrong to place Oliver in the uncomfortable position of having those kinds of questions asked at their rally, I'd say that as a promotor of their products, Oliver should be the one asking the questions. So yes, it's easy for me to say I wouldn't have their hitch on my truck because I'd already made that decision since I don't think it's a very good hitch. But you'll have to allow me a certain amount of smugness for a moment about my decision. BTW, I'm not someone who investigates every company I buy from, but I do try to make ethical buying choices when I can. Which makes me ask the question, what would I say if it were an Oliver in this situation? Honestly, I don't know. I wouldn't be happy about it, that's for sure.
  19. They don't seem big enough to hold 14oz even if they were hollow.
  20. That's pretty cool. Do you crawl into the tunnel to access your extra storage?
  21. Thanks. I did a bit of research and here's what I found. The main difference between the two is that the Daulton ceramic filter advertises an 'absolute' micron size of 0.9, while the Pentek F1pb advertises a 'nominal' micron size of 0.5. If you dive deeper into Daulton's website, you find that their filters also have a 'nominal' size of 0.5, same as the F1pb, but since they also have an absolute rating of 0.9, you have the added assurance that the material is more consistent and you won't get a filter that has holes larger than that amount. Pentek doesn't advertise an absolute rating, so you have to assume there's a reason for that. They're a little more vague on their certifications as well. The drawbacks are slower flow rate and shorter lifespan. And if you want lead reduction, be sure to get the Ultracarb model. I think RV Waterfilter store is confused on the bacteria thing though - Daulton advertise their filters as antibacterial, but what they mean by that is that the filters are silver impregnated so that bacteria won't grow inside them. The filtration isn't increased by that though - just looks like something that's necessary for ceramic filters. So there you go. I do think the ceramic filter is better as an alternative to the F1pb, though the F1pb is highly rated and has a much faster flow rate. I'd guess that either is fine in most situations but if you want the best filtration, go with the ceramic.
  22. Did they say why they recommended the ceramic filter? The F1 filter is 0.5 microns, while the ceramic one is 0.9, so you'd think it would only help as a pre-filter for the F1. But it's really not that much smaller than the SED1 prefilter, which is 1.0 micron. We've taken the same route as a few other Oliver owners, which is to carry bottled water for drinking and cooking and just use the onboard water for showers, etc. That may change if I get an under sink carbon filter, but for now the taste of the water out of the fresh tank leaves a lot to be desired, unless you love the taste of plastic.
  23. I think your Ollie would make for a very nice hut.
  24. That really burns me. If I had one of his s*** hitches on my truck I'd rip it off. Maybe it's time Oliver found a better solution.
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