Overland

I stand corrected then. I didn't actually receive a pressure regulator when I picked up my trailer and was told that the one supplied was a simple restrictive flow regulator. I blame the internet. That aside, I still don't think this was a water pressure issue. I think it's a check valve is located where it can easily freeze issue. Matt's post completely distracted me from work (doesn't take much) - so poking around, I ran across this comparison test of RV pressure regulators. Interestingly, they found the Watts to have the worst flow rate, which of course is the opposite of what most people will tell you. They found the Valterra High Flow Stainless regulator to have the highest flow rate, but the only two they didn't like was the Watts and a cheap plastic model. Honestly, I've never considered the flow rate of the regulators to be much of a concern, other than a general 'more is better' attitude. I've assumed that the faucets and shower heads are more restrictive than the regulators, so in real use, it wouldn't matter. However, in our experience the onboard pump definitely produces a better flow than our city water connection, so perhaps the regulator is the culprit.

You might look through the Expedition Portal forum for advice. Though the fact that discussions on Mexico are in both their North and South American forums might make you doubt their members' expertice. I'd love if you'd post the fruits of your research here. Mexico is high on my someday list.

As Bill pointed out earlier, we've had several discussions on the use of jacks to lift the trailer. Oliver's guideline is that they should be used as stabilizers only, and so anyone who uses the jacks differently will of course assume whatever risk of damage or injury goes along with doing so. My personal opinion is that taking some weight off the wheels without lifting them off the ground is probably within that guideline, since that's essentially no different than stabilizing the trailer. You can argue just how much weight you can take off the tires, but Oliver doesn't really address that, so for me I guess the dividing line, at least where the official guidelines are concerned, is when a tire lifts or you can begin to spin a tire freely. I'd be interested to hear other opinions on that. Once you get to the point of getting tires off the ground, then you're clearly outside of Oliver's guidelines, and that's a different discussion altogether.

Ours are firm but we ordered a different spec from what they normally make since we were trying to make them shallower. I think they just left off the memory foam layer. They still did the pillow top and we find them very comfortable even though we’re used to softer mattresses. In fact they’re so comfortable that we’re wondering if we shouldn’t switch at home. I’d have to check my records to see exactly what we asked them to do but I’m happy to look if you like. However - despite having them made thinner we still found them to be too deep to use as seating. So we’re having some 4” foam +1” memory foam upholstered cushions made as a replacement. That’s what we had originally planned to do and shouldn’t have second guessed ourselves. The cushions should work better with our Lagun table, plus we just use sleeping bags anyway so the mattresses aren’t necessary. If anyone wants some nice mattresses and don’t care if they aren’t perfectly new, send me a pm.

I’m interested in this as well. I have Gaia GPS and Garmin for offroad stuff, but I’ve been looking for a simpler program to just plot routes for general vacation planning. I’m thinking about downloading Road Trip Planner to try - http://roadtripplanner.modesittsoftware.com . It’s Mac only, but if that works for you, it will export to GPS as well as Apple Maps and their own iPhone viewer. It’s from the same developer who makes the Ultimate Campgound maps that John Davies recently posted about. We usually use Apple Maps via Car Play in our truck and prefer it over Ford’s GPS even though it requires a cell signal. But it looks like Road Trip Planner might work offline as well.

Could definitely be the case, if you remember this thread. For what it's worth, they don't seem to be getting any worse, though we've only put maybe 1,500 miles additional on them since then. But again, I've no idea if that damage was from my first 5,000 miles with the pressures at 70, or the second, with them at 45 - or if it's not related to pressures at all.

I don't know what most people use, but here are two resources for you: the first is Michelin's inflation tables for their LT tires, which unfortunately no longer shows the older model tires that many of us have. John Davies, however, preserved the info for older tires in this post. I ran across some early discussion on tire pressures here, and that shows the thinking on why our tires come from the factory at their maximum inflation pressure. Keeping your tires at the maximum rated pressure seems really odd to me, but apparently it's a fairly widespread practice so I guess it's up to each owner to decide for themselves which way to go. Keep in mind that's an older thread talking exclusively about the Elite I.

I guess the first thing to say is that I don't think vibration is any more of an issue for Olivers than it is for any other trailer. In fact, our trailers are probably considerably less prone to vibration damage thanks to the solidness of the construction and a far better than average suspension. That said, it's inevitable that if something breaks on a moving vehicle, vibration will at the very least have been a factor in the failure; and so that's why it's mentioned here so often. I think we should count ourselves lucky that we can place vibration high on our list of issues, vs leaks, rot, instability, etc. One of the primary reasons my wife and I chose Oliver is because of the inner hull and that fact that most of the 'furnishings' of the trailer are integral to the structure. I've read too many stories of other trailer *cough*airstream*cough* owners arriving at their campsites to find that their trailers' interiors had disassembled themselves along the way. Like John said, the most effective means you have of controlling vibration is through tire pressure (I set mine at 45, vs the 70+ they were set to at the factory). I honestly don't know if wheel balance is an issue or not. Couldn't hurt to rebalance them - how about that? For more adventurous travelers, there are suspension add-ons from Lippert and Mor-Ryde that should significantly help, though I don't know of anyone who's gone that far. Yet. Apart from those things, you can do what I do, which is whenever I'm working on anything in the trailer I try to take a moment to see if there's anything adjacent to what I'm working on that can be secured more solidly. As to whether Oliver could improve with respect to vibration - of course they could, and it's input from us that would drive them to do so. But saying they can improve is different than saying it's an issue. You'll find that many of us on the forum are relentless about stuff like that. We're the sort that the moment we improve something, we're thinking of how to improve upon that, and we tend to apply those standards to Oliver.

I thought that was strange too. Sometimes GFI can fail in the closed position so perhaps that happened and then for some reason later it flipped open. I’d get the best quality outlet you can find, since it needs to withstand vibration. And maybe a spare for peace of mind. In case you don’t have experience doing it before, here’s a great video on hooking up a GFI outlet correctly -

The GFI on the dinette outlet protects the whole circuit. All the other outlets are connected as if they were plugged in to it. So if there’s a fault at any of the 120 outlets, the dinette GFI will pop, and likewise if it does blow then all your other outlets go dead. Both the fridge and AC are on separate circuits. I’m inclined to agree with what Landrover said, since it popped when you tried using it. But then it could also be an actual fault somewhere else, so I might first try unplugging anything that’s currently connected, including the microwave, and then seeing if the GFI will reset. If it does then you know it’s something more serious. If you’re comfortable with electrical repairs (and desperate to use the 120), then it’s possible to quickly rewire the other outlets so they will work, but doing so would eliminate any protection so it’s not something I’d recommend. Better to replace the outlet when you have a chance. A spare GFI outlet wouldn’t be a bad thing to add to the list of spare parts to carry.

I don’t really know where the pressure regulator conversation came from other than the op had his set very low. If he has a leak, excessive pressure is an unlikely cause. More likely a bad installation or freezing. The comment above is correct however that what Oliver supplies isn’t actually a pressure regulator. It may help with hammering but not prolonged high pressure. Though I really don’t know how much it matters. I have a nice pricy stainless regulator and use it, but only to protect against back pressure on the pump (and also because I have a weak pressure valve on my water heater that I need to replace). If the system is properly put together you’d probably need a pressure spike of over 500psi to pop a fitting. Even then probably only to the press fit fittings, which, disregarding the mess, you could just slide back on. The other stuff I’d bet would take prolonged pressure of 750psi plus, which is what it would take to actually burst a pipe. PEX and crimped fittings are tough, and resilient to transient pressure spikes. The real enemies of your plumbing are freezing temps and vibration.

It's probably explained by there being 900 spots and 9,000 people wanting them, if not 90,000. Trying to get any kind of reservation in the path of the eclipse was next to impossible. Hotels were booking up a year in advance. We went up for the day and there were people lining the highway everywhere to see it. It was a big event.

And does what with them exactly? Is there a black market for campsites that I'm unaware of?

Now you guys have me thinking that's a weak spot in the design. I'm wondering if moving the check valve further downstream wouldn't be wise.

The city water connection goes straight to the taps - for water to get from there to the fresh tank, it has to force its way backwards through the pump. That's what Mike's talking about above. There's a check valve on the pump that can leak, letting city water go past and into the fresh tank. If that happens with a full fresh tank, then water will come out of the overflow by the door. You should probably clarify where the water is coming out. You said the overflows by the city water inlet. The only overflow is from the fresh tank and is located just rear of the front door. It has a white mushroom fitting on it. All of the stainless clamshell openings are weeps to let condensation out. I'm assuming that you mean the latter. I'd hook back up and look again for the leak. Sometimes things look tight but aren't. But I suspect that if you don't see the leak at an elbow in the rearmost corner, then you'll have to pull the basement floor. That is, logically, the only other places for a 'city water only' leak would be the connection to the inlet or the check valve in line behind it. Actually, come to think of it, I think everything beyond the check valve, which includes that elbow above, is pressurized by the pump when drawing from the fresh tank. So the leak has got to be either at the inlet or the check valve.

It's your first trip, too. Oliver would have done a pressure test before they delivered it to you, but a weak connection might have needed a little bumping around before it decided to reveal itself. I broke a water line on our first trip, too, after hitting some big bumps on a Navaho road. There was a connection that was being stressed because the water line it was attached to wasn't fastened securely. No problem since. I recommend that everyone carry a roll of self-fusing silicone tape. That stuff is great for temporary water line repairs.

That's right, the rear outside storage is typically referred to as the basement around here (the compartment above the nightstand is the attic). There's no hatch under the matt, but if you remove it or pull it back you'll see a cutout in the floor that exposes some plumbing at the rear corner. With some work, and a screwdriver, you can also remove the floor from the basement to get full access to all the plumbing underneath. I think if you raise the pressure, you'll have a lot more water coming out the weeps.

I wouldn't get too philosophical about the valve configuration. Normal is anything that isn't boondocking or winterization. Apart from the valves, normal doesn't usually include water coming out of the weeps, so my guess is a leak. I'd check the streetside access hatches per above, and also pull out the basement matt and check the connections under there. Yeah, 20psi is really low. My regulator is set a bit over 60.

For one, I think that eventually EV makers will need to standardize their charging. Tesla's Superchargers are a great marketing tool for them now, but it doesn't make much sense for every manufacturer to build independent charging networks. But after running those numbers, I'm kind of surprised that RV parks aren't currently advertising themselves as EV charge stations. They're conveniently located and spaced on highways, there are always empty spots, aren't a terrible place to hang out for an hour or two, and converting/adding some 100 or 200 amp pedestals wouldn't be too much of an outlay. I think if I owned an RV park, this stuff would be occupying most of my free brain cells.

Looking at the battery and range specs for the Rivian, you could extrapolate that a 400kWh battery pack would probably be enough to tow 600 miles (~2.2 miles per kWh and for the sake of argument a 30% loss in range for towing). That assumes no gains in motor, aerodynamic or other efficiencies. 400,000Wh/480v = 833.3 amp hours / 8 hours overnight charge time = 104.2 amps. That's reasonable from a wiring standpoint. For that matter, a 240v/200A service gives you 400,000/240/200 = 8.3 hours overnight charge time - again, perfectly reasonable. That's also reasonable from a battery/range standpoint, roughly double the current capacity. For comparison, the maximum range for a Tesla S has increased 2.4 times over the last five years. Also, I'm running these numbers assuming 8 hours on the road at 75mph. Most people only tow at 60 or 65 and if you're not barnstorming national parks like my wife and I, you might only want to be on the road around 6 hours per stint. 6 hours at 65mph is only 390 miles. Assume you want a 600 mile advertised range for an ample safety margin, which would be a 270kWh battery pack. 270,000/240/100 amp service = 11.25 hours of charge time, which is still reasonable for overnight charging, and accomplished without much outlay from RV parks. So I'm going to predict that with only a 50% increase in range we're going to see some early adopters.

I’m not sure any of that is of practical concern to most campers. Most travelers stick to paved roads and commercial campgrounds with full hookups, and $10 for charging is a ton cheaper than a tank of gas. I was probably wrong though about charge time, not because of AC use but because as the battery capacity on these trucks increase, so will the time it takes to fill them. A 270kWh battery bank would take the better part of a day to fully charge from a 240v 50a pedestal. So they will require something similar to the 480 volt Tesla Superchargers. That might be a problem for smaller independent operations but no big deal for KOA, etc. Apart from vehicle and trailer payments, fuel is by far the greatest expense for full timers, and being able to save $100+/day in travel expense is a big motivator. The demand will be there and supply will follow. Smart campground owners should be thinking about installing a few higher capacity charge points now, and advertising them as Tesla chargers until demand from campers catches up.

Never will be here sooner than you think. EV range has increased 17% per year over the last 5 years. If that trend continues, a 200 mile range today will be 600 in eight years. 600 miles is 8 hours towing at 75 mph, so at that point the bottleneck will switch to campground/highway charge locations or charging time. And since most campgrounds have dozens of 30 and 50 amp “charging stations” in the ground right now, allowing you to charge overnight, neither of those two things are actually bottlenecks.

The range limit makes the towing figures on this truck mostly irrelevant for now. But it’s just a question of time, waiting for battery capacity and price to come down. Personally, I think the design draws too much from current truck layouts. I mean, I like the forward storage, but that compartment is there simply because that’s where the engine isn’t. Moving the driver position to a forward control arrangement and/or streamlining the front end would be a better way to go, IMO.

You can poke your nose in the access hatch to see if a wire has come loose. Otherwise, it could be a bad switch, short in the wire, or worst case something in the unit has fried. If you’ve got a multimeter, you can check for all but the last of those ideas.

20 amps is more than adequate for keeping your batteries charged. The charger on your trailer will only pull a maximum of 4.5 amps AC for charging*. So just use the adapter Oliver supplied, plug it in, and don’t worry. Just don’t run the air conditioner while hooked to a 15 or 20 amp circuit or you’ll likely flip the breaker. *Possibly 6 amps - I think Oliver uses the Progressive Dynamics PD4045 charger but if they use the PD4060 someone please correct me.