rideandfly

We keep a solar/battery/hand crank powered AM/FM/WX radio/flashlight for situations we can't see local weather on TV or see local real-time radar. Purchased this unit from Amazon:

Oliver corrected our 12V pump fresh water tank pickup tube for free during a plant visit a few years ago. They also fixed the 12V ground to frame issue for free during that visit.

Where is the water coming in with your windows? 2nd what Ray, Mike, ScubaRX & Patriot are saying. Where we store Ollie under cover, Mud Dauber wasp will build their nest in the window drains that would cause drains to overflow in Ollie. We tape the lower window drains during storage to keep the Mud Daubers out. Other areas windows will leak from can be exterior fixtures above the windows like porch lights. This test takes two people, but when we had leaks, one of us would use a water hose above the the window porch light or fixture, to see if water comes in the window. We have the older style porch lights that was a source of leaks. Water will come in around porch lights and travel between the inner and outer hull coming out of the window in some cases. I keep white electrical tape on hand to temporarily seal a leak until we can repair it properly. When we first purchased Ollie, we had two window leaks that frustrated us with Ollie during our first camping trip. Took Ollie home and fixed the leaks years ago, not having leak problems since. 🙂 On your water system leak. Keep looking with bright light and feeling with your hand for the source of water leaks. It does not sound like a water tank leak with the air you're getting out of the faucet. It sounds more like a suction or pressure line to or from the 12V pump. Check the plumbing in the exterior storage area under the street side bed closely. Also pull out and check the exterior shower. If none of that works, I would removed a kitchen sink drawer to look at plumbing under the sink. Next I would remove the towel/soap rack under the bath sink to look for leaks. In the end, once these issues are fixed, you can really enjoy Ollie. It's a great fiberglass camper, once the leaks are fixed you normally don't have to worry about wood rot issues. Please let us know your progress! The Ollie family is here to help! 🙂

Mike please forgive me for being off topic. If there is a Michigan Ollie or Fiberglass gathering next year, we would interested in attending. We enjoyed our camping trip to the Straits Campground SP MI, visited Macinac Island during that trip. Macinac Island MI:

This was our first PEX failure in six years with our LE2 Ollie. I take care to winterize correctly. Before the failure noticed while on shore power the hot water was very hot. My normal test if I can’t hold my hand on something the temperature is above 130 degrees. The faucet was very hot, too hot to touch. Suspected a hot water heater thermostat failure to contribute to a weak fitting failure. Just a theory, but replaced the 120V & 12V water heater thermostats, too. During the repair saw how many plastic fittings were used on Ollie. Assume clamping pressure is similar on stainless steel and copper crimp rings. Brass fittings are very strong compared to plastic. Believe over time plastic fittings will fail more often due to accumulated fatigue compared to brass fittings, that’s my reason for the kit so I can make repairs if we are at a remote location.

Here’s this 1/2” PEX kit I put together this week after making my first Ollie PEX repair. Had a old Laptop Pelican case I no longer use, works great for a PEX repair kit case. Glad you asked about this, thought I had a Sharkbite elbow, but don’t, will drop by Lowes and buy a couple. Have an assortment of brass fittings, elbow, T, and straight coupler that work with stainless steel clamps or copper clamps. I have a stainless steel crimping tool and PEX tube cutting tool. Also have a copper tube cutter to make straight cuts for Sharkbite fittings. Have one each 1/2” blue & red 5’ pieces taped together in the back of the TV. The ends could be damaged, just cut 1/4” off before use. Also have short pieces of PEX carried in the case and stainless steel clamps in the case. Some places are hard to reach to operate the clamp crimping tool, that’s why I purchased Sharkbite fittings for hard to reach areas. The reason for a case is to be able to pack contents tightly to prevent rattle damaging brass fittings causing leaks where clamped. I also keep a magic marker and tape measure. Need some additional fittings and Sharkbite tools Mossey has in his kit. This is what I like about forums, I learn from other folks here! Mossey, nice job! 👍

John and Jodi, Your leak could be one of the issues Mossey mentioned, nice reply. 👍 I see your Ollie is a 2022, so warranty covers many issues. 🙂 We used to keep a gallon jug of distilled water for the Neti Pot in the front closet until the jug started leaking. 🙁 We had water coming out of the bottom rear with city water connected to Ollie and turned on. 🙁 Started searching and eventually found a hot water PEX T dripping below the hot water heater. Started researching on YouTube about PEX repairs and purchased a brass T with various brass fittings red & blue 1/2" PEX pipe to make the repairs. Also put together a PEX repair kit for future issues, it fits perfectly in a Pelican case I was not using. Also purchased some Sharkbite fittings, straight, 90s, and Ts that don't require a crimping tool or crimp rings. Like mentioned earlier in this thread, we're happy we have a fiberglass Ollie with minimal amount of wood. Bill 2015 LE2 #75

John, The top aluminum plate will come out easily with tape removed or cut, if that's your question.

Dave and Kimberly, Absolutely beautiful! Thanks for posting!

I normally don't smoke, but my brother was visiting and he had a some cigars so we smoked one each, Cuban Cohiba, it was good!

Showed Debbie your photo and did not give details, she thought it looked like a body, too. Thought about Chevy, too:

Been thinking about traveling in those areas, thanks for the report.

When we had leak problems, Debbie took a water hose and ran it above the areas of a suspected leak on the outer hull. I would watch inside with insulation pulled back in areas like the Oliver sign to find leaks. In the case of water coming out of the bottom of the rear window onto the curbside bed, found the water traveling from the Oliver sign, between the hulls on the rear window onto the bed. Since fixing two exterior leaks we towed Ollie through northern Texas and western Oklahoma when we ran into heavy rains (heaviest we have ever seen) and not one drop of water in Ollie's interior, a tornado passed later that day through Oklahoma. When the window is re-sealed and installed, I would not assume the issue has been corrected until testing with a water hose above and on both sides of the window area where there are holes in the outer hull to mount lights, brackets, exterior mounted fittings, and signs. I checked the Oliver sign closely for cracks or sealant separations where water could enter around the sign and could not find any issues, but it was leaking with the water hose test when we removed & resealed it. Bill

Here’s our experience. We visited Oliver last week and they had a new side window sitting out assuming ready for installation with grey tape around the window perimeter where the window frame flange contacts the outer hull. It looked like butyl tape. We have had leakage issues with the rear Oliver sign and a porch light above the windows with water traveling between the hulls leaking out of the the windows on our #75 LE2. These leaks were not window issues. Once we resealed the Oliver sign and porch light, that fixed the leaks. I would discuss this with Jason.

Ouray CO is now on our must visit list, too.

Excellent video! Makes me smile!!!! Beautiful campground and lake view!

Will get that app! 🙂 Thanks

Thought you posted somewhere about a gas app you use for finding gas stations with the best prices?

Katjo, Beautiful campground, nice work with the photos and video! We have family in Michigan, time for another visit with family and to this campground, too!

Always enjoyed checking fuel economy MPG even when gas prices were less than $1.00 per gallon. For me it’s fun to check our camping rig economy that helps understand how one might reduce fixed operation cost to save money for other hobby adventures. Retirement is so busy, hard to have time do everything, but having fun trying, hope we maintain our health. 🙂

Took the Tundra for the recall and the dealer needed less than an hour to perform recall work. 🙂 Been experimenting using cruise control while towing Ollie with over 10,000 miles on the Tundra’s odometer after this trip. Tundra’s on board MPG is accurate and was used for two test using cruise control. Both test were over 300 miles each on interstates. 2WD 3.5L 10 speed Tundra with street tires on Ollie & Tundra. TV tire pressures 40 PSI and Ollie’s tire pressures 50 PSI. LE2 Ollie’s weight between 4900 to 4950 pounds with empty grey and black water tanks. Rig weight is around 10,900 pounds. Check Rig & TV/Ollie weights periodically with CAT scales. Set cruise at 63MPH yielding 61MPH GPS speed. Tow haul mode used with 7th gear. Engine speed was 2150 RPM. During the test while climbing a 5% grade reduced speed to 55MPH and dropped down to 6th gear. One way test from Crossville TN (TN plateau area) to Denver NC yielded 15.8 MPG. Round trip from Crossville TN to Howenwald TN and back to Crossville yielded 15.5 MPG. Should see better MPG in the flat lands, will see.

I don't remember that, but will get a DVD for the next camping trip to "them thar hills" on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Alvin said he could do some thinking up thar! 🙂 Thanks,

We were at Cody a few years ago, could drop the laundry bag off loaded, everything would be washed, folded, and placed back in the washed bag. Don’t remember the cost per pound, but we were able to go out to eat and returned with our laundry completed! That’s roughing it! 🙂

Do they still wash and fold your clothes by the pound ?

Wow! We visited Sgt Alvin C York State Park a few months ago, beautiful area. First learned about Sgt. York in a movie with Gary Cooper playing the part of Alvin York.