Steph and Dud B

John, do you have a picture of the area he taped?

I think I would still file a report with the NHTSA. This is probably just a one-off, but on the odd chance this has happened to other Bulldog hitches, maybe NHTSA will see a pattern and initiate a recall. There was a reasonable chance that failure could have led to injury.

"High Quality," yes. Luxury? Not like many shoppers would define it, I think.

Glad you are safe. That could have been catastrophic. Many, many questions here. I agree, the rust seems to indicate there has been damage in that area for some time. Any unusual history to that hitch? Involved in any previous accident/impact? Used in severe conditions, off-road, etc.? Exposed to salt water/road deicers? Modified in any way? Also agree you should not move or alter the hitch in any way until you've contacted your insurance company, Oliver, Bulldog, and possibly the NHTSA: https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#index Good luck!

It's pretty obvious from the photo. You're at the wrong angle to the sun. Problem solved.

Welcome. We had a similar dilemma as we approached retirement, coming from a fifth wheel. I liked the idea of a Class B. Fit in regular parking spaces, get up and move without hitching, etc. My wife pointed out the very limited storage. I didn't want a big Class A or C, so we were back to towables. The Oliver checked the boxes of easy towing, less worry about roof leaks (it can still leak, but there's virtually no wood to rot), and robust solar and electrical power. As a bonus, it fits in a lot of campsites the others don't. Good luck with your decision. Being empty nesters really opens up your opportunities.

Honestly, Oliver should redesign the entire top back. Remove the Oliver sign, move the three red clearance lights to the top of that area, and mount the rearview camera below the clearance lights. The way it's set up now, the red glow from the trolley sign and clearance lights prevents the camera from switching into night mode, basically making it useless after dark. I've had the same camera in previous trailers and it works pretty well in night mode, but not on the Oliver.

Not sure how you'd attach them to the jacks and frame.

Wow! Didn't even notice that!

One thing I haven't seen discussed much is the quietness of the Oliver cabin relative to other RVs. With the double hull and double-glazed windows our Oliver has the quietest cabin of any RV we've owned. For anyone who camps in crowded state parks, you know how loud the neighbors can get, especially on alcohol-fueled weekends. We were very pleased to discover that retreating indoors to sleep, with the windows closed, cuts off most of the noise from sound systems, barking dogs, and partiers. We've also been able to take naps in busy rest areas without being bothered by passing trucks, etc. It works in reverse, too. One evening we were watching an action movie, pretty loud, and I went outside to make sure we weren't bothering the neighbors. Turns out, I couldn't hear the movie outside the trailer. Definitely a selling point Oliver salespeople could mention.

The red clearance lights are required by law. The Oliver sign is not.

I have a question about some of the mods that add return air vents between the cabin and inter-hull spaces. Or those who open cabinet doors to warm the cabinet contents. Isn't the primary cabin insulation supposed to be the dead air space between the hulls? By creating vents that breach the inner hull, or opening overhead cabinets in cold weather, aren't you effectively removing that dead air space and becoming a single-hull unit, at just as far as insulation goes? I know my upper cabinets get cold, but I figure that is part of what's keeping my cabin warm. (The closet, OTOH, does appear to be a sealed space within the inner hull, so I don't see a problem venting that to the main cabin. Same with the bathroom. I can see adding a return vent back into the main cabin, but not between the hulls.)

I was surfing YouTube last night and came across a video called "Shopping for the best quality travel trailer under 30 feet." The video started with a couple standing in an Airstream on a dealer lot and I thought, "they won't even mention Oliver," but as they were showing the AS interior I could see a couple of Olivers in the distance through the AS window. The plot thickened. They moved on to a couple of stickies, talking about the advantages of having 2 air conditioners and a dry bath (the AS shower was too small for him), before walking toward an Oliver. I thought, "they're going to hate it, because it's so small." However, they redeemed my opinion of YouTubers by immediately commenting on the look and quality of the Oliver. It wasn't for them (he's 6'3"), but they really were impressed with the quality and spoke very well of the Oliver product before they moved on to an InTech, which seemed to be their favorite. I was really impressed by the dealership, which seemed to have a great assortment of RV brands to look over. How often can you find Olivers and Airstreams on the same lot? It was great to see the couple compare Olivers side by side with other brands and come away with a favorable impression. They even said, "if only it was a little bit bigger..." which is the topic of another ongoing thread... 🙂 Here's the video: https://youtu.be/LRFQ8GAqvs4?si=GPqYM6PYyyyLleH0

If you're on shore power and your converter is working correctly (batteries stay charged, etc.) when this happens that lowers the odds it's a voltage problem, but it would still help to get a voltage reading when your furnace kicks in. You could use either a multimeter or a volts readout from a monitor in your cabin (not sure what monitors your year trailer had). Other options would include a bad connection, with the furnace observation being just a coincidence. First thing I would look at would be the switch. The contacts may be worn or oxidized, or you could have dust in there. Do the lights function correctly when switched on/off? No flickering or delay after you flip the switch?

Since they blink off when the furnace cuts in, I suspect the latter. What type of batteries do you have and what's their voltage when the furnace is running?

I assume you mean running the 3-way fridge on 12 volts, and you have the 390Ah lithium package? You can't use the last 10% (39 Ah) from your batteries due to the low voltage shutdown, so you have 351 Ah available. We have the larger 640 Ah package. When traveling in rainy weather (no solar charging) with the 3-way Norcold fridge running on 12v, we consume approx. 4% of our state of charge per hour on warm days. Based on that, I'd assume you'd use about 7% of your SOC power per hour in the same circumstances (because of your smaller battery bank). Mid-summer SoCal gets about 14 hours of daylight, so that leaves 8 hours of minimal or no charging. 8x7 would guestimate a SOC loss of 56%/day (assuming perfect sunny weather). That's about 219 of your 351 Ah. Your solar panels theoretically generate 340 watts, or about 24 amps, but that's only in a lab environment. Let's say you can actually get about half that real-world. 12 amps averaged over the 14 hours of daylight. That would replace 168 of the 219 used. So, best case, you're losing over 51 amps a day. Too much. I don't think you'll make it, and you could permanently damage your lithium batteries. (Maybe someone with better solar knowledge can jump in here.) OTOH, 2 full propane tanks will easily run your fridge for weeks with the small amount of electricity used for the fridge control board easily replaced by solar. I'd fill my propane tanks, put the regulator on auto switchover, and leave it be.

Same thing here, and we have the lithium enabled Xantrex converter/inverter. Every few months it trips the 20A GFCI in the garage. No specific environmental changes that I can infer, it's just sitting there. Nothing else plugged into that circuit, either. Now I've added a small green LED nightlight on that circuit that I can see in the security camera. Every once in a while I check in to make sure it's still on.

Our Norcold 3-way will freeze things. Shelf work for you.

Doesn't really sound particularly dangerous: "The potential defect we identified is part of the propane tank/cylinder valve assembly that could result in a leak after disconnection from the grill- but only if you forget to close the barbeque tank/cylinder valve." (Emphasis mine.) I always make sure a tank is off before disconnecting the hose.

I assume you're plugging into a standard household outlet and using an adapter to convert your 30A Oliver cord to that outlet? Are all three prongs present on the adapter? If you unplug the fridge from the 120v outlet located under the sink, does the house GFCI still trip when you turn on the fridge breaker? If no, the fridge has an issue. If yes, the issue is in the circuit. Does the fridge run correctly on propane? On 12v?

Agreed. Different class of trailer, but we did like them.

I see Intech Sol trailers next to the Ollies. Same dealer? The Massachusetts Oliver dealer also sells Intech Sol trailers and had them next to the Olivers at the Springfield show. Interesting side by sides with some similarities. The Sols also have aluminum frames. They have a one-piece fiberglass roof and seemed to us generally well made for conventional skinned trailers. I can see how a customer interested in a Sol might be swayed by an Oliver. And vice versa.

Don't be nervous. The Yamaha will be fine. Just get the grounding plug and adjust setting #28 like @rich.dev said. I do it through the wall control panel rather than the app. I've found some odd behavior when using the app to change that setting.

The salespeople need to know the product and engage.

@Tom and Doreen, that's basically what I suspected. Energy in a campground can't be magically created, only redistributed. Those with autotransformers will be able to use more during a low voltage event than those without, until the load exceeds the overall capacity of the grid.