Steph and Dud B

Your truck looks great.

I don't think so. This connection would only leak when the faucet is on and water is flowing to the sprayer. The system would hold pressure with the faucet off and the pump would stop.

Had gas. Had diesel. Back to gas now. Loved towing with the diesel. Loved the costs of repairs less. Our gasser struggles a bit with our 9500# fifth wheel but I'm hoping it'll be a good match for the Ollie. We'll see.

You might even say you were "shocked" to discover that? 🙂

There should also be a check valve attached to the pump that prevents city water from running backwards through the pump into the fresh water tank. A common point of failure that will cause the same symptoms.

We still use CBs, mostly when traveling with friends, or if Steph is in her car behind the trailer. A full power CB with a roof antenna has much better range than the little FRS radios. The truckers have mostly abandoned the channels, so you pretty much have the airspace to yourselves. And, if there's a highway incident, some truckers still get on 19 to see what's going on, so it can be a good source of information. The CBs we have are similar to John's. They plug into a cigarette lighter socket and have mag-mount antennas so we don't have them in the truck when not needed. https://www.amazon.com/Midland-75-822-Channel-CB-Way-Radio/dp/B00000K2YR

Hate to say it, but we've found the worst state to tow in is our own - Connecticut. We've towed all over the US and had our closest calls with Connecticut drivers. Everybody in Connecticut, Mass., and NY is always in a hurry. (Interesting observation: in other parts of the country, if we asked how far away a destination was, they often answered in miles. For instance, "Johnsonville is about 20 miles from here." In CT, you get the answer in time, e.g. "Hartford is about half an hour from here." Perfectly demonstrates the emphasis on "making time" when driving, and that leads to aggressive drivers.) My BP always goes up when we hit the CT border.

Now that more campgrounds are charging for electrical use by the amp/hour on top the the regular site fee, this is interesting, You can turn the charger off while connected to shore power? The campground would be really surprised to see no amp/hours used!

Good point. Here in the Northeast some of our boondocking is in heavy shade. The lithium package will allow us to go longer before needing to move to sun or run a generator. With the larger lithiums we should be able to camp at least a week in the shade, then recharge when we get home again. The limiting factor will now be tank sizes.

Perhaps they were concerned about the possibility of snow crossing the Rockies. A legit consideration, especially with a new-to-you trailer.

We're going with the factory lithiums and solar. Our previous RVs all had small flooded batteries and we carried a generator. I was always stressing about conserving power when boondocking and then taking time to run the generator in the morning and evening. Never again. As for the pricing, I'll be honest, the factory lithiums are a luxury. Yes, we could retrofit an Oliver with lithiums ourselves for less money. But this will be our last RV and we decided to just go for it so we can start enjoying it on day one. We're treating ourselves with this trailer.

I'd probably just dispose of them, unless they were brand-new. In that case, I'd probably try to sell them.

I made a list on Google Tasks so I can check items off as we pack. Since I've got nothing but time to kill waiting for our delivery date, I organized the items on the list into specific totes that we'll load into the truck for the trip down. Some of the totes' contents are destined to be loaded into the trailer (I specifically picked totes that will fit on the floor between the twin beds to make it easier). Other totes will contain items that will always ride in the truck when camping. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to export my list so I can share it.

@tallmandan I've been watching that thread you posted. Interested to hear your review when you uncover this year. Chafing, wear, etc. I've got that cover on my Amazon list and will probably give it a shot if it worked well for you this year.

Yes. Getting close now. Finalizing plans and supplies for our delivery trip.

If the trailer is covered the solar will not be active, or at least not much. Shore power can be the trailer connected to a 15 amp outlet at your house with an extension cord and adapter. I think Lithionics wants to be sure your trailer batteries will be receiving a charge while their internal heaters are on. Having active solar panels will maintain battery charge even if your shore power fails. All of this applies to the Lithium Platinum package. The Lithium Pro package uses smaller batteries that would be easy to remove for the winter. The document details appropriate state of charge and temperatures for long term disconnected storage. Batteries should be at 50% state of charge if being stored over 3 months disconnected.

I just emailed the battery mfg (Lithionics) about winter storage last week. If you have the larger CS200 batteries and are storing them in cold winter weather, they recommend leaving the batteries and solar panels on and the trailer plugged into shore power. A quote from the storage procedures document they sent me: "If your battery has the Lithionics Internal Heater, and you are subject to winter conditions, keep the battery ON, solar ON and plugged into shore power. Shut down all appliances, lights, and other DC loads. You may purchase a very small charger from Lithionics Battery (KF Series) and power this from an extension cord if shore power is not available. This will keep the heater running and protect your battery." Note that these instructions are different than those posted in Oliver University. I assume they want the solar on as a backup to the shore power since a loss of shore power could cause the batteries to discharge from running their internal heaters. I've attached the document below. This is something I'll discuss with OTT at delivery. I'd prefer to remove them for the winter but the larger lithiums are 68 pounds each, so that might be a challenge depending on how they're mounted. Storage-Procedure-Rev-07-WEB.pdf

I've had one of those in my office for a few years. My wife bought one for her office, too. Good little heaters.

Criminals are apparently having good luck tracking vehicles with Apple AirTags. Can't see why us good guys couldn't do the same. Of course, if the guy who steals your trailer has a stolen iPhone, too, he could look for it.

Ahh, good point. I've been thinking about ventilation while parked and locked. In our fifth wheel I crack a kitchen window and set the thermostat on the Maxxair fan to maintain a reasonable temp in the cabin. Since the window swings out I can leave it open 24/7. But I can't do that with Ollie windows and I know from experience that the Maxxair can strain to exhaust if there isn't enough air coming in (you can hear the motor bog down). Does anyone leave the Maxxair running when their Ollie is closed up?

There's no harm in doing this but in 23 years of RVing as an adult and another dozen with my family as a child I've never seen an officer check the stickered trailer weights. As for the VIN, if they look for it they'll expect it to be on a sticker on the front left of the trailer. That's where all of them are.

LOL! Actually, I really like Manhattan. Took my high school kids there on field trips for years in the early-mid 2000's. Stayed in the Millennium Hilton downtown. Rode the subway. Walked all over the city with no problems, even at night. Ate cheap pizza, went to Katz's Deli. Empire State and Top of the Rock (I like Rockefeller better). Union Square, Chinatown, Little Italy. Staten Island Ferry, went to a street carnival, went to the Tribeca Film Festival. Great trips. Just typing this makes me want to go back. Unfortunately, it seems like the city is getting a little rougher now, with more crime and homelessness. Would definitely be more cautious on a trip to Manhattan today.

Titanium fifth wheel owners did that. You could get a number and be put on a registry spreadsheet so other Titanium owners could see who you are based on the number on your rig. Kind of fun. It was organized privately on the users' forum, not by the company.

We've stayed at the Newburgh KOA several times and taken the train in from there. Not exactly close. About 15 minutes from the campground to the train station and 45 minutes on the train, if I remember correctly, but it's a nice FHU campground. There's a great little ice cream stand just down the road called Cherry Top.

They send you a plaque? After you pick up your trailer?