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TechnoRV's Black Friday Sale can be found HERE.

Well - All of the brake drums that I've ever dealt with are not "sealed" by any stretch of the imagination. Therefore, water, dirt, etc. can fairly easily enter into virtually any of the working parts of these brakes - with or without the plugs. Having said this - I think that keeping as much of this out of the inner workings as possible can only help make the performance and longevity better. Yes, these holes were originally designed as a port to be used to manually adjust the brakes. And, some engineer (hopefully with a much better understanding of all the details surrounding these brakes) also designed a plug to cover that hole. Without any firm evidence to the contrary it seems prudent to plug the holes. Bill

Perhaps for a better understanding or at least a more complete background knowledge on this topic everyone should review THIS thread. Bill

BuiltRight Presently all BuiltRight dash mount racks are 20% off regular prices. Unfortunately this is too late for me!😭 BuiltRight Racks

When I took delivery of my Oliver, the very first thing I did was to mount a camera through the spare tire cover just above the license plate light. Over the years I've noticed that at least one person has mounted a camera on the top of the spare tire cover. In both cases the wires were run down the inside of the cover, under the trailer (basically on the curbside ) and up into the "doghouse" area (where the propane tanks are stored). From there it should be easy to get the wires run along with the "pigtail" to the rear of the tow vehicle. Bill p.s. One of the "problems" with this camera location is that when it rains the camera is subject to greater road spray and can become virtually useless. For this reason, I now still have the spare tire cover camera in operation but have mounted a Furrion camera in the "normal" location on the roof. The spare tire camera gives a better perspective when backing into a spot while the Furrion gives a better picture in rain or for generally traveling down the road such that you can see not only the vehicle behind you but even ones further behind that.

Coastal Aggie - I've been down this "rabbit hole" a couple of times now with these cameras - not the Ford one though. Be a bit careful with wiring runs greater than about 6.5 feet. These cameras generally operate at very low voltage and there will be voltage drop that - obviously - increases with the length of the wire run. I thought that I'd found the "perfect" solution with a Garmin camera tied into my Garmin 890. Unfortunately, while generally this combination worked well, there were times when either the voltage would drop to a critical point and/or the WiFi signal would be momentarily interrupted. This cause the map screen of the Garmin to change to the camera automatically. And, this change seemed to always happen at exactly the wrong time when I really needed the map. Eventually I simply gave up and a good friend happened to make me a killer deal on a Furrion. Good luck with finding a way around the Ford system. I'm certain that it can be done but the solution is probably above my pay grade.🤪 Bill

See the 1st, 3rd and 4th pictures in Rivernerds post above for the supply vent and both the front and backside of the vent that "returns" the air into the area between the shells just aft of the black tank under the forward dinette seat. Bill

Certainly so many things to be thankful for and our Oliver Family is certainly not the least among them. Bill

Don't forget about those "out of sight" scupper holes in the bottom of the Ollie. While each of those holes are not all that big, they do add up to a reasonable open space to the interior between the hulls. Having said this - I virtually always have at least my bath vent open while camped. Bill

If I understand at least one of the "issues" that you are trying to deal with - the ball is held in place via a snap ring on the bottom of the ball which prevents it from being "lifted" out of the top of the Andersen housing. As for the "whale tail" and the chains - I've either removed them (from both the ball and from the frame of the Ollie) or wrapped the chains over the tongue or attached the whale tail to an "S" hook that I've suspended under the frame up near the hitch. Which of these three I use depends on all the factors associated with the "off road" situation. Having said this - in seven years I've only removed the tail and chains once. But, I really do not do a bunch of true off roading while hitched. Normally I'll simply find a place that is a bit more "comfortable" to park the Ollie and then go out looking for trouble. Bill

Welcome home! Sure enough - your trip back West was an adventure but glad you made it without any trailer problems. Hope that your tow vehicle ran well after the "operation" in Denver. 5 degrees is reasonably impressive. I assume that it was only one person in the Ollie overnight given the "no condensation"? Happy early Thanksgiving! Bill

Let me see ---- Reasonably nice neighborhood, Reasonably nice yard, Reasonably nice house, Really nice two car garage PLUS what looks to be an RV garage. With or without the pics - I'd bet that there is something expensive in that RV garage and while I'm in there I'd take a look around too if I was that sort of person. I wonder just how many crooks of the larceny type spend time on a computer "casing" houses to burgle? Surely its nothing that "Reacher" couldn't take care of. 😊

left click on your avatar left click on "account settings" on the right side of the next screen - left click on "signature" left click on "save" Bill

Look! I didn't suffer all those long 25 years living in St. Louis for nuttin'. But, unfortunately - you are correct - I did mean I-44. 😵 p.s. Of course what is now I-64 used to be I-40 and the locals still call it that. However, I-40/I-64 really wasn't ever all that bad and is now still my favorite way to get through St. Louis when traveling from east to west and looking for I-70 west of St. Louis.

And people think that the Midwest is flat? Either I-70 or I-40 through Missouri will teach you differently. Bill

One way or the other - this is not a big deal in that there is nothing the fresh water tank that will be hurt even if it freezes. And, you will sanitize it in the Spring anyway. However, I like mine to be as empty as I can get it and by just emptying it via the water pump there will be (perhaps - depending on the slope of the Ollie at the time) a bit of water left in the tank. Therefore, I open the fresh water drain valve and even slope the Ollie towards the drain point. Bill

At the beginning of each travel season I contact the Sales area at Oliver and ask them to send me several copies of that current year's sales brochure. This way I can simply hand one of these to people that seem to have a genuine interest in the Oliver and/or to people that approach me but I don't have the time or place to actually give them a tour. Bill

Unless Colorado has completed MAJOR work on the stretch of interstate from Colorado Springs to Denver in the past few years, it is/was absolutely terrible. Bill

Here on the Forum, there are many reports similar to yours. It is an unfortunate fact of life (at least my life) that there are precious few companies that treat their customers in the fashion that Oliver does. I think that this is one of the main reasons that it is so hard for people to believe the glowing reports that we often hear about the Ollie and the company that produces it. We are simply labeled as "Fan Boys" or dismissed because we are so proud of spending our money we are unwilling to or unable to see the faults. It is natural to be a bit of a skeptic prior to experiencing such a refreshing change to the norm. Congratulations for giving yourself the chance to be "impressed". Bill

I FULLY understand. When we took delivery of ours a storm moved in the day before we were to travel over the mountains from the Asheville, NC area to Hohenwald. Three to four inches of rain were forecast for the lower elevations but rain, sleet, snow, ice were forecast for the mountains. On the drive, the temps hovered from 34 degrees to 30 and back a few times. While this didn't make for a "fun" drive to Hohenwald the roads remained just wet primarily because the ground had not (yet) become cold enough to allow freezing to occur. Of course this still made every bridge an adventure. The next day the sun came out and temps were in the low 50's. However, the campground being used at the time was a sea of mud and my nice new shiny Oliver got christened in a hurry😭. You will have no such issues in the nice (relatively ) new Oliver campground. Bill

Why do you suspect that the temps will be in the 20's every night during the first week of December? HERE are the historical temps for Hohenwald for December and HERE is that same data for Nashville. Yes, temps can get to the 20's at night (as they are right now) but that is not the norm. Good luck with your delivery - have fun! Bill

OK - assuming the lighter one: 1. as dewdev points out above, cover/pad all sharp edges. The solar panels are the biggest and next would be the bumper. Pool noodles are your friend for both of these. 1a. don't forget to remove the antenna of the rearview camera if you have one. 2. lay out the cover on the ground with the front of the cover at the front of the Ollie and the back at the back. 3. Either get up on a ladder or use "painter's poles" with tennis balls on the ends to protect the cover (thanks to Patriot for this "painter pole idea) to feed the cover onto the roof and over obstacles that are on the roof. Adjust the cover using the poles or while on the ladder both front to back and side to side. 4. Batten down the hatches. 5. Grab a adult beverage an admire your work. Bill

Are you talking about the "old" (heavy) cover or the newer (light weight) covers? Bill

It is not unusual for Oliver to "phase" in upgrades and/or changes in equipment from one year to the next. Bill

If either of you are looking for a long lost relative - I'm it!🤪