DavidS

Corcomi, I am sorry to hear about your troubles. First, is your Truma still in warranty? See my post about my Truma repair, and the extended warranty. I would fight them if they claim that your warranty is void because you did not remove the filter when you winterized. I do, at least when it is relevant. Before winterizing, I did read the friggin manual, and as Overland pointed out, the Instruction Manual we were provided did NOT say to remove the filter. So you did follow their instructions. This is the Instruction Manual that Truma provided to Oliver, and that Oliver provided to us. If their instructions were incorrect, then they screwed up. This is from the Instruction Manual: [attachment file=Truma Instructions.png] I don’t know where that Truma document on Oliver University came from. When I google the title of the document (AG_Maintenance_and_Winterization Truma) or the first sentence of the document, my only hit is at Oliver University. When I go to the Truma US website and search for Winterization, I only find this page, which states "Step 4: Truma recommends storing the filter cartridge separately while the system is winterized." [attachment file=Truma Web site.png] Notice the language? Recommends. Not You Must. I called Truma when my AquaGo had problems. Again, see my post here. Once they found out I was under warranty they suggested shipping a new unit, and having a local service person install it. I didn’t like the sound of that plan, as it is reflective of our throw-away society. I would rather try to repair something before replacing it. So instead, I had the local service person open up the unit and try to fix it. If it could not be repaired, then Truma would send me a new unit, and I might be liable for the cost of the service tech's time on the repair attempt. But he was able to repair it. I am telling you all of this because of the amount of time it took for the repair, and how the guy you talked to on the phone may look at the situation. It took time to remove the AquaGo, to open up the unit, to repair it, and to reinstall it. Opening up the unit took the most time, repairing it took the least time. It would have taken much less service time to simply replace the unit. I am sorry, but I don't trust this guy. It sounds to me that he does not want to bother trying to repair it, but would rather just install a new one. Probably gets a sizable commission on the sale of the new unit, too. I would talk to Truma headquarters, or a different service rep. I have winterized my trailer three times without removing the filter, and for two of the winterizations I have not had “a broken water line that cannot be repaired.” (I don't know about this past winter, as I will be taking Ollie out of storage soon for a trip to Moab.) It sounds like Overland’s experience is similar, and if you have Hull 275 you have probably winterized at least once without this problem. Probably others on the forum, as well. Good luck with it!

There is a recent long thread on the Escape forum about travel to Baja. http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f39/baja-2019-maybe-14530.html

I installed a Genconnex Conversion Kit, which runs the generator on propane, but the generator will no longer run on gasoline. My rationale was that my generator use would be very infrequent, and the gasoline would likely go bad. Also, I do not want to carry gasoline container in my tow vehicle. More info here. The Hutch Mountain conversion kit that John Davies’ video uses, allows use of both propane and gasoline, but here the large propane regulator remains outside of the generator, while with the Genconnex the propane regulator is inside the generator. Be aware that power output from a generator on propane drops by 10% compared to gasoline. Installing the Genconnex Conversion Kit was pretty easy. No drilling, just opening it up and swapping out parts. This blog post was very helpful to me, and this YouTube video less so. The blog post commented that the photos on the instruction page were quite small, and they suggested downloading the instructions and printing out enlarged photos. That was extremely helpful. It was pretty easy. I spent a couple of hours moving slowly and carefully. I took pictures of my work at every step in case something went wrong, but it all worked fine. The Genconnex kit is set up to connect with the propane quick connects, and they do have a similar kit for the Honda 2200 model.

We have two older cats. Before we bought the trailer, we seriously thought about taking them with when traveling in Ollie. After a couple of trips with just the two humans, we decided that this plan was not a good idea for us with these two cats. The space was limiting and these cats have only been in a car to go to the Vet and don't go outdoors at all. But I had done some research and thought about the problem. There was an earlier thread on this where Sherry and Try2Relax suggested using the closet, and I liked that idea. I would put the catbox on the floor and put a deck plate into the closet door to provide access for the cat. You could have Oliver install it, or it would be fairly easy to put in on your own. Also, the deck plate in the closet door would not be objectionable to a future buyer. We have some plastic storage boxes in our closet, and I had planned to get a covered catbox with a flat roof so that we could put boxes on top. Yes, you lose some cubic feet in the closet, but I think this is far better than putting it in the bathroom, under the dinette table, or between the twin beds.

I had read about tire "flat spots" during RV storage, and the consensus seemed to be that flat spots usually round out once the vehicle is driven. However, from my reading it seemed that prolonged storage with the tires on cement was more of a problem. So my low tech solution was to put a thin piece of plywood under Ollie's tires in my storage unit. Apparently tires on wood is preferable to cement for long-term storage, if you can believe everything you read on the web.

Roadtrippers may be what you want for planning a driving route, as it gives you distances and estimated driving times. They have a web site, and if you create an account and create a trip on the computer, it will sync with their highly rated iPhone app. I don't know about your F-150 GPS, but the iPhone app will open up your trip for GPS navigation with Apple Maps or Google Maps. My reason for using Roadtrippers is that they can show you quirky stuff near your route, like weird museums, ghost towns, or waterfalls. We have used Roadtrippers to find interesting stops during the day, part way through our drive. Roadtrippers have a lot of trip guides already put together, which can be useful to browse for travel ideas. They seem to have partnered with KOA and with Airstream, as they have KOA-branded and Airstream-branded travel guides. If you sign up for an account, you will get a weekly email newsletter. For most web sites, such a newsletter immediately provokes me to hit the unsubscribe button. Instead, I have found the Roadtrippers newsletter interesting, and sometimes I have saved links to trips or destinations in my Ollie travel document. When Spike asked about Southern Utah travel, I posted the link I had saved to a Roadtrippers guide to Utah Highway 12. The service is free, and their business model appears to be to get you to book hotels and restaurants from their site or app. They now have a premium version, Roadrippers Plus, for $30 per year, which I have not investigated.

Nan, I had no experience, had never hooked up a trailer. This forum is an amazing resource, and there were a bunch of YouTube videos that helped. I did lots or research while I was waiting for the trailer to be built. The people at Oliver showed me how to hook up the trailer. It is something one person can do alone. Anita gave me a great suggestion to videotape parts of the orientation that I might want to refer to later. Good advice, as we later had trouble getting the thermostat to work right. The manual did not help, but the video did. There are a lot of solo travelers on this forum, both men and women, with both Elites and Elite IIs. Of course it is harder to back a trailer alone. One can try to get pull through campsites. There is very little that a small person cannot deal with in trailering, except perhaps accessing the rooftop from a ladder, and I can’t think of anything that really requires considerable physical strength. Reasonable manual dexterity is required to hook up to the tow vehicle, and to connect the hoses and cables. Go for it! Camping in an Oliver is a dream.

Bill, those are awesome photos. Russell, I am certain you can get good pictures with the Canon 500D. Instead of the Automatic setting, try shooting with the Aperture Priority setting. Have fun with it!.

Overland, I loved Apple's Aperture software and I stayed with it because it kept working for me. Until last November, that is, when our IT people upgraded me to MacOS 10.14. Now Aperture could not read the RAW files from my Sony camera. So I finally made the jump to Lightroom. Like all Adobe products, Lightroom is extremely powerful but completely non-intuitive, making it hard to use. A friend told me about these teaching videos on Lightroom from Anthony Morganti. They have been extremely helpful. I have been using the YouTube set on because that is the software I have; he has another set on . I don't want to scare anyone off from post processing because of the difficulty of learning Lightroom. You can do a lot of quality post processing with Apple's Photos app (or their older iPhotos app). Both are free, completely intuitive and easy to use.

Photography is one my passions, and it is what I do when I get there. @backofbeyond asks what kind of gear. I travel with a big Canon digital SLR and a compact Sony RX-100. Both take great pictures, as do most of the modern digital cameras. If you spend more money you will probably get a faster lens, a more sensitive sensor, and probably a faster processer. I love my Canon 6D because of how responsive it is; it responds quickly. A faster lens will allow you to take low light pictures without a flash, and the results are much more pleasing without a flash. Ignoring the price range of the camera, my one suggestion is to consider whether to take pictures with the default setting for JPG file format, or the RAW format. If you take pictures and then print or share them, then you are fine with JPG pictures. However, if you enjoy "post processing," which involves transferring the files to a computer to that you can crop the photos, and adjust the brightness, contrast and white balance, then you should shoot in RAW. RAW files are 5 to 8 times larger than JPG files, but that means the photo has that much more information about the light and the colors, and that information is available for you to use at the computer. When you shoot in JPEG the camera’s internal software will take the information off the sensor and quickly process it before saving it. Some color is lost as is some of the resolution; the camera is throwing away 80-90% of the photo information in order to make the file smaller. With JPG, the camera decides how the picture should look; with RAW, you make that decision at the computer. RAW pictures are especially good in low light situation. This is an interior shot of a cathedral in Orvieto, Italy. No flash, and it is pretty dark. After processing of the RAW file on the computer: This picture of Lake Guntersville was taken at last year's Oliver Rally. After cropping, straightening, and adjusting the color, this picture really "pops." Last year in Oaxaca, Mexico, we became friends with a couple from London. He is a retired professional photographer, and he told me he never crops or adjusts his pictures. Clearly, he is a better photographer than I am. Cropping is critical for me. This is a picture I took while on a safari in Kenya. It was nearing sunset, and I had to act quickly to get even this shot. The camera in the foreground ruins the picture. After cropping, I think it is one of my best pictures. Summary. Any camera will be give you more control over your pictures than a phone. If you want to do post processing on a computer, be sure to shoot in RAW.

Steph and Steve, I suggest you plan both the northern and southern Routes, and make final decisions based on weather forecasts. It sounds like your plan is to travel to TN as quickly as possible, and that means Interstates. The Interstates do have the best snow clearance after a storm. I do have another suggestion for you. We just traveled back to Utah from Southern California, and we were facing an impending snow storm. I searched for the Utah highway conditions, and found that the Utah Department of Transportation has a good Road Conditions website. They had a link to a smartphone app. We used this app on our drive, and it was AWESOME. (In my experience, iPhone apps are usually inferior to the web site, but in this case the phone app was much better.) The Map/Traffic view has links to all of the traffic cameras in the state, so you can get a live view whether the road has been plowed. The Map view has separate tabs for Traffic, Construction, Road Conditions, and Fx (Forecast, I think). We found the Fx/Forecast view to be extremely helpful, as it showed a forecast for road conditions in 3 hour blocks, presumably based on weather forecasts and anticipated snow plow activity. For example, midnight to 3 AM and 3 AM to 6 AM said driving conditions extremely difficult, 6 AM to 9 AM slushy road conditions, 9 AM to noon, road largely clear with occasional packed ice, and for the afternoon it said the road would be clear but wet. This information helped us tremendously on our drive. I figured other states might have similar apps, and I looked just now. I found apps for Idaho, Washington, Nevada, California, and Wyoming. I don't know if these apps are as good as the Utah one, but I am going to put all of them on my phone. Colorado DOT does not have an app any longer, but has a web site. Similarly, Oregon DOT no longer has an app, but there is a $2 third party app, and a rather clunky web site from the state DOT. Safe Travels!

My wife says I spend too much time thinking about the trailer, and that I have OTD - Obsessive Trailer Disorder.

@ctshort09's idea of a hinged mattress is an interesting one. Having spent little time on boats, I had not heard of a hinged mattress. If you go through with this project, please post information on the supplier and pictures of the finished product. Based on Mike's photos, I do have a suggestion about where to place the hinge. Instead of at the the halfway mark (37.5 inches), I suggest put the hinge at 46 inches, just behind the forward hatch. My rationale is that having a smaller hinged piece would be less unwieldy than half of the mattress. Also, I essentially never access the two rear access hatches. The curbside rear hatch, which is screwed down, gives service access to the water heater and furnace, and I only went in here when repairing the water heater. The streetside rear hatch provides access to the basement; when I saw Wincrasher's video before purchase, I thought I would be using this access hatch all the time. Wrong. Never used it. In contrast, the forward hatches get used regularly. The curbside forward hatch provides access to the plumbing valves, which I access every time when boondocking that I use the water pump to add fresh water to the tank. You will need to regularly access this compartment to get at these valves, unless you replace the valves with electric ones; this is on a future ToDo list. You also need to access this compartment to open the fresh water tank drain. I access the streetside forward hatch only to access the Surge Protector display. Also on my ToDo list is to move this Surge Protector Display. I think newer Ollies have other electrical components in this compartment.

We have had several of the cheap chairs that fold up and fit into a bag. We got them years ago at a big box store for probably $10-$15. Their main virtue is that they are inexpensive. I have never found them very comfortable. My major complaint that the arm rests give way when you push on them, making them difficult to stand up from. So I have been thinking about chairs for a while. On some forum several people recommended the ALPS Mountaineering Lakeside Chair and the ALPS Mountaineering Camp Chair, and I put these into my notes as option. Then, last year at the Oliver Rally someone had a rocking chair that folds up and fits into a bag. They kindly let me try it, and oh my, I was sold. I wrote down the details: It was a GCI Outdoors Freestyle Rocker. When we got home I went to Kirkhams, a wonderful local camping shop, and to REI, so I could see what they have. REI had a different model, the GCI Outdoor RoadTrip Rocker, which I really liked. Amazon had the GCI Outdoor RoadTrip Rocker for $60, but with an REI discount coupon I got it there for $40. I really love it! Very comfortable, and I wondered why I waited so long to get a better chair. The only disadvantage, compared to the cheap bag chairs, is that it is approx 20% longer when folded into the storage bag, and it is heavier. As to Hobo's other question, we usually carry three or four chairs. And my wife is happy with the cheap bag chairs.

Some time ago I posted about camelcamelcamel amazon price tracker, a web site that allows you to see price changes over time on specific Amazon products. You can also set up alerts for price drops for a good deal on camelcamelcamel. It is my impression that a number of Oliver Forum users use camelcamelcamel to track price changes for travel trailers> products. I went to the camelcamelcamel web site today to see about product prices, but they are down, because of multiple hard disk failures. They are asking for users to donate via PayPal, so that they can replace their hard disks. I use camelcamelcamel all the time, so I made a donation. It is like making a donation to the Wikimedia Foundation that supports Wikipedia. I use Wikipedia regularly, so I make regular donations to them.

You need to squeeze on the orange tabs underneath to release the drawer from the closing mechanism. If you want to know more, I believe the drawer closing mechanism is the Movento line from Blum. I was able to download some instructions from their website I have attached their instructions on Drawer Adjustments and Removal. [attachment file=Blum Adjustments and Removal.pdf] I also have found some videos, and .Blum-Adjustments-and-Removal.pdf

From everything I have read, if you are getting a single generator you are better off with the EU2200i model. The EU2200 Companion is needed if you want to hook up two generators in parallel.

The slightly older Oliver models (mine is a 2016) have the Blue Sky MPPT Solar controller, and this controller has an accurate battery monitor built in to it. If you push the Next button on the Blue Sky remote, the unit wakes up and displays the first screen, the BATTERY VOLT/AMP screen which shows the battery voltage and the net battery current. If you touch the Next button again it switches to the second INPUT CHG OUT screen which displays the input and output currents. Touching the Next button again brings up the BATTERY CAPACITY screen which displays the battery capacity as percent remaining, i.e. 70% or 100% if full. Of course, for the BATTERY CAPACITY screen to be accurate you have to correctly program the remote with info on your batteries. A lot of useful information is available on an earlier thread HERE. I have summarized these programming steps for my AGM batteries in a document which I am happy to send to anyone interested. I used to use an AGM battery chart (HERE) where 100% is 12.84 volts and 50% is 12.24 volts. However, the battery voltage would often not agree with the battery capacity on the Blue Sky remote. For example the battery voltage might say 12.4 volts, but the battery capacity would read 80% full. Additionally, when the batteries are nearly full and charging, the battery voltage often reads well above 13 volts, much higher than the 12.84 volts that represents 100%. I talked to Blue Sky technical support about this apparent discrepancy, and they told me the battery capacity was the much more accurate reading.

If your trailer had the WiFi Ranger installed by Oliver, there should be two routers. The Sky router is mounted on the roof and includes an antenna. The other router, the Go2, is inside the trailer, and is usually mounted inside the cabinet above the dinette, maybe next to the bathroom. I also got the Weboost Cellular Booster, and it is mounted at the other end of the cabinets above the dinette. The rooftop Weboost antenna and the rooftop Sky router are mounted at opposite ends of the trailer, to minimize interference between the two. It is quite useful to have two interconnected routers. The Go2 interior router is best for use inside the trailer, while the Go2 outdoor router is best for web surfing when outside the trailer in the campground, or, say, by the river. The manufacturer says that the outdoor router can transmit 250-1000 feet. More importantly, the outdoor router can connect with, and amplify, distant WiFi signals such as from the campground, as much as 1.5 miles away. I read a report online where someone was boon docking a mile from a Flying J, without obstructions, and was able to connect to the Flying J WiFi via their WiFi Ranger. The WiFi Ranger Quick Start Guide (attached) describes how to log on for the first time. The previous owner may have changed the name of the network and the password, in which case you may need to get it from them. [Edit.] Although I attached a pdf file with the WiFi Ranger Quick Start Guide, I was unable to open or download the attachment. The document is available at the manufacturers' website HERE. WiFiRanger-Quick-Start.pdf

Don Thompson tows with an 2016 VW Touareg TDI, and he is very happy with it. Before buying, I posted about wanting to tow with an SUV, an Audi Q7. Don Thompson responded and our conversations made me confident that this type of SUV makes a very good tow vehicle. I am very happy with the Audi Q7. Although they switched to a pickup, Reed & Karen Lukens used to pull with a Mercedes ML350 Diesel, and were very happy with its performance. I think you will be happy with a Touareg.

I agree. The Oliver is a special trailer, and this community makes the trailer all the more special. Best holiday wishes. David [attachment file=VG-MV - 019.jpg]

hobo's question was Which Generator? There have been a lot of good advice in this thread about the trade off between generator power and generator weight, and what you need to run the AC. There is another long thread on generators HERE. But there is another question I want to address. Gasoline vs propane as generator fuel. My story. We got our Ollie with solar and AGM batteries, and I did not think we needed a generator. In 2017 we spent ten days camping in Olympic National Park, which was lovely. However, we were camping in a rain forest. Our solar panels were not working well camping under trees, and at one point after 5 days in the forest our batteries were getting to the danger point. This forced us to change our plans and find a campground with electricity. So we decided a generator was needed as part of our gear, at least on some trips. Based on my research I bought the highly recommended Honda EU 2000i model. I got it new for under $700, in part because Honda had introduced the new EU 2200i model, and the dealer wanted to trim his inventory of the older 2000i models. I wanted propane, and I did not want one of these unsightly conversion kits where the propane components hang out from the generator. I really liked the reviews of the GenConneX Honda EU2000i Propane conversion kit. You remove the gasoline tank from the inside of the generator, and the propane components fit in the available space. The GenConneX propane conversion kit is an impressive example of engineering. At the time they did not have a conversion kit for the 2200i model, but it appears from the web site that that is now available. Why propane? Two reasons. One is the hazard of carrying gasoline in your vehicle in either a gas can or the generator. For me, the major negative of a gasoline generator is that the gasoline goes bad over time, whereas propane does not. This is not a problem if you are using the generator regularly. However, I anticipated taking the generator only as a potential backup on trips where we were without electricity. For us the generator has been a magical insurance policy. In the past year we have not once needed the generator. Our solar panels have provided all the electricity we needed on these trips. I call it magical because I am convinced that had we not brought the generator we would have had clouds or trees that would have hindered solar panel efficiency. If we had a gasoline generator, the gasoline would have gone bad. And we always have plenty of propane. One negative for propane is that power output from a generator drops when you are using propane instead of gasoline. If your generator is only for occasional use, propane may be a better option.

It looks like I posted about an hour and forty minutes after the price dropped, and the price went up about 17 hours after I posted. Sorry you were not able to get the bargain price. I don't understand the logic behind Amazon price changes, and that is why I like setting up camel alerts. [attachment file=Screen Shot 2018-11-13 at 8.10.07 AM.png]

For those interested in the 140 x 140 Clam Shelter, my CamelCamelCamel account just notified me that the the price has been reduced to $186 on Amazon. It had been priced at $250-270. (If you want to follow the price of an item over time check out https://camelcamelcamel.com, where you can also set up alerts for price drops.) [attachment file=Screen Shot 2018-11-11 at 8.46.32 PM.png]

Geo, Make sure you have a neutral ground bonding plug in your generator. See thread HERE.