Steve Morris

Generally, I'd agree, especially as I'm cargo capacity limited. However, we're spending two months in Florida this winter, and will be plugged in most places we stay. So saving propane by using free electricity for seven weeks is appealing to me.

We picked up the Costco-special model of the Vornado TAVH10 which is 750/1500 Watts. To make sure it worked, I stuck it in Curiosity yesterday, mid afternoon. Inside was 58 degrees and outside 55 and sunny, with no wind. On high, the temperature only raised 5 degrees the first hour, 6 more the second, and 3 the third, ending at 72. Seems like it wouldn’t get any warmer, even though I had the setting at 85 degrees. Kill-A-Watt showed it wasn’t using more than 1250W at the 1500W setting. That might work in the 30s or 40s if I use the Truma furnace to get up to temperature, but I’m not really confident in its ability for such a highly rated product.

That was my plan last January, when I went to Florida for a rally. I was going to stop in Murfreesboro on the way back to Ohio. But they were at the same rally I was, and then on to the Tampa RV show. Their plan was to schedule a bunch of jobs in Friday and Alabama to keep them someplace warm during the winter. We ended up meeting them at the Retro Reno shop in Jacksonville early February, where we stayed at a hotel on the beach while the guys did our trailer. Only you can decide if it is worth it. It certainly looks great, and makes washing so much easier. And as Bill said, these are some of the nicest, hardest working young men I've ever met!

They seem to have forgotten to put any reference on the web site that it’s a Volkswagen sub-brand. 🤷‍♂️

Maybe a case of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Just in case it would brick the inverter. Oh! I should install the firmware upgrades over and over until I *do* brick it. Then I'll have an excuse to swap in the Victron unit. 😉

Only after trying something the way I think it should function, three or four times over, and it still doesn't work! 😜 Mike did all the hard work. I'm just copying his.

A huge thanks to Mike for letting me photograph his bathroom plumbing upgrade back during the rally in May, and for sending details on the connections and hardware. I’ve had the Scandvik and High Sierra components for months, but just now getting to that project. I’ve mocked up the system for location, and I just need to collect the fittings to tie it all together. And drill those big holes! Have I read that a diamond grit tipped saw is best for fiberglass? Or is a fine toothed carbide tip a better choice? Thanks @mossemi!!

That's been more than a month ago since I was told that information. I've written back without any response.

Oddly, my brakes stopped working on our 2023 this past week. Brake light works, but no brakes. That’s on my list of things to do before it gets cold and before heading to Florida in January.

Like @csevel I've been tracing down a faint sewer/sour odor. One place I wanted to check was in the vanity to see if I have any leaks or loose pipes under there. So today I pulled off the bin on the front. Fortunately, everything is tight and dry. All the joints are glued and I checked all couplings to make sure they are tight. But while I was in there, I wanted to do a test fit on the alternate shower components that I bought back in May after looking at Mike's @mossemi system. Much to my surprise, there is a block glued to the inside of the cabinet with what appears to be a check valve and two PVC pipes going to it. Is this the gray tank vent? Or is there one on the fresh water tank? I thought the vent was under the kitchen sink. Mike's trailer is a fair bit older, and didn't have anything mounted there. If it is a vent, any suggestions on how to check to see if it is functioning properly, and not letting smells from the tank get through? Claudia, did you figure out where your smell was originating?

Let her know that there are several previous Airstream owners on this forum that moved to Oliver to get away from expensive repairs, hail damage, rotten floors, failing cabinets, popped rivets, and more. All you need to do is join an Airstream forum to learn there is a better option. 😉

Hopefully, these will be available in the US one of these days, or the shipping from the UK is reasonable. These would come in really handy for cleaning up some of the sloppy wiring we've all found. https://quickfixjb.co.uk/

Lots of ways to do it out there, but most common recommended is jacking up the front of the trailer (also lifting the truck) to provide slack. I did this for a while, but disliked the extra work the jack needed to do to lift the ass-end of the truck. Instead, I introduce slack by overlapping the hitch and ball. I haven't adjusted the nut since Chris Scarff did at the rally in May 2023. When you are hitching up, back the truck under the ball like normal. Then, back up another inch to inch and a half until the nose of the hitch almost touches the ball mount. Now you can easily slip the whale tail on without making any adjustments. It even works at odd angles (within reason) where other methods require dead straight. Unhooking is the opposite: with the hitch still on the ball, open the bail, raise the tongue until the trailer until the ball falls out, back up an inch or so, and drop off the whale tail. Done! Other than the time I needed to hook up almost 90° to the trailer, this method has worked every time. And no extra strain on the jack! I hope that helps

This doesn't solve the problem. But this past weekend, I got to see the modification that @Ollie-Haus made on his 2023. It is a 5"+ length of 1x1x1 aluminum Z-bar, painted white, and adhered to the trailer with double-sided tape. https://www.mcmaster.com/7062T15/ I'm going to do the same, but before mounting the shield, I will cover the lens with amber Lamin-X film (that I bought before getting the trailer but have yet to apply...) It makes a huge difference, and even while still a cool white, it is less objectionable than just covered with Lamin-X like the trailer beside us had. It was great to compare the two, which is what convinced me to do both!

Three of the six Olivers in attendance at the 2024 Ohio Fall Annual Egg Rally, held at Cowan Lake State Park, in southwest Ohio. @Ollie-Haus @csevel Matt & Sue Jones, Deb and me, the folks with the micro-truck at the Oliver Rally, who I've *again* forgotten their name, and an unknown E1 that pulled in but was not found while riding around. Plus a couple who spent about an hour looking at our trailer and talking to Claudia, who have found a 2019 EII and are considering buying it. A fun time, and beautiful weather.

It fits. Sort of two orientations it’ll drop into at different angles. For reference, the top is about 2” from the ceiling I have the optional wall mount because I have all the components to do the separate shower valve and new faucet. But I haven’t gotten around to doing that yet. The adapter is a temporary step to use the shower head until I start that project.

A follow-up to the above. I just called to return my adapter, and was told a new one is in the works for newer trailers, and should be ready by the end of the month. I’ll be getting one as soon as they ship.

Be aware that this adapter only works with older trailers. If you unscrew the faucet from the hose and the hose has a female fitting, it will work. The adapter has a female thread on the faucet end and a male thread on the hose end. Newer trailer need female threads on both ends. I’m going to have to send mine back.

Claudia, let's get together and take a sniff in each other's trailers this weekend. We've been chasing a similar very faint odor, but I haven't gone to the extent that you have yet. I too regularly flush the black and gray tanks with the Calgon/Pine~Sol mix. I use a macerator pump at home, so take extra time and several fill/flush cycles of both. Still, there's that slight, lingering odor. I bought but haven't yet used a roll of the edge seal for the bathroom vanity. I'll bring it with me and we can see if there's enough length for both of us.

Our 2023 Elite II with Truma air conditioning has a drain line on both sides, coming out the rear corners of the trailer, just forward of the bumper. I've used a 9-foot long sunroof drain cleaning tool to clear any obstruction on the street/driver's side of the trailer, but it is not long enough for the curb/passenger side. If I'm leaning right, the condensate will drain down the side instead of the drain tube. I need to try a longer string trimmer to clear that side.

Another cool project to add to the list! Thanks for documenting this.

It's for those of us who live in rainy climates, and don't want a waterfall running down the side of the trailer, and soaking everything within a couple of feet. It has rained every single trip except one since we bought our trailer! ⛈️😠⛈️

As always, John E Davies has documented this project:

That sounds like my kind of logic! Having happily sold our last sailboat several years ago, I recently came across a cool double-ender at a state park lake in Ohio. In trying to identify it, I ended up on a pocket yacht and trailer sailor Facebook group, and looking through Great Lakes brokerages... 😜

I linked to a Canada map and Canada/USA that I found on Google Images in the above post. Here are both files: