jd1923
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Posts posted by jd1923
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On 4/22/2024 at 11:49 AM, Geronimo John said:
We leave, I roll-er-up.
Y'all are very convincing. Yes, always keep it rolled up. 🤣
We nearly lost an awning, years ago, on a 26' race car trailer in a New Mexico sandstorm. Pulled over, strapped it up and pushed on to Arizona. I don't use them for the pain involved, and I like to sit in the sun!
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Just measured mine for you. I'll be looking at an LI upgrade at some point. OTT is correct that the inside tray measurements are 21" deep and 14" wide.
There was a recent upgrade by @rideadeuce removing the tray to install two monster Epoch 460AH LI batteries: Victron MP2 with (2) Epoch 460ah batteries. DAY #1 Removal, rewiring, mounts, routing wires - Ollie Modifications - Oliver Owner Forums (olivertraveltrailers.com)
If you were to remove the tray, the full inner measurements of the fiberglass battery bay on ours, 2016 hull #113, is 24 1/4" deep, 18" wide and 15 1/8" tall.
Hope this helps! 🙂
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On 4/29/2024 at 6:38 PM, taylor.coyote said:
Bent / sagging crossbeams
I have a related issue with some frame crossbeams. I have four and maybe more crossbeams that are sagging (have a belly in the middle)...
This piqued my interest, and I would like to see a picture of yours too. I got under our Oliver today after reading this. I see 4 crossbeams front of the suspension. 3 of 4 of ours have NO sag. The have an intentional arc but are fully supporting the hull left to right. The front one has a 3/8" gap at the center. The true front of the hull is held up by the heavy frame ahead of these 4 beams, so the first one looks to have no weight on it and merely holds left to right. I don't see much wrong with this, but yours may be worse if all four beams have sagged. It's certainly not the weight of cargo or a person on the inner shell.
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14 hours ago, Ronbrink said:
Yet another use for this!
Like the price! I always prefer a grease or wax over any spary product that drips after application and gets messy! Last WD-40 can I bought was in the 70s, maybe the 80s, really. WD the door hinges? NO, just pull the hinge pins and rub them with grease. Thank you for this.
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Finishing up our visit at Snow Canyon. It doesn't snow much here, so this Utah state park gets its name from two Latter-Day Saint pioneers, Lorenzo and Erastus Snow, who assisted in settling the area during the 1860s.
This is a mountain bikers paradise it appears, so many trails. They have a race starting here in a few days and the enthusiasts are showing up each day! They also have an amazing asphalt paved two-lane bike trail from here all the way down to St George. Is this the race route? We followed it for miles, going into town today for supplies.
Our final picture here is of the "Petrified Sand Dunes."
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On 4/26/2024 at 10:58 AM, MAX Burner said:
We applied some blue backcountry ski wax last summer - still smooth articulation in and out after 8 months, FYI.
Ours needs a lube job for sure! It's the last thing we struggle with, when breaking camp. Hmmm? It's been 18 years since I've skied and have since run out of ski wax. We traded our skis in for dirt bikes when we moved to Arizona! Art lives really close to the slopes of Taos NM though...
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And do we hear 15 pages?! 🤣 Going once, goin' twice, sold to a future post!
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It would be great to hear from @Going Coastal on their reason. Must have been enough reason for the time and money invested.
I also used to think the extra 6 gallons was a plus. But do you really get extra water? When the Fresh Tank empties the pump loses pressure and the 6-gal, 50 LBS of hot water just sits in the thank (yes you could open the pressure release and syphon it off, if empty and in a pinch).
I would think when needing a replacement, that an on-demand HWH would be the way to go. As long as our Suburban is working fine, we will keep it as-is, just purchased a new anode. The trip we're on now is the first time we tried the electric heating element, and it all works fine.
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New campground for 3 nights at Snow Canyon Utah State Park. Got here yesterday, several tight spots in a row with water and electric. Pretty place and everybody we meet is so nice, guests and staff.
You can just barely pull through to our site #8 and at first the streetside was 6" low. Using our LevelMatePRO+ we got that number down to 3.5" and the Andersen Levelers took care of the rest. Enjoyed our first night here!
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On 4/26/2024 at 10:14 PM, MAX Burner said:
The electric over hydraulic disk brake conversion kit's price point has skyrocketed...
We're thinking the larger 12" drums on the new running gear will meet our braking needs...
We never come close to the 7k# max GVWR for our camping style...
The upgrade from 10" to 12" trailer brakes is huge! Your braking efficiency will improve significantly. Are disc brakes better performance? Yes, better precision. Less maintenance? Yes. Extremely expensive, considering it's for a trailer! Yes!!!
You will have new dual 5200 LB axles, new 12" brakes with new bearings, new HD Alcan springs, shocks, wet bolts, U-bolts, etc. basically a new suspension. Very nice! 😂
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7000 LB GTWR is enough, as this limit is truly difficult to exceed. Any suspension upgrade is for performance and safety, not additional trailer capacity.
I imagine full-timers would go a little over this number. We would have to take everything out of the bed of my TV (spare the full 35-gallon water tank) and load it into the center aisle of the OTT to get over the GTWR. I measured ours during a first trip at 6000 LBS "travel-ready" and a Fresh Tank full. Now after 4 trips it's likely close to 6400 LBS.
There aren't enough cubic feet of actual storage space onboard to exceed the limit unless you fill all those little overhead cabinets with GOLD!
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Our Oliver is parked at Snow Canyon UT SP tonight and for three nights!
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As they say, "you win some and lose some." I believe it was all the changes we went through on our trip getting here, but simply stated, we played like cr@p!
We started the day losing but, in the end, we won big and had a great time at the tournament! We're thinking next year we'll just come to watch. They had a very short format for us amateur players. No time to get truly warmed up and play well.
Long story short, we watched 4 great matches courtside. The best was a with an ATP tennis pro we have followed since he first turned pro as a teenager in 2011. Jack Sock was a recent great US tennis player. His highest ATP world ranking was #2 in doubles, #8 in singles, and he medaled in the 2016 Olympics for the US. He retired from tennis last year and he says his second career in pickleball will be all about having fun! What a great player, humble/polite guy (always takes his hat off when shaking hands at the end of a match) and crowd favorite as he kids with the crowd regularly.
The pics will tell the story, but after catching an out ball, and a free Selkirk hat, Chris snapped the picture of me and Jack!
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@Ron and Phyllis the odds were against you, but with your TPMS alarm and your cool head in finding a good place to park, you really made the best of a bad situation. Good lesson you shared and we're glad to know you two are fine. 😂
Thinking back to the half dozen trailers I've owned, never going with a single axle. Needed a trailer for our dirt bikes years ago and looked hard and found a used 12 FT flatbed dual axle. Dual axles generally come on 14 FT trailers and longer, most are 16 FT. I've had blowouts on dual-axle trailers where you lose a fender but all else is good.
Thanks @topgun2 for the Dewalt compressor link. I need to get one of these when we resume spending on the Oliver (need a long break).
We are a Dewalt tool family, having 8-9 20V batteries between my son and us. I bring a Dewalt handheld leaf blower to blow dirt road dust off the Oliver and clean the camping mat. My son got me this for Christmas: Amazon.com: DEWALT 20V MAX* XR Leaf Blower, Cordless, Handheld, 125-MPH, 450-CFM, Tool Only (DCBL722B) : Patio, Lawn & Garden
And you gotta have 1-2 of these for the campsite, or to change that tire at night if need be. I got everybody in the family one, so they would not take mine anymore: DEWALT 20V MAX LED Work Light, 100 Degree Pivoting Head, Up to 1000 Lumens of Brightness, Cordless (DCL050) - Amazon.com
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On 4/23/2024 at 3:51 PM, ScubaRx said:
During multiple conversations with Alcan Spring in Colorado, the owner Lew Weldon, has stated that the correct weight rating is 2750 pounds per spring for a total of 11,000 pounds. They supply exactly the same spring for both the 3500 pound and the 5200 pound axles, the only difference being the U-Bolts provided which is based on the diameter of the axle itself.
Did you ask why @Mountainman198 was told (in writing I assume) and sold springs rated at 2K LBS?
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Valley of Fire was not in the stars for us this trip. We drove into the east entrance today, which should be less busy than the other side from I-15. There was a line of cars and trucks backed up a ways from the entrance gate. After 10 minutes they had only let one car through. Chris and I voted, and we decided to pass until our next time, perhaps on the way back or next year. At least we live relatively close. This is as close as we got! (see pic)
Pulled a big shoulder to shoulder U-turn and headed directly to St. George. Love how you can turn with the Oliver sharply without issue.
Nice cool breeze this evening. We hit the ball a little to warm up and watched some of our favorite pros practice. High tomorrow forecast is 77 for our tournament play-day (very nice if not too windy). High of only 62, chance of rain forecasted for Friday! Thankful for the cool. Snow Valley should be great next week.
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1 hour ago, rideandfly said:
Looks like a fine trip y'all are having!
Thank you. It sure started that way until we ran into some unexpected weather. Last year, the tournament was early vs. late April. We drove into St George on April 5, 2023, and the temps were in the 40s with snow flurries. We had a friend playing Womens Doubles that day. We grabbed coats and hats and watched for a while. Our matches were the next day and it got up to the high 60s and the rest of the week was perfect!
This year is a much different story, OMG! Getting ready the week before we noticed the forecast would be in the 80s for the tournament. But it got worse, and Chris is not a summer person at all. Driving out on Sunday, as we dropped 3500 FT leaving the elevation of the Prescott NF, it got hot and was in the high 90s the remainder of the drive. Yes, the pictures look nice, but what you can't see is Chris and Charley were hiding in the shade of the Oliver as the sun had just set.
It was 91 degrees in the Oliver, when we parked, and it stayed hot until 9 PM. We were in the Sonoran Desert at 2000 FT, so lows got down to the 60s and we slept well. Right now, I can remember @Patriot writing, "I like options" when he was referring to carrying a generator, that I was not wanting to do. Living SW, we don't summer camp and weren't thinking of high 90s in April.
The real issue was the next two nights, where we had booked 2 nights "no utilities" at Valley of Fire. How fitting is that name, when the forecast is 99 degrees? We wasted our reservation there and looked for a place with hookups to run the A/C! Ended up a bit short of our planned stay, two nights at Callville Bay RV Village Park, which we would not recommend. It's a park of rundown singlewides for weekend boating types, with 5-6 RV pads (picture taken Monday night).
Today we head to St George. Looks like a great route, driving by Pinto Valley and Jimbilnan Wilderness Areas on the way to Valley of Fire. We will at least drive into the valley to take a look. Then Moapa Valley, Mesquite NV and on to St. George tonight.
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10 hours ago, jd1923 said:
We spent a few years together…
I would ride a west-east commute from Lakeway TX to the VA data center in SE Austin (TX-71/US-290). In a car or truck it would take you a full hour+ any morning, more in the evening, but on this beast an easy 35 min! 🤣
Loved that job, the year was 2014. I would ride the bike 2-3 days a week to work, other days in our Passat TDI. Both vehicles got 38+ MPG city.
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Chris and I met playing tennis in 1991, and 3 years ago we transitioned to Pickleball for the community and it's also a little easier on our older bodies!
Chris has competed in a bunch of tournaments with her Ladies partner, and we have played a few mixed doubles together. Loved our visit to St George for this tournament last year and we are playing it again this week: Selkirk Red Rock Open in St. George, Utah | PPA Tour
So, it had the makings of a great Oliver trip. Thought we would boondock a first night just 2 hours from home, then 2 nights at Valley of Fire Nevada on the way. Starting tomorrow, we will spend 3 nights at a St George RV park right in town to be close to the tournament.
This was our first night, off Signal Rd in Wikieup AZ (pics below).
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5 hours ago, LeBill said:
... Upon investigation I found that the hitch pin I was using is slightly undersized, as were most of the other pins in my garage.
They make hitch pins in several sizes for tractor equipment, etc. Yet the standard 2" tow receiver always takes a 5/8" hitch pin or lock. You have the right one now.
Just 0.8mm smaller, which is very close to 1/32", I've never seen that size. There may be a 9/16", but the next standard size smaller is a 1/2" pin and that is 1/8" smaller, over 3mm. A smaller pin would certainly bang around a lot and is NOT safe at all. The 5/8" hitch pin or lock is all you really need.
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15 hours ago, Jason Foster said:
I was informed at Oliver that the aluminum bubble radiant barrier that completely wraps around the interior wall acts as a faraday cage...
Is this really true? Is the aluminum wrap everywhere? When I did our cellular router installation in the TV, working with MobileMustHave.com, they asked about the trailer being fiberglass vs. aluminum like the AS trailers. In an AS you have to install an access point inside of the trailer, since the roof-mounted Wi-Fi antennas cannot penetrate the AS shell. I got a free access point with my deal but did not need it to install it.
I'm typing this now inside our Oliver, parked on the north shore of Lake Meade. I'm getting 80 Mbps down, 20 up connected to the TV router which is parked outside of course. We have one window blind open, the other two in the sun ar closed. Run our computers, stream TV, not seeing much effect of the insulating wrap.
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We spent a few years together. An '08 R1200R at a home we had in Lakeway Texas.
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2 hours ago, Mike and Carol said:
The CGI team (4 young guys) worked on our trailer for about 10 hours. Power washer, multiple buffers, a lot of hand polishing and no beer drinking!!
Mike knows how to get 'er done the right way! 😂
Wish I had an "Ollie Hanger" like @Patriot! You really need to "wax" undercover or in the shade.
I don't believe I could get a permit for one on my property without spending a fortune. Local government is getting a bit Californian around here. And it's so hard to hide from the sun in the SW. It's another sunny day in Arizona, and our windy season just started. A couple months of wind until everything gets toasty dry out here! Each year we wait it out 'til the summer monsoons come.
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17 hours ago, Patriot said:
@jd1923
If you’re ever camping in the NC foothills or Blue Ridge Mountains and we are home, stop by and we will gladly share some of our berries with you and your bride/copilot. 👍🏻🫐Thank you, and you and yours are welcome here!
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Our Annual St George trip and PPA Pickleball Tournament
in Campgrounds & Parks
Posted · Edited by jd1923
Added link
Our trip has been one of weather extremes, from the high 90s 10 days ago in S NV to a high of 63 in Cedar City Utah yesterday. We spent the night at a BLM site (free dispersed camping), the Parowan Gap Petroglyphs: Utah Petroglyphs | Parowan Gap | Visit Utah. The low overnight was 28 and now that it's 10:30 AM it's 50 and feels very warm in the sun (altitude 5600 FT).
What a difference a day makes, not only in temperatures, but the contrast between a busy state park and the open BLM. Here our closest neighbors, 4 of them are a minimum of 300 yards away. We met two great couples at Snow Canyon, and then we heard complaining from some not-happy campers.
A Class-A with Florida plates, parked in a narrow site like ours a couple spaces down. Slides open on both sides, one was nearly touching the shade structure and the other was hanging over the shared hookups. Common S FL dress, where the couple came out in wool hats and winter coats, since it was only 70 out! The Oregon couple next to them in the Sprinter Class-B had much to say about the space they were taking and running their basement HVAC all day and night, so they cranked up their stereo! Chris and I looked at each other thinking yep, it's time to leave!
We’re wearing shorts of course. Gave Charley a bath on our way out that morning, by backing the truck bed right to the Oliver outdoor shower. Better washing the dog at a good height. We hitched up, filled fresh, dumped the tanks, and I used the campground shower myself after everything else was done. And we headed north, SR-18 north, to SR-56 east to SR-130 north, a very nice route avoiding I-15.
This location will be great for the next few days since it's warming up again. We're also 45 minutes to Cedar Breaks National Monument which is the one great SW-Utah park that we have not yet visited. The mountain we can see from our campsite is Brian Head Peak (11,307 FT).