jd1923

They should all fit the 14x14 opening. It's more so re thermostat change and how the condensate drips. Truma requires a special fiberglass build. Personally, I've had enough of Dometic, with the noisy Penguin in the Oliver and another Dometic where the fan lost alignment, shifted and jammed beyond repair in the Bigfoot we had. Anything but Dometic for me. @Geronimo John and several others have installed Houghton models, many threads here. @rideadeuce has scheduled a professional install of the Atmos 4.4 next week and I'm sure Mike will post info on that. I'm looking forward for this feedback compared to cited Houghton issues. Both of these models run the fan continuously which is something I will NOT live with. Known issues are humidity, not an issue for our climate, but I'm not sleeping with a fan running all night. Houghton has cycling issues, without moving the thermistor or something, not cool. There is a relay fix for the Houghton fan and if we go Atmos, I will figure out a relay fix, or hopefully somebody online does so first. The Atmos switches automatically from cooling to heat pump and can do so at dawn when it gets colder. I cannot get confirmation whether there are two set temps, for cooling vs. heat. Again, not cool. Is there a manufacture out there that understands these issues, who makes a better design?

I've warned about this in a few posts. I would fear issues with the ECM too, throwing codes. What kind of alternator is that? Chevy/GM Delco or more likely special aftermarket? Wow, twice the amps output of an OEM alternator. I would like to find one for the Cummins. 200A at highway speeds would be good enough!

Black tread and white powder-coat steps to match the Ollie. That would be so cool! I didn't consider that for the expense and a couple days driving back and forth to Phoenix in the summer (been 115 down there lately). Too bad there are no metal cleaning or powder coating services up here.

I should get mine off the shelf and install it. The list is still long!

Rich, I cannot swear by this product, just something I chose two years ago (wow, price has gone up 50%). The product works likes a paste wax easy to hand buff: Amazon.com: McKee's 37 Ceramic Wheel Sealant | Top Coat Polish, Brake Dust Repellent, and Ceramic Protectant for Wheels… : Automotive When restoring our '08 GX470, I purchased new KMC wheels. I felt the need to protect this investment for dirt roads we travel. As soon as Tire Rack delivered the wheel/tire combo, Chris helped with her better patience and rubbed this product into every opening of the new wheels. I rubbed it out and we worked a second coat. I don't have a recent picture, but they still look very nice. We run them through the car wash, and I pressure washed them a few times to clean within. I hope the Oliver steps look as good in a few years or more. I was thinking what can I use to slow aluminum oxidation after such deep sanding? I did some online looking and ceramic came up when I remembered, I have a tub of that!

I knew she was you Sherry, Jedi Master! You're the best and I am weak in my needs for my hi-rez TV monitor, with HD soundbar! 12V cannot compare for this and other needs. We must charge our laptops on the road, the Dewalt 20V charger for the many tools I use at home and some away (extra charger in the attic). Oh yeah, Chris uses a blow-dryer every few days when away and we will use our new oven likely every other day. We prefer to stay away from campgrounds, truly dislike RV parks, and soon will be able to do so more so with these batteries, an inverter/charger upgrade and other smaller upgrades as necessary. I would like to get to the point to lose the shore power cord. We avoid summer weather but run into it on occasion and want an efficient A/C and the ability to run it afternoons. This way we can travel anywhere in the west, spur of the moment, given the ample FS and BLM lands, camp almost anywhere without reservations and worry.

Any chance you can ask for the hard measurements? I’d like to measure mine to see. Thanks

Well @MAX Burner travels in and out of NM where it’s sunny 90% of the time and Art has a capable DC-to-DC charger. @rideadeuce Mike used his 920AH in a test running the A/C 8 hours on the highway. Beautiful pics btw, most showing dense clouds. Very soon you will have the Atmos A/C installed and that should run 50% longer, all else being equal. 600AH should be good for us. I will mount the two front-to-back. They are just under 14” at the base and will fit nicely. There will be 6” extra width in the tray to fill. If I want a 3rd in the future, I can remove the tray to fit another. We have Oliver owners where their style is not using an inverter. Personally, I don’t get that extreme. We just replaced our microwave with an air fryer and after this upgrade, Chris can run the oven anytime and anywhere. I’ll need an Inverter upgrade next and these batteries may sit on the shelf until I install both together, clean up the 4/0 cables. I was ready to spend $500 more for 920AH, if they had fit, but not double for 920AH with Victron Comms, that I would hardly have a need for.

Hull #113 now being 8 years old has needed a lot of upgrades and M&R our first year of ownership. A point of contention as always been the manual stairs, the back-breaking effort it takes to pull them down, metal on metal, and more so to put them up. I had greased the moving parts, and it did not seem to help much. Pressure washing it last time, an edge of the slip-resistant tape came off. Prior owner had wrapped the steps with some kind of rubber cushion and that dirtied the steps where it laid. They looked awful. It was time for proper restoration! I disassembled all components of the stairs so they could be cleaned and reconditioned in my shop. If you do this, make sure you have everything you need out of the Oliver as it is very difficult to get inside afterwards! First, I used a heat gun to loosen the glue on the tape and scraped it off. The glue residue was intense. I used 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner, and it barely budged it. The rest I sanded off using a cordless Dewalt orbital sander and near a dozen sanding discs. There are better sanding tools, but this is what I had. After more and more detail sanding the aluminum started to look pretty good. The key detail work to getting the stairs to operate easier was to file the groove the axle slides within (see pic 2). I used a small hand file and spent an hour working it in the direction of the movement. Most of the machining marks were 90 degrees the wrong direction. I only sanded this groove on the base as I did not want to detail that whole frame, just the steps. I used this product for the stair surfaces: Amazon.com: 3M Safety-Walk Slip Resistant Tape, 4 in x 15 ft, Anti Slip Tape, Adhere Without Wrinkling, Curling, Tearing, Shrinking or Lifting, Self-Adhesive Backing For Quick & Easy Application (610B-R4X180) : Industrial & Scientific After sanding and placement of the anti-slip tape, I applied an automotive ceramic coating to all the sanded aluminum to slow oxidation. Got to this point today. Friday I will have time to remount. The frame is held on with 4 standard carriage bolts and nylon locknuts. The two stairs are connected to each other with a short, geared press-fit specialty bolt with a Torx-55 head, that are not easy to remove. Pictures were taken before applying the ceramic coating. It should look great when mounted. Boy, I hate sanding and polishing work! 🤣

Did hull #45 come with 5200 LB axles, or did you upgrade? Either way it should not be an issue for you. I was thinking @Wayfinder has 3500 LB axles and wanted to upgrade but could not for some reason, TBD or not. I have the lighter axles with EZ-Flex added and want to know what the deal with upgrading is to 5200s. Good thing for now mine are in excellent condition. OTT service by all accounts is wonderful for those who can afford the time, the travel and cost of getting there. Way too much for me on all accounts. Getting true specs and technical data from OTT is like pulling teeth. It would be great to learn something specific here.

Got to upgrade the A/V system…

Y’all are amazing! A few weeks into this and your Oliver is already heads up over some of ours, where in my case we’ve been working hard for over a year. Maybe that’s due to your 6 years of careful thinking and planning. G-bless!

After years, we stained our deck again. Chris went to Depot with a printout of the stain I wanted. She came home with something the Orange-Aproned HD associate substituted, some acrylic cr@p. Took another trip to the Depot to get “oil-penetrating” stain. There are soooo many hyped bad products marketed today. I have a saying, “if they spend $$$to create a commercial to sell their product, buy something else!”

No, too much insulation in some of these mods will produce too much heat retention and bearings or seals will fail over time.

I purchased this LED fan last year, was going to install it… Hate to get on a ladder, on a tall incline, gravel drive, uneven ground. The OEM fan still works fine. Working on other upgrades as this items sits in waiting. One day…

Bit the bullet today and I will soon be 600AH into LiFePO4! 🤣 These were $1,100 ea since I first heard of Epoch. They just dropped the price $100 and are running a 4th of July sale, 10% off another $100, and free shipping, NO sales tax, life is good!

Got to know the details on these axles fitting. Hull 110, OTT says does not fit. Mine is hull 113 so likely the same as yours. @MAX Burner is hull 226 and I believe Art had OTT install new axles before the annual rally.

I'm interested in the AXLES question that @CRM asked too! Hull 113 got new window shades a couple years ago. They fit nice and do not fall off as some have mentioned. I dislike how the shades stick out so far when sleeping or leaning at the dinette. How do we know if we have "new large windows" or not? Measurements?

I had a chat with Renewable Outdoors today. They are responsive. Turns out the Epoch 460AH is approx. 9.5", Epoch website numbers are correct, their User Manual is wrong. Two Epoch Essentials 460AH will NOT fit in the battery bay, but as Mike has shown here, two 460 with Victron Comms (more $$$) will fit. I'm starting to think re two Epoch 300AH which will fit in the tray and likely 600AH is enough for our needs. Their sale is still on today, but not much longer.

It’s enough! 275A x 12 VDV = 3,300W. So you can run your A/C plus your microwave, at the same time across this beautiful piece of copper! Limiting factors will never be the copper bus, but instead your inverter or the cabling to it. Go with the proven design that @katanapilot has illustrated. Nice install! This copper 1/8x1x6” busbar on your B- terminal is likely a superior conductor than what your LifePo4 battery manufacturer has designed internal to the battery terminal, for sure! That’s all that counts at the final ground to the battery.

Do your batteries charge on shore power? What brand solar charger? What does the SC panel read vs. the Victron app? Besides the SC ON/OFF switch, there should be a dedicated breaker. Did you check that?

It's hard to find a simple wire gauge chart. This one is not bad. 14 AWG can handle 10A on short runs <10 and 5A up to 20FT. I did buy the Beech Lane fan. It will get here before the weekend, so I hope to work this install then. The spec is 7.2W which translates to only 0.6A in 12 VDC. According to the chart, you could use as small as 18 AWG. Most DIY installers go with heavier than required when cost is less a concern. For me, I've had several spools of 14 AWG, one 12AWG, a spool of thermostat cable and some others from a commercial project back in the 90s. I've used this inventory on dozens of auto/home/RV installations ever since. Wonder what shelf life is on stranded copper? It still looks like new; copper is bright, insulation supple. What does copper cost today? Likely 5x what we spent 30 years ago.

I had one more step to finalize this mod. Love it when I can cross something off the to-do list! Don't we all. 🤣 I deleted the duct under the bed and installed a return duct filter, so the deleted air duct needed the finishing touch. What is important is that no return air comes through this opening. The other consideration is the added return duct will throttle the return air, pull it a little more slowly, creating a stronger air pull through the basement. This is key to the basic design and will certainly help to protect the entry water plumbing (City Water and Fresh Tank inlets) in the rear of the Oliver (objective #2). Bought this item on Amazon: Amazon.com : NVAAV 4 Inch Boat Round Inspection Deck Plate Hatch with Detachable Cover and Pre-drilled Holes, Water Tight for Kayak Marine Boat Yacht Outdoor Installations : Sports & Outdoors Not the best quality, basically a cheap aftermarket part. I would not use it as an external deck plate, as the rubber seal was no good, so I went without it. The duct is a 4" opening and the deck plate for the water heater shut-off is 5", so my first thought to use the same part would not work. It was a snug fit, so I filed the opening just a little. Replaced the screws included in the package with a size smaller that I had on hand. Looks good in the end. I enjoy the look of our water valve switches, the return duct and deck plates, all now complete!

This part always gets me too! The feeling of "FINALLY" getting to your stop, after a road trip with bad weather and white knuckles. And I'll drive 30 miles longer on a back road not to get nerved up from standstill traffic as well. Must be my city roots. Glad to see you're up and running. Enjoy the boondocking in the mountains while you can! 🙂

The City Water hose connection is to use sinks/toilet directly. Prior to Boondocking, at your last water source, you must connect the supply hose to the Fresh Tank connection to fill your fresh tank. The City Water connection will not do this. With a full Fresh Tank and the valves pictured above in the Normal position, your water pump should pull from the Fresh Tank for use. Perhaps you missed the fill step and if so you will have to drive for water.