jd1923

Yeah GJ, you got me! I'm used to old trucks and having owned 5 gas engine trucks through the 80s and 90s, not a one of them got more than 12 MPG, city or highway. I'm behind on auto technology, and some of these high torque v6 engines are getting impressive. I guess I never cared much since I bought my first diesel Ram exactly 20 years ago (New Years Eve 2023). What range or MPG does your F-150 3.5 EB get pulling an EII, driving out west? I will tell you that on that same trip, the stock 2001 2nd Gen Ram Cummins got 19 MPG (some I-40 Interstate, but more mountain county roads and city). Our beautiful '08 Lexus GX470, with the Toyota 4.7L engine got only 13.8 MPG on the same trips. Under the Christmas tree is an Edge Juice w/ Attitude for my Cummins. The Level I setting should get better fuel mileage for around town. Level II is supposed to increase torque for towing. Levels 3-5 are for the crazies that like to burn rubber, run tractor pulls and blow diesel smoke! I'll enter a post on this later.

Sorry, tire pressure is not a matter of opinion! ☺️ Every truck, trailer and RV owner should measure the weight of each axle on a scale, then review the tire manufacture's load chart for your specific tire. Over-inflating is not being safer. It causes poor handling which is a safety issue, and internal damage (trailer construction issues, etc.) from excessive vibration. Under-inflating is certainly an issue as FMC learned 20 years ago over their Explorer fiasco. I weighed our EII during a camping trip and it came to right at 6K LBS. According to Michelin, I can run the tire minimum of 40 PSI (BTW @John E Daviesrecommends 42 PSI). The GVWR of the OTT EII is of course 7000 LBS and we should likely plan on running at load. Notice that at 50 PSI in the table, the dual rating is 3530 LBS, times 2 equals 7060 LBS. We are not running dually's, But tandem trailer wheels are very close (4 times the single rating comes to 1940 x 4 = 7760 LBS. OTT EII trailers should be run between 40 and 50 PSI, not higher as OTT and other RV manufacturers recommend (purely for liability reasons). I've been running mine at 48 PSI, and I will likely go lower to 45 next time out. The OTT Elite I has a GVWR of 5000 LBS on a single axle. I do not know the full specs, but let's assume the tires are the same Michelin model and size. The table shows that 70 (4880 LBS) is required (given these assumptions). The full 5000 LBS GVWR comes in right at 72.5 PSI. If you are pulling an Elite I empty, at 3700 LBS dry weight, 48 PSI would do! Say your EI weighs 4400 LBS, then 60 PSI is correct. If the EI has these same tires, pressures should run from 48 PSI empty to 72 PSI at full GVWR. BTW, this is MORE important in single-axle trailers and even more so for your tow vehicle. I'll take a blowout in my trailer (even with the resulting damage) over a blowout in the TV any day! Weigh your OTT and TV, check the load tables and run at correct pressure for your load, not what the sticker says. Agilis® CrossClimate® | Michelin Truck (michelinrvtires.com) Can we now end the tire pressure threads?

EVs are for commuters, grocery-getters and soccer-Moms living in cities and suburbs, where every 24 hours you know exactly where you are going to plug-in (at home)! And it is in the cities where lower emissions are needed. No interest at all over here. Used my diesel truck recently to drive to Las Vegas for work. There and back, went 580 miles, on one tank of fuel. Try that with a gasser or worse yet an EV. Figure we will get a good 480 miles a tank towing, though so far we have only taken local camping trips. Camping with an EV TV? Which one are you going to plug in? 🤣 Tesla cars look odd enough to my old eyes. This truck looks worse. Couldn't they spend a little more fab time and round out those wheel wells? Really bad lines! Yuch

I used 3M 4950 VHB on the paper towel holder too (first pic), love the stuff! If I wanted the shelf magnets removed, it would take 20-30 minutes to remove and clean up.

I was able to install this without any permanent scar to the Oliver. The magnets came with screws, instead I used 3M 4950 VHB. The earth magnets are staggered for strength, and I taped an aluminum bar to the shelf (see pic) so it would not slide down. It sits on the upper 3 magnets. It takes a good pop to remove the shelf! Took more time thinking than the work to install. Figure the shelf will sit between the mattress and the nightstand when we are sleeping. Nice budget on this mod. Shelf, magnets and tape from Amazon. Amazon.com: DIY CARTEL Made in USA Linear Floating Shelf - USA Manufactured Steel - Industrial Heavy Duty Metal Wall Mounted Modern Farmhouse Rustic Designed Shelf (24-in X 8-in Powder Coated White) : Home & Kitchen

Coming from 30-40 ft RVs, the Oliver kitchen is just a little small. And we love our big breakfasts and dinners, married a great cook! At first, I was thinking we need a shield, something to protect the bedding from cooking spatters. Newer Olivers have their 2-burner stove turned 90 degrees, but now we're glad ours is facing the cook. Next thought was why not a shelf instead. The shelf would need to be removeable for bedtime. This is the result of a few ideas.

Thought I would bump this. Love the pics! I searched for "drawers" in post titles and there it was, of course by @John E Davies! Thank you, John. My problem is with a herniated C3-C4 disc, I cannot stand to contort my neck anymore to look under tables, dashboards, etc. Too many decades of car repair and installation work and years sitting at computers, I guess. I wanted to look back there, given another JD post on loose plumbing, and we're installing a removeable kitchen shelf. I'll make another post on that. Thanks again JD! ☺️

Gotta love this comment, "once!" I never thought the microwave/convection oven was such a great idea. At home we love our Emeril Air-Fryer. Couple years ago, his small model was on sale for $100 (now $200) and I bought two at the time (it measures 19x15x10"). We keep it under the front dinette seat where it fits nicely. In fact, there's enough room down there for a small pressure cooker and Chris' blow dryer too! I have a rubber mat under it and a short appliance extension cord so we can run it anywhere, inside or outside. At 1500W it can also run off the inverter when our batteries are good. merileveryday.com/shop/air_fryer_ovens/emeril_lagasse_power_airfryer_360

Every time I work an install, I see stuff that's not right! OTT makes a GREAT double clamshell hull and then they just become another RV company. I worked as a professional auto accessory installer, back in the 70s-80s when cars came with AM radios and not much else. This work paid for college, and I must have installed over 100 car stereos, 60 auto alarms, 30 cruise controls, gas tanks, moonroofs and more. Management told us repeatedly to NEVER use 3M Scotchloks, that ALL connections must be spliced and crimped! Scotchloks are prone to failure, as they only just cut the insulation and touch the wire. 3M Scotchlok Electrical IDC 560B-BOX, Double Run or Tap, Flame Retardant, Blue, 18-16 AWG (solid/stranded), 14 AWG stranded (Pack of 25) - Fastener - Amazon.com This is all I found under the dinette, connecting the 12V USB connections under the dinette, and the CO monitor (I believe that's the unit under the seat) and 3M Scotchloks are used to connect the water pump too. Look at the 4" square cutout for this panel! We are ALL so worried about drilling into the fiberglass. This device ONLY needs 12VDC connections. A 1/4" hole would suffice and they cut a 4" square hole! OMG, which actually made their install harder as you can see the mounting screws just made contact. The double-white wire is power to the LevelMatePRO+ that I installed with crimp parts and taped. I rewired the CO monitor and USB ports that I found disconnected. Not pretty, but all fixed now and should be more reliable. I did tie up the wires after the picture. Hoping y'all with hull numbers >1000 have better installations. We bought an old hull, and I can only fix so much. 🙃

We purchased the LevelMatePRO+ as a suggestion from @Ollie-Haus on a Black Friday post in our General Discussion forum (thank you Ollie!). We bought ours at the Black Friday price, about $110 total, taxed and shipped. Get the + model, as it can be hardwired via micro-USB, battery removed. It scared me seeing pics of this device screwed into the Oliver fiberglass, or even taped in position viewable in the living area. These devices do not need to be mounted in eyes view. I mounted ours under the rear dinette seat, where ample 12VDC connections can be made (see pic). Ours is screwed into the PD5100 Automatic Transfer Switch. Two 1/8" holes in this plastic housing vs. drilling into fiberglass seemed like a good idea. The installation instructions are wrong. They state to hardwire to 12VDC to cut the USB cable and to wire the white to +12V and the black to ground. This is wrong as the RED wire is +12VDC standard on all USB cables. Anyway, it's wired correctly now, and the final step would be for me to level the trailer to calibrate. Otherwise, it works well enough as-is since it was mounted pretty close to level.

I decided the external filter made more sense. This way I can fill the 35-gal tank on my truck bed using it also, or when boondocking fill via the rear winterizing port. Mine looks like this - Even though I built this for just over $200 (all parts and first filter set) and ClearSource sells their unit for $400 plus tax, I would never suggest you go this route. It's way easier to buy their pretty well-built unit. It is extremely difficult to drill the 8 holes for the top-mounts without a template. Same for the side openings, to be centered at right depth! Just as hard to find a box, plastic or metal, that is 14x12x6" and not larger or smaller. Water will come in from the left. I had to add the 4" hose since my first female hose connection does not turn. I have a 4 FT hose on the right, that will stay on the filter and connect to the Oliver. I purchased a 10 FT hose for the connection and then of course we have a 25' and 50' hose when needed. I wasn't thinking of a faucet at first but found this one in a plumbing parts drawer and it's perfect. With this, you can run on City water when available, close the valve and switch the hose to the Fresh Tank inlet to bring some with you for the next stop (and refill my truck mounted tank). The junction box came with a cover. You can see the hinge for it, but I'm thinking it just adds unnecessary weight, and filled with water this will be very heavy. Waited long for some of these parts, and it's done!

Now you are going to have to get up there to remove the leaves from the guard! 🤣 A lot more drill holes. I prefer to practice "less is more" but your install looks great!

Sorry, just seeing this a month later... I would use 3M VHB 4950 tape. You must clean ALL old adhesive, down to bare metal or plastic, clean with alcohol on both surfaces. I get so many products with two-sided tape included and if the mount is important, I throw it out and use the 3M product.

It's on my Amazon Wishlist, must be the right time. Thank you!

@SeaDawg what happened to the back half of your Ollie? Yeah, those lil' Ollies are so cute! Still daylight out west, near sunset. On my first drink, but don't worry, I'll catch up to y'all soon. 🤣 No camping here today, just a simple oven-roasted holiday bird. Our son Adam just came upstairs to mash potatoes, the old-fashioned way, with homemade gravy, yum! Love the cartoon supplied by @mountainoliver - thank you! To all, have fun with your family & friends and Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to ALL! Chris is making her usual magic in the kitchen today. We should get a fire going in the fireplace! Listening now to classical music. We're going to take some time this long weekend to plan some upcoming camping trips (for Dec, Feb and April). All I've been doing is working on our Oliver, and more so on the truck. We need to get out again! Mid December we will travel to some warmer parts of SW AZ. Starting with a few nights at Burro Creek Campground, we will swing through Quartzite for a night or two, on way to Yuma (I need to work in a dental visit in Los Algodones). You can dry-camp at the Quechan Casino (Indian Territory right there on the boarder). Interested in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, perhaps there is camping there, or other BLM boondocking between Yuma and Quartzite. Will hit Wickenburg on the way back, eat lunch at Cowboy Cookin' and boondock again at Vulture Mountain. Final stop at Lake Pleasant Regional Park, located in the NW Phoenix Valley. There is always day-of dry-camping available, empty your tanks and fill with decent fresh water. We've been to some of these spots, but never in an Oliver! Now that I wrote it, I believe we have most of our first plan done!

Thanks GJ, for your well-written simple instructions. My question is, what about vinegar? I read here in a few posts to also bypass the (Suburban) HWH. Reading posts on other sites and YouTube videos show descaling the HWH with vinegar (but yes, bypass the HWH when sanitizing with bleach). What do y'all think?

Planning to soon descale the water lines with vinegar and after that is good and rinsed, I will sanitize the lines with a bleach solution - WARNING!!! Just realized you CANNOT have Pine-Sol in the black and gray tanks when working these procedures! Pine-Sol contains glycolic acid, when mixed with bleach will create chlorine gas, which is immediately lethal. Same reason we do not mix bleach and vinegar. Pine-Sol plus vinegar is not as bad, as they contain two similar acids. Pine-Sol company states specifically not to mix there cleaner with any others.

Thank you @Galway Girl. It may be hard to capture another picture, though a good picture of the connections would be great! Can anyone explain the OEM install? Are the incoming wires coming from the output of the PD5100? (The PD5100 is the shore power ATS.) Does the outgoing cable feed the PD4000 Power Control Center (containing the 120V circuit breakers)? Newer units may have newer PD model numbers, but all would have an ATS (automatic transfer switch) and a 120V AC power panel. This would be my guess, if I were to install this, but wondering how OTT does it at the factory?

Found an issue with our fresh tank. Even though I have drained it twice to date (since our June purchase), this week it would not drain. The trailer is also not quite level. So, I filled the fresh tank, leaving the drain valve open and water came out of the overflow, and not the drain. 🙃 I understand OTT suggests blowing air up the drain opening. I can try that. I have to cut the PEX to replace the drain valve with a simple motorized valve. It would sure be good to have the tank drained first. Any other ideas?

The blue one is US Solid brand, and the two 3-way valves are HSH-Flo brand. All have 1/2" NPT threads, so all good there. I wasn't thinking China brass still has lead, though that makes sense. These appear to be modern brass in color, but their ad does not specify. The amount of exposed brass is minimal once threaded in place, and we don't drink RV fresh tank water anyway. The internals include a SS ball valve with a PVC bushing and sleeve. Perhaps we should have gotten the SS model for $123 ea vs. these for $65 ea? The Misol with the BPT threads are cheaper brass and under $30 ea. All of these valves claim no power consumption when not in use, but I thought why not have the 12VDC+ feed open, when not in use, and the momentary switches facilitate this. I will install all switches where the down position is the default position for what OTT calls normal camping position. Truly love your onboard compressor installation! So convenient having air right at the tires. I will have onboard air on our TV soon, which is a component of an exhaust brake system. Like you, I have never truly winterized, can't see that chemical in the lines, "safe" or not, and the weather here is also mild. We blow out our lines prior to any consistent overnight extreme lows. When I was on the Bigfoot forum, a knowledgeable long-time member from Calgary BC only used air to blow out his lines. No issues whatsoever up in that extreme cold, where their daytime highs are often colder than our overnight lows! We were born and raised in Chicago. Lived south for 24 years now, and we're never living real winter weather again. I want the two 3-way valves to be switched independently so that I can use the winterization mode to draw vinegar to the faucets to descale the lines and after rinsing thoroughly, add bleach water to sanitize the lines. Why not, for the cost of an extra DPDT switch? (package of 3 for $14)

Got some plumbing done today. Decided a mounting board was unnecessary and instead connected the accumulators on an old bracket I had, everything wrapped in pipe foam. It should sit nicely on the interior wheel well (see build pic). Yes @Ronbrink just 4 hose clamps, found some automotive compression clamps that fit tight, too bad I didn't have 4. You want a few feet of soft hose by the pump and accumulators so that it runs quieter. I also spent an hour at Depot, figuring out their PEX and SharkBite supplies! I'm thinking some of these will help with the motorized valve installation: SharkBite 1/2 in. Push-to-Connect x MIP Brass 90-Degree Elbow Fitting U280LFA - The Home Depot

I finally understand what Steve was saying here. I purchased the wrong switches! The DPDT switch wired in a cross-pattern (must have 6 leads), allows for switching the +/- leads to the motor. After you run the motor one direction, switch the other way to reverse polarity and the motor runs backwards. I will need two DPDT switches though. One is enough is all you want to do is switch from pulling from the fresh tanks while running to the faucets (normal dry-camping position), then switch both valves at once, to pull from the rear port and push to the tank (for boondocking, fresh tank fill). One DPDT switch will do this. But I will install one DPDT switch on each valve motor to achieve the third position, for winterizing (or to push sanitizer to the faucets). I decided on a momentary DPDT switch: TWTADE 3 Pcs Momentary Heavy Duty Rocker Toggle Switch 6 Pin 3 Position (ON)-OFF-(ON) DPDT 16A 250VAC Spade Terminal Metal Boat Switch With Waterproof Boat Cap And 6.3mm Terminal Wires TEN-223MZX-B223: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific This switch rests in the middle (open/disconnected) position. Hold it up for 5 seconds to set the valve one way, then hold it down for 5 seconds to turn the motor and valve the other way. With the momentary DPDT switch, the center fallback position makes it that there is no current draw at the motorized switches when not in use. You would want to do this differently if you wanted to utilize the LED light features of these 5-wire motorized ball valves, but I decided no lights, Keep It Simple Silly (KISS)! Was ready to wire up the valves today, but the new switches will get here Friday after Thanksgiving.

We're glad solar and 2000W inverter was factory installed by OTT in our hull. We likely would not have bought our older used Oliver without it. Like Seadawg, we had a 1000W inverter before (for us, in a previous RV). We used it for 1-2 years (prior to me installing an integrated 2KW unit). It ran my entire large-screen A/V system and coffee in the morning, an 1100W coffee pot or other small appliance, multiple computer adapters, all while watching the morning news). These are cheap and relatively easy to install, if just wired to 1-2 dedicated 120V outlets. I believe mine had 4GA battery cables only 3-4 FT long. You could install one under the dinette rear seat, short cable run to the batteries. It would be easy to run an outlet under the table for a coffee pot or toaster. It's right there on the other wall! A second run to the rear attic is not as simple, but for an experienced installer it would take 30 minutes. For us, I would build in a 3KW inverter system and upgrade the A/C too, but this could be done quickly for a few hundred dollars. Nobody likes running generators. Like SeaDawg wrote, "Much depends on your camping style, and your battery power." 🙂

Given hulls 113 and 797 have these, from 2016 to 2021, that's a lot of Olivers. Later they went to dual inline valves to achieve 3-way functionality. Having these restrictions on BOTH the pull and push side of this 3 GPM water pump, is likely the biggest reason for getting less than half the stated flow rate. I would suggest you time filling a gallon water bottle at both faucets. 48 seconds was my result, on both after 2 trials each, which calculates to 1.25 GPM. The electric 3-way valves I am using have near 1/2" openings (12mm). However, they are not going to be easy to install for two reasons. First OTT does not mount their valves, as one was dangling airborne and the other was wrapped in foam, leaning against the inner wheel well! The motorized valves are somewhat heavier and should be mounted. Also, this model motorized 3-way valves does not have a straight-through position. One position is 90 left and supply 12V+ and the other position is 90 degrees right. This will take some realignment of the PEX connecting the two valves. Or I believe a 90-degree fitting on each valve should work. More on this later...