jd1923

Impulse All-In-One Roller Shades for RVs - MCD Innovations

Thanks, Rob! Your local upholstery shop should be able to produce something equivalent when using quality materials and attention to detail. Our shop used high-density upholstery foam and Sunbrella fabric. This brand is designed for outdoor furniture and comes in dozens of colors!

Bill has provided a lot of good advice here! Agreed, the worst thing you can do is the campground slow drain-as-using routine. Always drain tanks as near full as possible. And it's better to dump after towing, for a cleaning action to break down the solids. Thinking in this way, we often dump when we arrive at a campsite vs. as we're leaving (no long lines at the dump station either). Our Black Tank mostly empties in about 20 seconds and the Grey in a minute or two max. We always camp with the nose up about 3/4" on the LevelMatePRO to help out the water pump. We always dump tanks with the nose up 2-3" and the curbside leveler up 1-2". If you fail to raise the curbside, you can think the grey is empty and it's still partially full (see Bill's picture above). IMHO SeeLevel readings are next to useless. They say these are more accurate than other brands, but they all show bad readings. We've learned from experience how many days the fresh tank will last (depending on showers taken), and when the Black and Grey waste tanks will fill (for battery SOC get a shunt with Bluetooth). Think about your usage and learn. I stopped looking at our SeeLevel display long ago. We put some TP in our Oliver toilet which does not cause an issue when draining tanks properly. Of course, you don't want TP nor solids sitting on the bottom of an empty tank, so always add at least 1 gallon of fresh water prior to toilet use and have the bowl half-full when using. We used to add cleaners but stopped doing that except for an occasional cleaning as-needed. If ours were ever to drain slowly at the dump station, after dumping I would refill both waste tanks about 3/4 full, add some low-suds laundry detergent in both tanks. Then tow onto our next destination to use the road for cleaning action, dump on arrival at the next campsite. To fill the black or grey 3/4 full, I use a gallon counter on the hose. The black tank has a hose connection, and I put the hose right down the kitchen sink drain to fill the grey. After cleaning, refill both tanks and drain again until the water looks clear. If you do not have one already, your drain hose should have a clear section or elbow where you can see the liquids while draining. In storage have a couple gallons of water in all 3 tanks (don't worry, nothing bad will happen if a tank 10% full freezes).

We do not have the king setup, but we did replace EVERY cushion in our Oliver! Also hated a king topper we had at home years ago. We'd sink into the foam making us sleep HOT! We now use Brooklyn Bedding at home and the Oliver. They manufacture in the Phoenix West Valley and have every RV mattress size imaginable. They roll up and box their mattresses and ship everywhere. If you're ever down here, they have several store locations across The Valley. RV Mattresses by Brooklyn Bedding They have new models this year, with hybrid (foam/coil) models in RV sizes. We purchased two 30x75" foam beds 2 1/2 years ago for our twin bed setup. We went with 12" mattresses based on the fact that the taller the mattress the softer the feel (you can see that in their charts). The 12" mattresses are heavy, but Chris is able to lift them/stand them sideways to work the sheets. I'd prefer a shorter/lighter mattress for the Oliver, but they might be too firm. Time to take care of our older bodies! We had to replace the dinette cushions too. The original cushions were 4" and we made ours 5" tall. We had these custom upholstered at a local shop with higher quality foam for $500 OTD. Boy, the OEM ones were ugly, and my bony butt doesn't hit the hard fiberglass right through the cushions anymore! 😎

From what I’ve heard Mike, you started serving our country back on its 200th birthday! Thank you Mike, and all our Oliver Veterans for your years of service! 😂 We all have to continue to fight for our country in these difficult times. It makes this 250th all the more special! God Bless America!!!

There are several of us here!

Just pressure cook any decent beef roast! Sometimes she adds a few cuts of meat but nothing expensive. You want flavor, the tenderizing comes from cooking. Then it's beef broth and Italian seasonings (PM me for recipe). In a separate pan, steam sliced Sweet Peppers (Chicago for steamed green peppers). She makes this in the Oliver too as we have a mini pressure cooker under the front dinette seat! And if you like Hot Peppers which is actually a spicy Giardiniera, order something like this and get some Vienna hot dogs while you're at it! Vienna Condiment Variety Packs Now it's time for a late lunch! 🤣

Thanks, Steve. Hey, mine is nothing fancy. I searched for an older thread where several owners had posted more high-end locks and coupler covers but could not locate it today. I do like this simple Curt coupler release lock, but one hit with a 5-LB hammer and the whole assembly would fly off: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T9N6H06/ The front ball lock I have is something that came with a used trailer I bought, not sure of brand name. For me something simple and less expensive is a basic deterrent. I believe unless your trailer is attached to the TV it's easy prey to steal. It can be towed away regardless of our efforts! Anybody can chain any trailer to the rear of a pickup, regardless of what is used to lock the coupler. Some buy expensive locks. Some have added an internal switch to prevent the jacks from being lowered (a really bad idea). This would cause additional damage because the thief would prefer to lift the jacks, but if you prevent that, they'll just drag 'er down the street anyway, damaging the jack(s) at a minimum and likely body or frame damage too. I used to rent garages in Cicero IL which is not exactly a safe neighborhood! Did all I could to keep my old cars and bikes safe. When I stored a trailer long-term, I would chain and padlock the two wheels together through the holes in the steel rims. If towed away the wheels on one side would lockup/burn rubber which would look rather odd while being towed on a slant down the road. I would make the chain/padlock obvious to a prospective thief as an initial deterrent. Lots of different opinions on this topic🤣!

Where are all the Ollies? On this 4th of July, the 250th Anniversary of our Great Nation? In 2 weeks, we'll be camping the Coconino NF, first Walnut Canyon and then boondocking the Kaibab NF just south of the Grand Canyon. But on this special holiday, our Ollie is just parked at home. We enjoyed Prescott Frontier Days, the "World's Oldest Rodeo" this year. Annually, it runs over the 4th of July weekend. It was a fun evening! 🤠

Good idea. We did ours May 2025 when they were readily available. This upgrade sure provides a reassuring feeling when towing! 😎

It' just not the same and after 44 years of the hard city life, it was time to move on! Chris still has one sister and her oldest son there, goes back annually. For me, I go back rarely, but for weddings and funerals. We all miss the food! No better food in the world than all the ethnic variety of Chicago! Chris makes awesome Italian Beef sandwiches, far better than Vienna package foods and as good as any Chicago Ma & PA shop makes in the city! She makes decent pizza too, as we do NOT eat pizza out anymore. Only in Chicago do they make the right dough, thin or thick, and Italian sausage! She likes thin, I like both. But the only place we go when in Chicagoland is Freddy's Pizza in Cicero IL (SW side). The best Italian pizza/deli market in town! 😎

@SeaDawg ?

The furnace, WHW and fridge vents were painted (see pic). Then I purchased new gray outlet boxes, LP hatch on doghouse, etc. I chose grey to match Oliver graphics and our TV is two-tone with grey in the lower sections. Didn't want more shades of white! I would love to have a grey door latch to match, but painting parts that are handled often is not a good idea. I could have replaced with the OEM chrome like shown in Rob's picture, but white powder-coat it is.

And we both started from Chicago! 😎 It was a great city, back in the day. In 1999, a company move got us from IL to Northern VA. The big 51' moving trailer full. They even transported a couple of horses and a classic car! 🤣 The only time in my life we used a moving company in more than a dozen moves (only because the company paid)! VA to AZ in the 26' trailer mentioned above. Moved a classic '59 Chrysler 300E from TX to AZ on a HD car hauler. Moved AZ to TX to FL in the 16' box, 19' trailer we had for years. Lastly moved back to AZ from FL in 2018 after purchasing a new 18' box cargo trailer. I had every SF of this trailer packed. You can't see it but there are 3 motorcycles and a ton of tools in the front of the box! The red cargo trailer was the only one purchased new. Bought and sold 5 trailers all at a profit from buying well. Made a $700 profit on this last trailer which was breakeven for the diesel fuel spent on the move! 😎 Sorry for the thread drift, but we were done talking Casitas, right?

I believe those of us with slight horizontal lines in the interior door skin were caused by wind, where the door flew open (several times through the years) hitting the black rubber stopper which stresses the door, causing these cracks. The damage to Craig's door is more extreme, likely something defective in its construction vs. more wind damage than the others. I'd rule out sun damage in either case since there is no damage to the exterior skin. The interior skin on Craig's door buckled, came out of the inside frame and separated from the core to do so! Did they miss gluing this area? Here again is the picture I took to show the Lippert Friction Hinges installed. I hadn't paid attention to the cracks on our door until this thread was started Nov '24, since the cracks are minor and often hidden by the screen door. I believe if Lippert or OTT made Friction Hinges standard, we would not see this wind damage, but not Craig's issue which looks like a manufacturing defect. Were the doors made differently through the years? I think not, except perhaps for Chris' @CRM with his one-off 2010 hull. Bill's @topgun2 door has no cracks. Mike @Mike and Carol and I both have minor cracks. These hulls are all 2016 and the doors likely came from the same Lippert batch. Perhaps Bill kept his door from banging on the stopper better than Mike did and I did (including prior owners). I know before I installed friction hinges the door flew out of my hands several times banging against the stopper as I cringed! It's often very windy where we camp! No more door bangs, no further damage since the friction hinges were installed. Craig, I'm very sorry to hear of your misfortune. I believe Lippert owes you a door. Your damage is not from abuse. At a minimum, ask them for money back on the core you paid for, that should still be under warranty, towards purchase of a new door. Make some noise and hope for some help! Best wishes, JD

This is very important. Greater interior room is nice, but do you want it at the expense of maneuverability? Summer of 2005, I towed a 26' cargo trailer to move our home from VA to AZ. It wasn't fun. The only positive was selling the trailer at a profit vs. renting a U-Haul! 🤣 At 7 ft the Oliver is the same width as a full-size truck/tow vehicle. If your truck can make an opening, the Oliver will too, following behind in the same space and tread. You only have to worry about height differences in tunnels or under trees. At 8 ft, like all the BOX trailers, the body is wider than the TV. Can your truck can make it between parked cars on a narrow city street or the Scrub Oak on a FS dirt road? If yes, then the Oliver will, but would the wider trailer? Also, the Casita is probably light enough, but not true of many Airstream trailers. Some of them are beasts! And you'll need towing mirrors to see around that big box. And there's a point where a bumper pull trailer doesn't make sense, hence all the 5th-wheels on the highway. I don't want to tow anything wider, ever again! Our Olivers are "right sized!" 😎

Bump to this thread since Lippert Friction Hinges came up today on another post. Me too, love them. Craig had an issue where above he showed damage to the interior sheeting. Not sure if cause was determined in his case. I couldn't see how keeping the door still would cause this. @Ty J, what do you say about longevity 3+ years later? After 2 1/2 years, ours are still working GREAT! 😎

Yes, you can Scotty and thank you! The grey trim matches the striping on the hull AND the lower body paint on my truck! 😎 I renewed all the outlet boxes with grey ones, even a new matching license plate light in grey! If only Lippert made a grey powder coated door lock! That would be a nice addition! And when I replace the door security glass with a grey-smoked glass maybe I should paint the frame in the same grey color as the fridge vents and other painted parts. The entrance door has 3 hinges. You leave them as-is and insert 2 friction hinges in-between the 3 OEM hinges. The screen door gets in the way while working, but you can wiggle the friction hinges into place. I just centered them by eyeball, drilled the first hole and mounted the screw to hold the hinge in place. Then 12 screws per hinge! The kit comes with self-tapping screws, but I prefer to drill pilot holes one size smaller. In the picture, the hinges that are riveted are the OEM hinges and where you see the square-drive screws is the friction hinge. A careful installation should only take a half hour. The door hook has no value when you are opening or closing the door in windy conditions. Often you have to fight, holding the door, while trying to get it hooked. With these hinges installed the door can be at any angle and I promise a 40 MPH wind will not budge it. 😎 Never again hear that BANG! And btw it is the bang on that rubber stopper that cracks the interior sheeting of the door panel. If you look closely at the picture, looking through the screen, you can see the cracking of the interior sheeting. If friction hinges were installed OEM, I'm certain they wouldn't be there. As soon as I had heard of these hinges on our Forum, 2 1/2 years ago, I installed them. Why aren't Lippert Friction Hinges installed OEM by OTT? Instead of the bumper and hook, they should be.

I'm with Patriot on this one. I wouldn't ever apply a suction cup to the fiberglass. I hang my bath towel over the truck tailgate for an hour, then fold it up and put away. If it's a late-night shower in the wet bath, the screen door handlebar is perfect to hang a bath towel. Chris hangs hers in the bathroom. The cheap black rubber on those suction cups is the issue. If you must use a suction cup on the hull, use the clear plastic suction cups, not black rubber. I use one of these for our outdoor shower, but I only stick it to the window glass. https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Bathroom-Handheld-Mounting-Polished/dp/B07ZXB9FXQ/ And the thought of Vaseline or olive oil is really gross. These products will collect dirt when camping or towing and to remove them the residue, you will also remove the ceramic coating (or wax) in that area!

That is amazing! Yours is just above the belly bar and ours just below. When you lift the curbside a few inches for leveling it puts the door handle rather high! And yes, if you installed the keyless lock, it would be right up on the window frame. The chrome on your lock looks great. Ours had wear scratches from key use and a little bang in the latch from a prior owner.

It is larger, that round section with all those numbered keys, plastic parts. Reminds me of the keyless entry system I had on an 80s T-bird. It was cool 40 years ago but they stopped putting them on cars long ago. I should remember to remove the "two emblems" before I renew our ceramic coating next time. I've removed every other label OTT plastered inside and out (about 20 of them)! In a post 3 years ago John E Davies wanted me to add warning labels to the rear emergency exit (just after I had removed them)! 🤣 I don't worry about code and insurance and all that rot. I need to remove the "black door bumper." I removed the door hook from the fiberglass last year (drilled out 4 rivets and filled holes). Just add Lippert friction hinges and you don't need any of that stuff. Best simple mod ever! Lippert Friction Hinge Kit for RV Entry Doors - White Over 90% of the feedback I've received on our grey trim has been positive! I'll mark you down with one other longtime Oliver owner as not liking them. It is my appearance mod theme! We love it over having 10 shades of white all over the body (see pic). Setting the bar awfully low! 🤣 I just replaced ours before it failed after 10 years of reliable service!

Don't think we'll ever get OTT off that great lake in northern Alabama, but your point is well taken! And btw, a fiberglass rally is not an Oliver Rally. This we've learned from Quartzsite, 100 Casitas and just a couple Olivers. I've been thinking about attending the Oliver Rally this year since this is the first time I'm off work and late October in Alabama should be better than RAIN in the springtime! Not sure why I'm thinking about it. Love to meet more Oliver owners (but I couldn't attend all those company and vendor presentations)! I generated this map. For us it would be 1700 miles one-way mostly on I-40! We don't like interstates. I'd have to tow there in 4 long days and we'd only have another two weeks to return home, a little more slowly. At least the price of diesel is coming back down! 😎 And especially for you @taylor.coyote, your road to the meet would be 1,000 miles longer than ours, OMG! We attended the first Oliver Texas Rally October 2024. We used to live in Georgetown TX and I know many great AZ to TX routes that do not include interstate travel! It was a great time at Inks Lake with about 45 Olivers attending. Donna skipped 2026 because out of the blue OTT switch the 2026 National Rally from April to October. The 3rd Texas Rally will be next spring at Lake Livingston SP north of Houston.

Years ago, OTT installed the Marshall Excelsior MEGR-253 regulator which was highly reliable. Later they went with a Fairview product which is not as good. I had installed a Fairview to replace our MEGR-253 by suggestion on another post here. The new Fairview regulator failed immediately. Then I installed a new MEGR-253H (high capacity) which has worked flawlessly (the MEGR-253 is good too). If you have a Fairview regulator, replace it with one of these: MEGR-253 Series I enjoy having apps to level our trailer, to read Ah consumption, Ruuvi sensors for temps and humidity, and about everything else. We use Mopeka to read tank level. I purchased this kit a couple years ago. We always know when a tank is near empty. https://www.amazon.com/Mopeka-Pro-Check-Universal-Bundle/dp/B0CNKX9DRC/

Doesn't it look better too? Love the new white one installed! Sorry, but the keyless RV Lock isn't pretty nor reliable. Classic look for a classic TT! (Too bad they don't make a gray one.) These are powder-coated steel, solid as a rock. I bought this a year ago and decided it was time to install it. The original chrome model lasted 10+ years, no failures, but the key cylinders were getting loose where you had to jiggle the key some to start it turning. Not anymore. Everything's tight, good for another 10 years!

I'm adding a simple toggle switch to the Maxxfan so that the fan can be stopped leaving the vent door open. Often Chris likes the fan on, exhausting softly at 30%, as she falls asleep. Later, I want it OFF but would like the vent door to remain OPEN. The mechanism is so NOISY, and you must do it twice, close then open. I place a pillow over it to deaden the sound! More on my upgrade later, as I will start a mod thread on this. I started getting into the fan and next thing I have the entire fan in pieces, removed the upper section above the roof too, and have cleaned everything. It's looking great! (pictures later) I noticed I have a small broken part (on left in the picture). It's the swivel piece that holds the screen in place. Not sure why my iPhone camera made these blue, since they are of course white. Anybody have an extra one of these? I'm thinking maybe when replacing some assembly, somebody here could have extras. They're $8.49 each but add shipping and one comes to $23! The screen has been holding with 3 of 4 working, but sooner or later I should get one or two. https://www.rvupgradestore.com/Maxxair-Round-Screen-Frame-Knob-p/05-21233.htm?CartID=1