jd1923

Never seen one. If ours had one, a prior owner removed it. We haven't camped a rainy day, yet! 🤣

We would drive down for the week (2 1/2 hour drive), given the dates many of you would be there are dates I'm not teaching class. My timing for 2024 was off but got our Los Algodones dental visit in. I won't have my 2025 schedule for a while. Hope to see you there! I wrote this on the other thread, but worth repeating here. Buckskin Mountain State Park | Arizona (azstateparks.com) is a great spot on the Colorado River. Good campsites, calm river sounds and excellent bird watching. Not free of course. White Tank Mountain, Maricopa County Regional Park is a good stop on the way to the Q: Maricopa County Parks & Recreation | Maricopa County Parks & Recreation The Maricopa parks are often booked up during winter 6 months in advance. Sometimes a few days here and there free up and some of their parks have overflow/boondocking sites for $15/night.

Not a big concern at driveway speeds. Check with a local trailer shop. They would have a variety of choices and could weld the mount.

Or you can go to O'Reilly's or most national chain A/P stores and borrow this same tool. They charge the cost of it to your credit card and bring it back in 1-2 days and they will refund/credit your card. We have an O'Reilly's 1/2 mile from home, and I have used their loaner program a good dozen times. I purchased a ball joint press that is much longer required for some applications, but I do ball joint service regularly having rebuilt 3 truck suspensions in just the last 4 years. For the Oliver, just borrow one for free if you need it!

Only to meet up with you Steve! Last Jan, given my work schedule and me being new here, I got to Quartzsite the last day you and @Mike and Carol were there (learned this from a later post) and the next day I drove by some "Fiberglass TT Meet" 🤣 Only to find a lot of lame Casita type TTs. Chris and I kept our heads down and quickly thought, let's "Get out of Dodge!" After a night in the northern section of the AZ BLM LTVA, we headed to Wickenburg for much better boondocking by Vulture Mountain and to enjoy a good restaurant that cannot be found in Quartzsite. We should meet up next year. @rich.dev unless you're into large communal camps, thousands of Canadians (wonderful people and country, but who in their right mind would live up there in the winter!), the hippies we knew back in the 70s and the near homeless yep, Quartzsite is the place! If you have 2 months, first come to Prescott and you'll never want to go back to the Q. I already mentioned Wickenburg. Stay at ANY off the Maricopa County parks. Go to Parker AZ and stay at Buckskin Mountain State Park | Arizona (azstateparks.com) Need dental work? Visit Los Algodones and you can stay here for $10 a night: Home - Quechan Casino Resort (playqcr.com) while you visit Mexico (this border is still safe). I can go on and on for days. Yep, Quartzsite is cool if you want to stay for weeks, have an off-grid setup, meet up with old friends that you met there years ago, but instead you can spend time ANYWHERE else in the wonderful state off Arizona. In four weeks, we are going to have a visit from an Oliver owner. We have never met another Oliver owner. So much looking forward to this visit and y'all are welcome too!

Pretty cool, but where we Boondock at times we need ground clearance which is pretty good on the Oliver. Keep this in mind, especially if considering a drawer behind the rear axle.

In other words, just hook up a hose to the boondocking inlet, and then I would run the pump to allow it to prime and take over. This happens to too many Oliver owners. Many can benefit from upgrading your water pump and valves. I replaced the $50 Made in Mexico Shurflo, spending $200+ on a Made in USA Remco variable speed pump. Also changed the manual valves that had 1/4" ID openings with electric ball valves with 12mm (.47") ID. I have the pump running when I change the valves (they're wired on the same circuit), no issues. We use the water at night with the pump off, no issues. We have the OTT OEM defective Fresh Tank suction hose. that was installed on some old hulls, where it runs out of fresh water after 18 gallons. We run out of water often, filling from the boondocking port, no issues. The high-quality variable speed pump always primes itself, no air locks ever. See before and after pics.

Yes, those would be the numbers. I and other Oliver owners have cited here in a few posts that even the old Dometic 13.5K BTU Penguin II draws 15 amps. 15K BTU by the numbers should increase amperage by 11.1% to 16.67A. Given you're seeing 18A then the 15K model at 18A is even less efficient, while a newer model today should be more efficient. One member has measured the new Atmos 4.4 15 BTU model at 7.5A (waiting soon on a second installation to verify this number). Given you have a sales receipt for the 13.5K model and they installed the 15K without your consent, perhaps you can request to a return/refund. Hope this works out in the end to your satisfaction.

Yep, and a little elbow grease! Clean surfaces with rubbing alcohol to get the goo off and sometimes that's all you need.

Just got this today and it looks great. Thanks to those who suggested it! amazon.com/dp/B00H7LPKKU?ref=fed_asin_title

Our longest time away is 4 weeks. With all the Oliver work I do at home (upgrades all summer!), I'll leave the big tools in my garage and enjoy the short time we get away. We're leaving to the Texas Rally 2 weeks early to spend time in the White Mountains of AZ and then Lincoln NF of NM. A week plus in The Hill Country, Inks Lake and South Llano River SP. Another week to 10 days on our return, to Marfa TX and Davis Mountains SP. Lastly Silver City NM on our return home. We'll go from home to Central TX and back without any travel on Interstates. I'll have some basic tools, though do not plan on using them. I'll deal with Zerks, and other maintenance, before and after! 🤣

Art, does your hull # 226 have all 12/2 Romex for AC circuits, or like mine with mostly 14/2?

So, 2020 models, hulls 579 and 628 have all 12/2 Romex for AC circuits, and you can see from my pic that our older 2016 hull 113 does not. We run a few appliances on the 110V outlets (never at the same time), An 1100W tea kettle, a 700W small pressure cooker, and the worst culprit Chris' 1875 Conair blow dryer. From what I can tell, you can't find a blow dryer at lower wattage. Ran this test and been running the A/C this weekend on the MP2. It handles the Air or the blow dryer no problem. Believe it or not, they blow dryer takes 5A/60W more than the Dometic Penguin II 13.5K BTU A/C. But you only use a blow dryer for a few minutes on and off. We replaced our OEM microwave with an Emeril Air Fryer. The small model rated at 1500W. I ran it yesterday on the MP2. Set it at 400F for 15 minutes in air fry mode. It used 23AH according to the Victron SmartShunt, brought the 600AH Epoch LiFePO4 batteries from 99% to 95%. Got to love that! Cook our morning hashbrown cakes, cook a pizza, while boondocking np. Since the microwave circuit is now on its own breaker that helps but still it's on 14/2 Romex. After 15 minutes on 400F the Romex was to the touch the same room temp as the other feeds, so 14 AWG looks to be doing it. My insulated oven cabinet stayed cool enough as well, only the aluminum of the upper bezel got a little hot but nowhere else.

I understand, timing is key. After posts today I looked up TEMCo 4 AWG on Amazon and they had a sale, so I purchased 50 of each red/black 4 AWG at a very good price. I can afford this now. The $400 charger will have to be for Christmas or soon after...

Look for an old-school trailer shop. Not a company that sells RVs and pretends to service them. Not a truck service center that works more on repairs and high-end, high $$$ truck accessories. Just a trailer service co, that has a dozen cargo trailers and another dozen simple flatbed trailers on their lot. Unless you want to be r@ped in service costs and get a B- or C+ installation m. Hey Scotty, if you live west stop by with your Oliver and new parts and we’ll get er done together! If you live east, go see our OTT Elder, our most knowable forum member @ScubaRx, either way it’w be great! Best wishes, JD

Wow, I got all my answers in just 2 hours! 😂 Thank you @rideadeuce that video sold me in the first minute. I had no idea of the size difference, let alone efficiency and less heat produced. Thanks @Steph and Dud B too, the table shows 4 AWG and the Orion XS 50 takes up to 4 AWG. Guess when I work this, I'll have to bite the bullet for the $400 Orion XS and likely another $200 for cables and connectors.

When I get around to adding this mod, I want to do it right and I understand @MAX Burner and @rideadeuce and others here have gone down this path. I want to add DC-DC capability but not overload the TV alternator. I also want to understand cable gauge minimum requirements, wanting required AWG without paying extra for overkill. Obviously a 30A charger requires less ampacity in cabling than a 50A model. I'm thinking that 30A is enough at 60% the cost of the new Victron 50A model. What would you do? Victron doesn't even list this model on their website anymore. Amazon.com: Victron Energy Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-Volt 30 amp 360-Watt DC-DC Charger Non-Isolated (Bluetooth) : Automotive They do show their new 50A model: Orion XS - Victron Energy

Check out this video re the need for wire ferrules on the MP2.

In residential wiring 14/2 Romex is used for 110V outlets, or 14/3 for light switches, all 15A circuits. For commercial where 20A outlets are standard they use 12/2 Romex. Commercial will also use stranded 10 and 12 AWG THHN wire where conduit is run. Our Oliver #113 has 12/2 Romex (yellow jacketed) for the A/C and HWH circuits. Everywhere else 14/2 (white jacketed) is used which is fine for the GFCI 110 outlets, but they also use it for the microwave, and the fridge too, where they really should have gone 12/2. In fact, if you look closely at the picture showing the breaker panel, our fridge is marked as a 20A breaker but instead they installed a 15A breaker with 14/2 Romex. You will see the HWH breaker is tripped, so I can turn it on/off from the panel instead of opening the exterior HWH cover for that switch. Ron, it's great that yours has all 12/2. I would not mind at all if they used 14/3 for 110V outlets, but all appliances, microwave and fridge should sit on 20A breakers with 12/2 AWG wiring. On our hull they also wired the microwave and the 110V outlets to the same 15A breaker. I was able to find the individual 14/2 Romex run for the microwave, and it is now wired to the breaker that was the PD converter that is no longer in use with the Victron MP2 inverter/charger. In the first picture you can also see the house 120VAC wiring where I used 10/2 UF-B. I wired this to the MP2 when it was sitting on the bed platform and because the UF-B is relatively stiff it fed nicely across the basement floor as I lowered the MP2 in place. @katanapilot given you are using fine-stranded 10/2 cable, you should certainly wire it first before your mechanical installation and you must use wire FERRULES so that the wire can be pushed into the MP2 AC terminals. The ferrules will be large and not real easy to insert. The thinner solid core wire pushed in nicely.

Brings back fond memories! Back in the 90s we shopped many weekends at Blain's F&F in Woodstock IL.

Finished my MP2 upgrade. I used the 10/2 UF-B I had vs. spending more money. Nothing wrong with using this or buying more expensive stranded cable. I only needed two short runs. One to the inverter from the EMS and one from the inverter to the 120VAC panel. It is a straight shot through a very wide opening in the basement. I cut both lengths about a foot longer than needed so they lay nicely on the floor of the basement. It is waterproof cable and 10/2 provides adequate ampacity. OTT does use superior cable to the batteries, where you truly need it, and for the shore power receptacle connections. Everywhere else for AC circuits OTT uses 14/2 Romex and the UF-B is an upgrade from that.

Love you, Steve! No wonder your 3500HD and Oliver are upgraded to carry 18,000+ combined GVWR! 🤣

No matter how you feel re the comfort of a 2500 series truck, they have springs and shocks that are heavier allowing for greater GVWR. A 1500 series truck with GVWR of say 6000 LBS will have a softer suspension, drive more like a car, than the truck with a 9000 LB GVWR. Get the 2500 series truck regardless, for so many reasons, of carrying capacity, climbing/pulling power or merely for the safety of your family, it is the logical choice. The majority of Oliver owners will say "you must have 4WD!" Though the 2WD truck has a lower center of gravity and will certainly drive more smoothly. It's a lot easier to get into and climb out of and the cost of one is considerably less $$$$! Also, a long bed truck is more stable than the short bed. The downside is 2WD LB trucks are NOT cool, not made for mall-cursing or adding wide wheels or a lift-kit! 🤣 My truck is a 2WD LB diesel-engine 2500 and I once I realized what I needed, I looked hard to find the right one! And believe me, I boondock, truck and trailer climbing rougher roads living in the high country of AZ, than more of 90% of OTT Forum members! 2WD LB trucks are more comfortable to drive, travel straighter on paved roads at highway speeds, bounce less and have lower maintenance costs. The picture below is the very first outing we made in our Oliver last summer. We camped at Kendrick Mountain Wilderness at high elevation, 25 miles of washboard dirt roads to get there and another 200-yard steep climb to our campsite. 2WD LB was no problem, never had a rear wheel slip. Though I learned to drive on 60s RWD 2-ton classic cars on snowy midwestern roads. Just put some weight in the trunk! Read all our opinions and of course in the end get the truck you really want! Get a truck you will care for and truly love for a long, long time!

Hmmm… M12 good. I went with Dewalt years ago for 20V and 60V batteries and now have a good 10+ bare tools, 6 batteries and 3 chargers. One charger is permanently in the rear of the Oliver attic! We always have 2 Dewalt flashlights on camp, a 1/4” impact and leaf blower w 60V. Don’t know if I can rationalize the cost of this, but hmmm… (maybe for Christmas!) https://a.co/d/fzMbNbC