jd1923

Nothing but a buncha b$, living vehicles, EVs for anything more than a daily commute, solar farms, wind farms (that kill eagles and whales), and the like. I appreciate the application of technology, never tech for tech's sake. Learned that working 10 years for Motorola during the 90s. We aren't there, not even close, even though too many mindless politicians say so. Will tow with my old diesel 'til the day I can no longer drive. And our recent investment in an Oliver will be our last RV of any kind. "No brag, just fact."

My solution, again... although we will consider other options! A more recent picture would show that I installed a tank cover, using an inexpensive BBQ grill cover to keep the UV rays off the tank and the water...

I had no idea of such a mod! Is there a thread about it here? I've seen most threads, but I admit I do not read the OTT Service threads (perhaps I should), since our hull is well out of warranty and I'm not able to go to OTT for service. We get 20 gallons max out of our FWT. Thank goodness we have a 35g fresh tank in the bed of our TV and refilling via the winterizing port is painless with the electric motorized valve upgrade.

Agree 100% and Art @MAX Burner has invested more upgrades than we have to date. Those of us here who do our own M&R and mod work can do well with sweat equity in these hulls that are 98% the same, as the newer hulls add some age. And I fully agree with @Mike and Carol, as ours too is "nicely broken in." Just got back from our 5th trip in 11 months. We don't have near the miles or days out as many of you and ours will continue to be for occasional use. We just got back from our biggest trip to-date, a whole 17 days! 🤣 Everything we needed was present and working. Reading all the repair and mod posts, since we joined the forum, I feel many of the newer hulls have more issues than what we have experienced. This is likely due to the care from past owners. Our 8-year-old Oliver had made it back to OTT in 2018 and 2020 for considerable work (new blinds, new furnace, Dexter EZ-Flex, new tires, and much more). Ours also has a lot of options that add a lot to a new purchase (solar package and more). We can't afford a new one in many ways!

Better than tape would be some kind of donut clamped to the hose, so that it cannot be pulled too far.

Bill, I believe you need to add some carbs and proteins to your diet!

Thank you for all you do! Speaking for the majority us, the new and old Oliver owners, we love this forum. Thank you again for your work and all you do! JD

Two bikes, two knuckleheads, two adults (maybe just D), do you always do everything in twos?

Beautiful boy by John Lennon (Lyrics) (youtube.com)

@Half Fast Hugo your build is excellent! I'm thinking if I build a mount like yours, I can haul my '03 Honda CRF230 (it's an old man's Honda 250, detuned with electric starter added). It weighs 230 LBS (please those that worry, do not warn me about the weight limit OTT puts on their punny 1 1/2" hitch receiver). OTT has crazy strength built into the rear, with multiple frame crossmembers, etc. It all depends on your GTWR and resulting hitch weight when you add more weight to the rear. Anybody want to buy my rear OEM hitch, that for hull #113 was a full 2" receiver? It's sitting in the loft of my shed since I have no use for it. Loved bicycles all my life, but for the heavy climbs and descents of Arizona, I prefer a bike that can climb a 20% grade with combustion engine power (and an e-bike just doesn't cut it, old but not that old).

Awe @MAX Burner, thank you! You're just a sucker for a dog picture. 🤣 Charley can't wait to meet you and "the knuckleheads!"

After 3 nights at Parowan Gap, it was time to start heading back south. Wanted to stop on the way to see the Dino Cliffs Trail that @topgun2 suggested, but they had the Interstate exit closed and traffic was backed up everywhere. Turns out Saturday was the "Ironman 70.3 National Championships” in St George. This was not going to happen this year. Bill wrote me, "I'm guessing that those tracks will still be there for the next time!" An hour on I-15 with winds getting stronger all day, was enough for me! I found a great route south where we could avoid the majority of I-15. Love to avoid Interstates (we've driven many times to and from Austin and Prescott, 1100 miles and NO Interstates, nice). The route is "Old US Hwy 91" which runs along the historic Old Spanish Trail. Starting in Ivins UT (St George NW suburb) ending in Mesquite, NV. We boondocked on the way at the entrance to Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Area. Winds over the weekend got up to a constant 40 MPH with stronger gusts. We could see the Nevada valley ahead looking thick like a dust storm. We wanted to spend the night at elevation instead. There was a tiny camping area at the entrance to the NCA. Noticed it out of the corner of my eye and turned around for it. We camped on a level site with dense cedars on the side. The cedars cut the wind so much, we were able to sit outside in the evening. Stayed there to 2 PM the next day when the winds were finally slowing. What a beautiful area! Beaver Dam Wash NCA Fact Sheet.pdf (blm.gov)

I believe strongly in the iconic phrase from the song Beautiful Boy by John Lennon: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." There is NOT enough room to have backups for everything! I prefer to pack light and take our chances. Our backup heater is an extra blanket! I'll just bet, that with all the frustration day of, that @Steph and Dud B have a life memory they will cherish, or at least remember. You have to make the best of things and live life as it comes, no regrets. I tend to remember the good stuff.

Turns out the Oliver we found (pictured above), is owned by @Allen Lee Rohner. Too bad we did not get to meet, but they left us a nice note outside. They must have got back to camp after dark and had an early departure planned. We slept in 'til 9 AM (testament to after 2 1/2 weeks I'm finally getting used to sleeping in that short Oliver single! I sent them a text this morning, inviting them to Prescott. It would be great if they would, and we should talk soon. We ran Illinois plates too, from the 70s to the late 90s, Chris and I both being born and raised in Chicagoland.

Love another forum member who is into Pickleball too. I thought there would be 5-6 of us here with all the members, but two is good. Hope you get your Oliver soon. We got lucky to find a used one in our hometown and the prior owner backed it right into our home RV spot upon payment. You should change your profile to read "couple" since you two will be traveling together of course. Let's meet at the PPA Red Rock Open next year. Closer to us than you, but somewhere in the middle. The pros will be there, and you can play too. It's a great venue where you can see many pro matches with just a grounds pass that players get with tournament entry. My warmup comment was that they only allowed us one game to score of 15 vs. the standard two games to 11. No time to catch up and it was a lot of money to play only 3 games to 15 (more games if you keep winning). We would love to play pickleball with you one day in beautiful Coeur d'Alene, ID. Prescott is not a bad visit either during your winter, so the invite goes both ways! We'll look for you having a hull # one day soon. Bring your new Oliver down our way and we'll supply "partial hookups."

Hulls 110, 113,117 are all old girls! The crack must have come from fighting with the hose. I’ve been using ours quite a bit lately and the hose will often not fully extend. From your pic, I can see it’s getting caught on the hot side PEX! I’m going to cover or wrap that plumbing with something so the hose can be pulled out unhindered. hope you can source the cracked part without replacing the entire faucet assembly.

Thought we saw one, in a RV park near Cedar City UT which you could see from I-15. Chris saw it and I looked left and caught a millisecond glimpse while driving. Can’t be sure on this one. Stopped tonight at Grand Canyon Caverns on Hwy 66 in Peach Springs AZ. Couldn’t find anybody working here, the many campsites mostly empty except one and now there are two Olivers here and nobody else! Never seen a hull # printed large front and back. Think it’s hull 867? Knocked on the door. No answer and no TV even now at 9 PM. Has IL plates. Seen an Oliver for sure today and it looks good!

That would be a Parsec Husky Pro 7-in-1 Antenna (4 cell, 2 Wi-Fi and 1 GPS antennas combined). The Pepwave router is mounted on the cab wall behind the rear seat. I wrote this up in a mod post in January: Pepwave Cellular Router and not the common install - Ollie Modifications - Oliver Owner Forums (olivertraveltrailers.com) This is the kit I used: Speed Demon Mobile Internet Bundle – MobileMustHave.com. We get excellent cell reception almost everywhere we go, stream TV, etc. Mounted in the TV since so many times we are detached, so the Wi-Fi router goes with us. Chris can use computer as we drive too. BTW, in this picture, up at Parowan UT we got 230 Mbps download speed. And we stayed 2 other nights in deep canyons without cell service. Nothing wrong with the older Cummins Diesel, although the 2nd Gen Cummins has much less HP and torque than the newer ones (thinking 5th Gen is current which will double those numbers). The engine ran at 190-200F (ECT) the entire trip and it has a 200F thermostat. The engine cooling system is running as designed and I have a performance water pump and new serpentine belt ready when needed (OEM water pumps are weak on these). The Cummins with recently upgraded fuel supply will outlive me for sure. The temp I was referring to above is Transmission Fluid Temp (TFT). The older Rams are known for weaker transmissions, as mine has the 4-speed 47RE Chrysler trans. Newer model trucks have more gearing. Guys will tow 15K LBS with these older Rams, by adding aftermarket torque converters, valve bodies, etc. That is what mine could need at some point ($6K build). Sounds like a lot, but our TV cost used about 20% of a new diesel truck. A rebuild is not urgent though, since it shifted nicely all trip and the fluid only got hot climbing the 13% grade to Cedar Breaks! When you increase engine performance, as I have in fuel supply and ECM, you need to keep your eye on the trans being the weak link.

BTW, the link @MAX Burner supplied for a replacement door on AMzon, currently has a “Like New” one for $90 less. Like new on Amazon means the packaging has been breached!

Love the hotel when necessary! We are on a 2 1/2 week trip mainly in SW Utah. After a week or so, used my travel points for an overnight at the Marriott, dinner out included. So, so glad to hear you are good again.@Steph and Dud B you’re the one! What you accomplished is that of a HVAC professional.

I had not noticed when replied before. Been camping for 2 weeks now, where we had the screen door closed, main door open. We have the original window. Multiple perfectly horizontal cracks (btw shows flaw in the material) and one much larger, angled down to the handle (from use). We will live with ours as I have larger fish to fry and we promised not to spend more on ours for a while. It is purely cosmetic, goes well with our fading gel-coat!🤣

Yep, not a checklist guy, but Chris and I have the muscle memory after 3 very different kinds of RVs. Walk-around looking under, at the jacks and eyeballing all 8 tires. Eyeball all 4 tires every time before you sit to drive any vehicle. Do they look as they should? We will admit a member of our family taking the side mirror off a truck on a garage door. My father RIP, backed out of his garage, driving a brand new Porsche 911SC, door open, looking back out the door, when the garage door frame crunched his door and LF fender. Gave him another reason to trade it in (first reason: golf clubs didn’t fit). Therefore, OTT steps are much stronger than a 911. None of this makes you feel any better. Good of you to admit and provide warning. I’ve got one. Was unhitching and left one safety cable on, just didn’t see it from my side. The TV pulled the trailer jack off the blocks, streetside tire ran over the shore line, pulled taught to destroy the shore power receptacle. Happy nothing else happened, only about a $150 mistake. We could start a whole thread titled, “Dumb Camping Mistakes.” That would be fun! We all could add a few posts for sure.

Like the simple design @Snackchaser showed. I will do our mod this summer. I’m also thinking of deleting the bed area duct. We’re camping in colder weather last few days and I have this one shut as much as possible which helps the air flow in the bath. The bed area duct is too close to the return and we like the cabin warm but cooler air where we sleep.

Doesn’t Dometic just rebrand many of their products? Could it be sold by Dometic, manufactured by Atwood? April 2018 OTT Service replaced our Suburban furnace with an “Atwood Furnace with outside door.” Reason, “Customer states furnace fan rattles intermittently, Customer requests to remove Suburban and install the Atwood 20K furnace.”

Since you just had it in for service, you know cause. I believe there are 4 short screws with shoulders so to provide spacing to not damage the cover. Power tools OK to remove quickly, but these must be installed by hand. Reason why I rarely contract maintenance work. “If it needs to be done right…” Amazing the cover did not break into pieces. I’d say the service co owes you a new cover installed. Such a shame since AC service on these units really comes down to compressed air or a hose rinse on the condenser coils. Not much more can be done on a factory sealed AC unit. Towing your Oliver in a good rain storm will do about the same thing.