FloraFauna

Yeah, that's tough. I think I read somewhere an actual preferred moisture content but who is going to actually measure and monitor it that way?? I know if it's crumbly bone dry, we have smelly problems. That happened when I installed peat moss I had from a previous season and although it was sealed in a large bag it still was too dry. Your waste is NOT the way to remoisten. At the same time, it cannot be slurry wet. It should be wet enough to be slightly cohesive yet break apart easily upon agitation. When I install it, I place it in a 5-gallon bucket and thoroughly mix in water (like a cup or two at a time) until I get that "in-between" consistency where it is slightly sticky but not overtly wet. If your bag is brand new, you may not need to add much. I am still learning but if you have smelly composting toilet, you are doing it wrong and should not be interpreted as composting toilets are smelly - they are not, if you do it right. If smelly, easy enough to remove the compost between trips and start over. Quite honestly, we do not change our compost more than once or twice per season depending how much we camp. We also have chosen to avoid placing toilet paper in the compost and handle that other ways. When we started with the compost toilet we were very skeptical out of ignorance that we could live with it, but also adamantly wanted to avoid the limitations, water usage and other problems of a black tank. After a couple of seasons we are very happy with our choice.

Storing for how long? Generally, we have no issues with leaving the compost as-is for a few weeks sometime even a month, between trips. If there are only two of you, one week should not be end of life for your compost. Depending on where you are and your climate, you may want to unplug your Natures Head exhaust fan so you do not over dry the compost between trips. We have found keeping the compost at the right moisture content is the most critical factor in having an odor free composting toilet.

Don't forget to spend some time at the Quinault Rain Forest.

There are dealer (and nondealer) service centers that do just fine repairing specific problems on an Oliver. They get on the phone with OTT service and the component manufacturer to make the necessary repair. But for general maintenance and a good look-over specific to an Oliver I would go back to OTT as they know what the issues are for their product. I think this is an important reason why we all wanted OTT to keep their service center - they know the trailer the best. Any issue and they have probably seen it a dozen or more times already.

Just to be clear, my wiring issues above were not loose nuts or any other maintenance issue. They were a result of component installation at the factory. I love my Oliver trailer, it has generally performed well, and the service department is wonderful.

I had several electrical issues that were resolved under warranty at a local repair shop. In all cases, it "appeared" it was not the component but the OTT installation of the component. OTT honored the warranty and was very cooperative along with the component manufacturers (Truma AC and the inverter folks) in resolving the issues. But I learned just because electrical items work at trailer delivery does not mean they are right or will continue working. I hope my electrical issues are all resolved especially because I am now out of warranty, but I wouldn't be surprised if they are not. I too have noticed how crudely and unrefined the cutouts in the interior hull are for some of the components - glad it's not just my trailer, I guess and we can all share the aesthetic. Unlike JD, I don't have the time, skills or interest to do all of my own electrical work on this or a stripped-down trailer. As it is, I just wish I had more time to camp and cooperative weather to go with. Finally, although I managed to resolve these issues with Oliver's generous help locally (and the shop did a fine job), I feel it is critically important to have the Mother Ship as a backup and intend to have them do overall maintenance of the trailer every few years to supplement my own. No local shop (especially one that is not a dealer) is going to know the Oliver trailer and systems weak points as well as Oliver.

Yeah, super easy to bang those up when torquing the lugs. Mine is hanging in (on) there but is now dented up. I banged one up before learning that lesson. So far, the perfectionist in me has been muffled and I have resisted replacing.

My Ollie does the same. About 3% per day with everything off including the battery heaters. I assume there is some draw occurring amongst the electronics just to keep everything in monitor mode. I have two 320 Ah Lithionics batteries. While I would it rather not degrade this fast, I have not attempted to chase it down at this stage and am not overly inclined to do so - too many other projects.

This has been my experience with the Duramax in my Silverado 2500. Quite honestly I thought it would be better but on the other hand the truck never feels overly stressed. Mileage is very speed dependent as stated.

There is another way to frame the question I posed (in an admittedly reaction inducing way). How cold can you camp (all systems on, heating and plumbing) before the risk of water lines freezing becomes a concern? Oliver advertises this as 4-seasons trailer but that obviously has limits. What is that limit? Your responses suggest that limit is between 0 and 20 degrees. Certainly you can use this 4 seasons trailer with temps in the upper 20's, right? I am camping right now and the nightly low is forecast at 27 degrees. Or is the limit 30 degrees?

This string reminded me that I had not greased the zerks on top of the Dexter axle castings. I proceeded to do so and was on the last side, the last zerk and I reached for it to put grease gun on, and the zerk came off in my hand!! It didn't appear to be broken off. I attempted to rethread it back on but that was extremely difficult and couldn't get it to take. I then removed one front wheel to get better access and decided to put in a new zerk. There was no evidence that the original zerk had broken but if it had the lack of access there would have made extraction very difficult. Also there is insufficient clearance with the trailer to run a die to reestablish the threads at least with the tools that I have. I shudder to think but it seems you would have to lift the trailer off the axle to get sufficient clearance to rethread those zerk holes. Furthermore, the original zerk had very short threads, perhaps because the Dexter casting is not very thick. To make a longer story, shorter, I did manage to get a new zerk in tight. I doubt the threads are well established but the new zerk seems threaded in at this point. That zerk will get TLC from this point on because the alternatives for repair look pretty ugly. Also after three months or 3000 miles I find the zerks will take only minor amounts of grease before it oozes out of the joints.

hmmm. So far three for three on winterize from those who have been doing this longer than I. Thank you for your sound advice. I kind of knew my idea was wishful thinking and not practical given my location. We have a composting toilet so that's not an issue in any case. I also already have the RV antifreeze as well. Definitely don't want to trash my water lines and valves.

Before you think I am crazy, please hear me out. I am wondering about skipping winterization this year so that the trailer is ready to go for winter trips south or colder weather camping when we get an occasional cold weather breaks. When I winterize, I find myself not considering trailer travel until Spring - 5 months of no camping and no trailer use. Nobody wants to winterize and dewinterize several times per winter. Would be nice to head south especially in February or there are times midwinter where we get relative warms spells with brilliant sunshine with or without snow. Winterization seems like surrendering. Pertinent information: I live in southern Wisconsin so cold weather happens. Sometimes we get to 0 F or below but not often and not for long - maybe once or twice per winter for a few days. Obviously I don't intend to head out in the coldest weather but such conditions in storage would present a risk. The Ollie is in unheated, dry storage with electricity about 200 ft from my house so I see the trailer and monitor it everyday. Solar gain to the building will often have the storage space at 10 to 20 degrees above the outside temp. I would leave the Truma furnace on and set at like 40 or 45 F. Obviously I would burn through some propane but I am amazed how efficient the Truma furnace is and since the interior of the building is ventilated I don't see a CO risk. I see some others have put electric space heaters in their trailer but I would worry about air/heat movement and cold corners with a small electric heater where the furnace fan with the blower is more likely to distribute the heat. Maybe combine the space heater with a fan? I drain my tanks after every trip so tanks would be empty. Does anyone have experience (or more experience than I with my Ollie) in this regard with advice to share?

We have used soft water in our fresh water tank from day one. It's a bit of a hassle to be limited to this. Thank you for confirming that it is effort well spent.

Me too. I try to keep rough track of consumption. All of our fresh water goes into the grey tank but the two indicators (fresh and grey) never add up. I was thinking of trying to correct it before my trailer goes out of warranty but decided it's really not worth it.