Galileo

I love it when my head spins… Im always a little gun-shy about digging into new or relatively new pieces of equipment. With my old beater cars and trucks, I’d be hard-pressed to screw them up worse than they are. So - assuming I can figure out all the wiring (I think I can, I think in can!) the main concern I have is proper support if the outside part of the unit. I THINK I read that @Ronbrink cut some piece of supplied foam in half, apparently doubled it up, and that supported the end of the unit. Did I read that right? I think I also understand that OTT changed the roof design at some point, so older/newer hulls need/don’t need additional effort to support the unit? Once that issue is put to bed, the other is the thermostat. I really don’t care for the capacitive thermostat that came with our unit (“hate” is such an ugly word) so I’d like to just go with the remote that comes with the new A/C. I’d probably even install a more straightforward one to run the remaining furnace. (Unless/until I decide to replace THAT unit as well.)

I half expected to see some sub-forums out here in “Towing your Oliver” land, but don’t, so hope this topic is relevant here. Driving a 2025 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali and like the previous TV - a 2021 stablemate - the Infotainment system and “tech” in general strike me as a bit dodgy. I either have a traveling poltergeist - or GM’s periodic pushed software updates just don’t install as smoothly as Apple’s do. I’m pestering the OnStar folks to make the promised functionality work. (Ability to set climate control preferences and radio presets via the myGMC app). Beyond that, I’m finding that I can’t get a simple Weather Channel app that I could get on my 2021. Pretty much have given on the AudioBooks app that was never ready for prime time… I don’t want to get into it on a GMC forum, but was hoping to find someone to commiserate with here on OTT forum.

I know Berkey has a long history and a loyal following, but I’d wager dollars to doughnuts that it doesn’t (can’t) remove the stuff from your water that R/O can. There’s actually an awful lot of wasted space under the dinette seats. I know someone on here made up drop-in bins that fit under said access panels to store stuff. I’ve already got some lightweight items stashed under there. (“Not a storage area” be damned! 😋) Of course, something bulkier, heavier - and potentially -wet- requires considerable more care in siting, securing, and leak-proofing to avoid causing problems. I like to keep plumbing runs short, so I’ll be carefully scrutinizing the areas on the curb side of the trailer. Most home R/O systems come with a tank that holds 3-4 gallons. That IS too big to find a home for, so I’ll likely have to source one that holds 1 or 2 gallons at most. R/O systems are also all but impossible to winterize, so that may be another reason this never sees the light of day. Anyway, these are projects for when I get bored. So they may end up on that great to-do list in the sky.

Since I could screw that up fairly easily, I opt for the old school methods of assuring that one tank stays full: closing the valve. ”Regulator” sounds like such a pedestrian moniker. Shouldn’t it be something more ostentatious like “Regulator with automatic tank selection and gas status indicator”? Anyway, the 30-second “orientation” we received on delivery day was all of the insight I have on the device. I’d have to actually READ the manual to have any confidence in my ability to operate it without shooting myself in the foot. Back in my motorcycle riding days, there was a “on” setting on the fuel taps that left about 8/10 of a gallon in the tank to limp home on “reserve” when you spaced out and forgot to monitor your fuel. That’s how I use the “regulator”.

What was Groucho Marx’s famous line? Something about not wanting to belong to any organization that would have him as a member? 😋

JD - we’re homeless these days. Sold our 1/2 acre “city” property in Chicago northern suburbs (“Goodbye $13,000 annual property taxes” - and climbing EVERY year or so.) and also our “country” property in Rural NE Texas. $400/year property taxes on 40 acres - go figure. (Ag exemption mainly) That said, we crash in the same part of Texas (Winnsboro) a couple of weeks a year. And likewise in Joliet area south of Chicago. Our camping trips are typically pretty long by comparison. (“I got nowhere else to go!”) At about 2-3 months at a time. We left Chicago just after Christmas, and only stashed the trailer in storage on March 8th. It will only be there until the end of the month, then camping again in Mandeville (NOLA) area for all of April. June starts the long trip cycle again, and will be in the trailer ‘til end of August. Though we’ll be staying near NOLA between two state parks for a month, and campground hosts for 5 weeks in Minnesota later this summer, we generally cover a fair amount of ground, aiming to stay in each place 3-4 days, and driving 100-200 miles between stops. “Home Base” for the Oliver (AKA “Indoor Storage”) is Hammond, LA (again, essentially New Orleans) and we’ve covered from there to the Florida Keys & back, Grand Canyon & back, PEI & back, and Yellowstone & back. Put 78,000 miles on previous tow vehicle in three years. (Whew!) My wife could easily hold down the role of a professional travel agent, as she researches and makes all of the reservations - as well as all of the travel arrangements for our annual fall Europe trips. (Me? I just drive the truck…) We’re trying to get smarter as far as spending the “cold” months in the South, and the hot months North. (No more Winslow in August please!) But with family in Chicago and Northern Indiana, we usually have to suck it up around Christmas. Biggest concern there is diesel trucks don’t like Chicago winters…

I don’t mind knowing there are other beings on the planet when I camp. I just don’t want to sneeze in my trailer and hear one of them say “Bless you!”. I don’t concern myself with snack bars and pools. Hot showers and the occasional washing machine are nice though. We’ve “camped” at everything from urban campgrounds - basically parking lots with hookups - to the aforementioned Harvest host - with zero hookups. (But a cool impromptu youth rodeo!) I prefer something comfortably in the middle. I admire the dedication of the tent campers. (BTDT, enjoyed waking up in 2” of water in my sleeping bag.) I scoff at the guys in the half-million dollar coaches. (I like getting more than 4MpG, thank you very much.) Friends often call what we do in our Oliver “Glamping”. That’s ok, I need some glamour in my life.

If I can’t get a cell signal on my phone or hot spot, I take that as nature’s sign that I need to disconnect and enjoy the great outdoors. I do kick and scream a bit, but sometimes I have to surrender.

Last year or so - when everything seemed to go from USB-A to USB-C, I purchased a cigarette-lighter sized USB outlet with BOTH types of outlets. I intended to replace the USB-A port with that one. Haven’t gotten around to it yet…. It looks pretty jammed in up there over the cooktop. The one under the dinette looks to be an easier target. I just wish the folks who make the USB powered toys would pick ONE standard and stick with it! I had to buy a new hardwire kit for my dash cam because GMC deleted the “cigarette lighter” port AND the USB-A power port between 2021 and 2025 models….

We don’t have a front camera. I’ve only used the backup camera once. The monitor you keep in the TV is too clunky and in the way most of the time. Our new GMC has connectors to put a backup camera display through the vehicle “infotainment” system - but you have to buy their camera. I’m still working out a multitude of bugs, er, I mean “undocumented feature” with the folks at OnStar to want to further complicate my life at the moment. For us, I think the $1,900 (at the time) “Electronics Package” was a bad investment. The only thing we use is the RVLock keyless door lock. I’ve already had to replace a faulty circuit board on that. I’d remove the booster antenna - but too lazy to patch up the hole. 😋 To be fair - maybe - I get one more “bar” of signal strength if I hold my phone tight by the indoor antenna. Then again, that might just be from being closer to the window. Honestly, I thought some instructions said you had to “register” that device with your cell provider, but I can’t find any info on it. It’s just some blinking green lights in the port aft cabinet…

Sorry if I’m using the wrong term or if my not including a picture is making it less obvious. Whatever that Thingamabob that connects the two tanks together and has a little lever that swings left and right is called. Ours has a little indicator that shows 2 green “sectors” if the tank is supplying gas. I think it shows red if no gas (but it might show black - I’m 400 miles from the trailer at the moment). Anyway, it’s the contraption that is supposed to automatically switch tanks when the primary one runs out of gas. I never use that function as I don’t wanna end up with both tanks empty because it switched and didn’t tell me. If the little indicator is dirty, or you are just viewing through the round access port of the front of the propane enclosure, you may never see the indicator. (So you may not want to deviate yourself colorblind just yet!)

I suppose if you’re the “Hitch up a go!” kinda guy, then have solar and/or a lot of battery capacity would be more important. These days, we don’t head off -anywhere- without a reservation with at least electricity. We did a “Harvest host” overnight once just for the heck of it. We survived. Yeah, “technically” we can get by without any hookups for at least a few days, but we just like the ability to watch TV - more importantly - run our espresso machine - without needing a huge ($$$) lithium battery bank and a big ($$$) inverter. I think since Covid (maybe before?) there’s a ton more RVers out there. Trying to drive to the next campground up the road without a reservation is likely to leave you driving on to the NEXT campground up the road. I think a LOT of people retired early when Covid hit and half of them bought RVs and hit the road. I know Elkhart has been cranking out cheap trailers 24/7 since Covid (and the quality shows…) I worked for a hardware store, an “essential employee” all during the worst days of Covid. The Interstate Battery guy was in and says they couldn’t even keep the RV makers supplied with batteries the demand was so great.

Definitely a thumbs-up from me! Did you pull out one of the DC “outlets” and use the hole for the switch? Kinda surprised this isn’t at least an option from the factory. I think it would be more useful than the cell phone booster. I don’t even think that thing does anything.

We scrubbed our planned trip to Alaska two seasons ago mainly because we couldn’t reserve a camp site West of Yellowstone at the time. Not keen on driving through Canada any time soon anyway - they didn’t like me having pepper spray in the camper when we went to PEI and I’m on their s___ list now…

I’m afraid I have to agree with you here. Im often tempted to leave my car doors unlocked. Though I try not to leave valuable (looking) stuff in the car, I don’t want some clown breaking a window just to steal my knockoff sunglasses, or hack my $50 cd player out of the dash with a hatchet. (When I worked at the Buick dealer - I saw some pretty expensive damage just to steal a radio or break into a trunk to steal a spare tire!)

I admit that my go/no-go decision making as to whether I DIY it or take it to the dealer are a bit arbitrary. I think most it’s the “Are you f-ing kidding me!?” When they quote me the price. $900 to replace the blank tank dump valve triggered my DIY mode (my cost - ~$250) Pretty sure OTT quoted me about $4k to replace the noisy Penguin with the somewhat less noisy Truma A/C. Since you can buy a new unit from Amazon for under $1,500 delivered, that was a no-go. Last major automotive job I took on was inner tie rod ends in my old 2000 Ranger (with 300,000 miles) - they wanted $900. I could buy a whole rebuilt power rack & Pinion for $150. All I used the shop for was an alignment when I was done. Sometimes is strictly the $$$ amount. Sometimes it’s the temerity of the quote.

Not one to enjoy TOO much adventure, I may just travel the path more heavily travelled.

If you will be good enough to forward the membership requirements, application, and schedule my entrance interview - I’d be obliged. (That is to say that I likely already have the experience and qualifications for membership - you’re just lucky enough not to have known me for very long. 😋 )

They may well be LP fueled now, but I’d wager that there are at least a few 70’s-80’s vintage Onan-equipped RVs out there that were gasoline powered. I suppose on a trailer, LP would be the obvious fuel. Motorhomes - the gas tank is -right- there….

While a marine “watermaker” certainly IS an R/O system, it’s more of a specialized system for making drinking water out of sea water. They’re quite expensive and overkill for most of our purposes. (We also have a sailboat and briefly considered a watermaker.) I just like bottled-water quality without the waste of all those plastic bottles going into the waste stream (then into the ocean, landfill, or into our bodies via microplastics) a conventional R/O system as one would install under their sink at home can be had for $150 or so these days. Conventional water filters (like Camco sells) are basically for particulates and maybe taste via a carbon filter. They won’t remove dissolved stuff in the water. These days, with industrial waste in the ground and agricultural runoff, you really have no idea what’s in your water supply and I prefer to ingest as little of the unknown chemicals as possible.

I half-wondered why there wasn’t an easily accessed switch that would let the owner disable the front jack so that goofy people couldn’t come by our trailer and hack with it (ha ha) or turn that light if it whatever. Taking the fuse out would do that, but kind of a primitive “switch”. Probably a good mod for one of our owners who like to improve things. A simple toggle or rocker switch would do the trick.

I think JD and I have to agree to disagree on this point. IMHO there’s no reason to put grease anywhere except where it’s going to actually be doing anything. Where gear teeth mesh, on shafts and bores of bearing surfaces, and a film on gear faces that might be exposed to thrust loads. As JD says - grease does not “fling”. For that matter, unless it gets TOO hot, it’s unlikely to even flow. So “packing” grease on top of or between gears is unlikely to do anything for you. That’s why you see caked and solidified grease when you open the gearbox. I suppose that preventing air from contacting the gears -may- do something, but I side of a sealed (gasketed) gearbox, I doubt it’s a factor. I too spent more than a few years in automotive service and industrial maintenance. Getting the lube to exactly where it’s doing a job is important. Adding a bunch more grease is just good for the grease vendor….

Stihl 026 - the old numbering system. I wasn’t using chain saws back then. Bought the farm in 2008. (And sold it in 2021). My saws were all the “MS” numbering. The MS362C-M was my “big” saw. A pair of MS250’s and an older MS180CB were the everyday saws. Sure, when you open them up they scream. At idle, they purr. (That’s when the Dometic A/C would be louder!)

I don’t think it’s so much “tight” as it is some kind of galvanic corrosion from dissimilar metals. They basically “weld” themselves into place. Very true! In my stint in maintenance management, I learned a new term: “maintenance induced failure”. Whether that’s from improper maintenance procedures that cause damage (think AA191) or a situation like JD mentions above. If you’re not going to clean out ALL the dirt - including the dirt opening the gearbox likely introduces into the unit - then you’re mostly just going through the motions.

Pretty sure I’ve measured the Dometic Penguin A/C at 70+ dB on LOW fan. To watch television, you have to have it at 90+ volume. Not good for one’s ears. For comparison, Honda 2200EUi generator is 58 Db…. Anyway, I think this horse is -thoroughly- dead. ”Dis-MOUNT!” (oh, and I think my Stihl MS362C-M is quieter FYI 😋 )