Galileo

Unfortunately, I see these puppies are going for $549.00 these days. Ouch! Pretty sure we paid under $200 for ours. I don’t think I’d buy one for $550. That said, it’s still a very simple and clever device. With a few improvements, it could be even more versatile. I’ve had to do some repairs on ours. The wood frame didn’t appreciate being left out in the rain a couple of times. So I made a new one up out of birch plywood and finished it with marine varnish. Better than new!

The reflectors fold down against the glass. It’s about the same size as a clunky suitcase or French Horn case when folded. Has its own carry handle. Back in the bad old Facebook days, whenever Sun Oven International (the manufacturer) did a post, some wise-ass would say “Ha! You can build one of those with an old cardboard box and aluminum foil!”. Well, I guess you could - if you wanted a 7th grader’s science fair project to cook dinner with. Granted, this particular mfg and model are “no frills” - but that’s half the point. It’s designed to be something that people in developing countries can easily build. No custom castings or exotic materials. No complicate assembly procedures. Id actually like a nicer one - better reflectors, insulation, more robust leveling/aiming mechanism. So far, I’ve not found one. Still looking. Back on the farm, I also had a “solar Burner”. Basically a 6’ diameter, mylar-lined parabolic dish with a support for a frypan. It wasn’t terribly practical because of its size, but it was cool. Once aimed, you could light something on fire (or really burn your hand) just by holding it in the focus of that big reflector. Fun times!

Maybe a political protest? Though NO mechanical device is completely foolproof and inherently safe, I’d tend to trust Honda before some of the Harbor Freight fly-by-night brands out there. I had a no-name discount store open-frame generator for a season. It kept my freezers going during a week-long power outage, but I wouldn’t trust it as far as I could throw it. I suppose if one were gonna design and install a ventilation/cooling system in an enclosed box on the front of the Ollie, they may as well go whole-hawg and design a system that monitors CO, temperature, etc and shuts down the gen and triggers the fire suppression system if parameters were exceeded. I wonder if folks in motor homes with built-in Onan or Generac generators running -inside- the body of their RVs give it so much thought….

The three set screws on our tongue jack removed themselves the first time. An entertaining experience if you’re not expecting it. (Head spins around.) I tightened them up after that. I suppose I’d better go back and apply the Never-Seize so that they ARE removable when the time comes.

I didn’t know that the “recent” change to LP tanks (whatever you call that overfill prevention device - when the shape of the valve knobs changed, and propane places stopped rifling the I’d ones) did anything except prevent it from being filled to more that XX percent of full by volume to allow for expansion. I think the POL (“Press-to-lite”) coupler/valve is what did the shutoff if there’s too much flow. I could easily be wrong, but I remember even “old” tanks would shut off with high-flow devices. (I have a 140,000 BTU “King Kooker” burner that was good at this.)

I agree with you on steroids regarding the original Dometic “Penguin” A/C as far as noise and just plain silly operation. (On “auto” it’s positively schizophrenic with fan turning on and off.) As for the fridge - we have the “Norcold” - which aside from the fatally weak freezer door hinges - is a marvelous piece of equipment. We run it primarily in A/C, propane while on the road. Nothing ever thaws. It makes ice fast and is one of the better RV fridges I’ve known. The defrost drip tray is a joke. Some engineer needs to be spanked for that design. I think I’ll just pull it out and mop up the bottom of the fridge every couple of days.

@Kraig Curious how you resolved this… Looks like our CD/DVD drive has gone belly-up. I knew something was up when Karen Carpenter’s voice dropped an octave. Fiddled with it, and Mama Cass would only sing the first few bars of “California Dreaming’” before she took 5 and never came back. Multiple attempts and no luck. -Barely- got the CD to eject at all. New Furrions are going for $200 on Amazon, but curious if you replaced yours with the same or found something better. We play a LOT of DVD movies as we’re not often in antenna range. Fair yo say we may have worn the darn thing out over the course of three seasons. That, and the thing is exposed to varying temperatures, vibration, etc. Figures the damn thing would die AFTER I found a good remote!!!

Think of it as a sun-powered crock pot. Anything you’d cook in the oven or stovetop is fair game. I find it best for large cuts of meat that require “low and slow” cooking to be their best are good candidates. Pot roast, pork shoulder roast, corned beef, I’ve even done pork ribs. So long as it’s a clear, sunny day it’s powered up. Cloudy days aren’t good. Windy days can be a challenge, but still workable. Doesn’t matter much what the ambient temperature is. You can do bread and cookies and other such things as well. We’ve decided be bread and brownies. In remote areas where people don’t have clean water, they use these to “pasteurize” water. They DO require that you attend to them - changing the azimuth and elevation of the oven as the sun “moves” (we do know it’s really the earth moving, right? 😋) This is more of a factor early and late in the day than midday. We find it to be a fun addition to our cooking methods and would be great for boondockers!

Hi all, We’ve been using a Sun Oven International solar cooker for 20+ years - long before we even got our Oliver. We picked up this cute little toy at an alternative energy fair in Wisconsin many moons ago and used it extensively back on our farm in Texas. Cooking in the Oliver is fine - but trying to cook a big roast (what’s in there right now) in the convection oven is a bit much. Might be a blessing in the winter, but in the summer would be quite uncomfortable. This one has been through the mill. It’s pretty cheaply built, and the original wooden frame around the glass succumbed to being rained on once too often, so I made a new one out of better wood. Other than that, it’s served well. Anyway - just curious if there are any fans out there. What ovens are you using if so, and how things are working for you.

I don’t trust AI interpretations. Seems like everybody is trying to ram AI down your throat. Google returns an AI “synopsis” ahead of actual search hits, Yahoo Mail was summarizing my emails. I shut that off. Fully half the time it was getting it wrong - often exactly wrong. AI just grabs web content. That could be from sponsored sites, or crowdsourced sites that may or may not even be correct. I tend to skip right over the AI summary, blow past the sponsored sites, and scroll down to a source that at least sounds objective and reliable. (I had to turn off the valve, AND remove and reattach the POL connector to get the tank selector to show green. )

I had a similar issue a few days ago. Ran out one tank, furnace stopped lighting. (It quit trying after two or three failures to light.) I shut off the empty tank, turned on the full tank, and flipped the tank selector to the full one. Indicator turned green. Furnace lit right off. Next morning, no heat again. Checked the tank. Indicator on selector was red. Flipped it back and forth, no joy. Closed the full tank valve and reopened it. Voila! Indicator green, all is right with the world. Just weird though. BTW - I never turn both tanks on. I operate off of one until it’s dry. Then switch. I just don’t want the automatic switchover to do its thing and ME not realize I’m eating up my reserves! Only had to do the purging of air using the cooktop once. I think the Truma WH instructions mention that fix for a non-lighting condition.

I know it’s the age of “alternative facts”, but I would hope that Barker wouldn’t be making up the “internal clutch” story out of whole cloth. Then again, perhaps they consider gear teeth slipping out of engagement as a “clutch”. I would also hope that they would give owners a warning that excessive “activation” of the “clutch” can lead to premature failure of the drive unit. It also seems odd to me that the most important part of the jack gets no love, while the (optional, honestly) electric drive mechanism gets so much attention. Kinda like lubing the hood hinges on your truck while making it impossible to check or change the motor oil. BTW - the documentation on the Barker web site for both the VIP3000 and VIP3500 show a “torque limiter” in the exploded parts view. Of course, if you’ve been inside the unit and don’t see such a device, then yes, maybe their idea of a clutch is gear teeth unmeshing. The sound I hear at the end of travel doesn’t sound like teeth slipping. Just sayin’.

Congrats on the new Oliver, and a successful and long maiden voyage! With strong winds like that, it’s nice to have a heavy, rounded Ollie rather than a lightweight, boxy trailer!

I blame myself for not making myself clear here…. The only maintenance I’ve seen described here, on YouTube, or anywhere is only inspecting and lubricating the parts of the unit that turn the main screw of the jack. Nothing I’ve found is actually addressing the parts of the jack that do the real heavy lifting. Those parts are down below the pin that fits into the slot under the power head and reduction gears that you and others describe cleaning and re-lubricating. (Though I’m only guessing here, I’m thinking the real “jack” parts of the jack are a l-o-n-g, heavy-duty threaded rod, and a mating threaded nut. These parts supply the lifting action. The parts people are describing servicing simply provide rotary motion.) Im not proposing that anybody wants to hand crank their jacks. That said, OTT (and I assume Barker) supplies one with the jacks. You can either use it in the square (or is it a hex?) that protrudes from the top of the gearbox - or - pull the power head/gearbox off, and flip the crank around to engage the slot on the top of the jack shaft. (The same slot that the engages the drive pin at the lower end of the gearbox/power head I’m referring to.) That said, in the event of no battery power, blown fuse, burned out motor, etc - the jacks are designed to be operated manually. Pretty sure that the Barker Mfg operating instructions say that there’s no issue with running the jack to the up or down limits, and that the ratcheting sound I’m describing is the “internal clutch”. (See the picture of the Barker owners manual enlargement.)

Read it - twice. Nothing I saw explained how to service anything except the “power head” of the jack, and the pin that engages the shaft below it. Those parts are just the ones that power the jack - not the actual jack itself.

A couple of things: First - I agree with your assessment of the video. They only show inspecting and lubricating the electric drive part of the jack. You could take that whole part off and throw it away and just use the crank if need be. (No batteries?) Now I’m unclear on the “over-extended” comment. During our deliver orientation, the Oliver employee had us run the jacks up (retracted) until there was a “ratcheting” sound. I assumed that was a torque-limiting device. Or is it the gears stripping themselves?(!) (Since my tongue jack got “jammed” in the fully retracted position once, I no longer run it all the way up! I guess I’ll start doing that with all three jacks.) My front jack is occasionally a little noisy - but I think this is more due to the jack getting some side force on it more than wear or lack of lubrication - at least lubrication of parts lived in the OTT or YouTube videos I’ve seen. Not sure where you mean when you say “page two”. Do you mean the second page of comments on this thread? If not, where? (Thanks!) I did run my question about servicing the lover end or “guts” of the jack by the folks at Barker. They invited me to call and chat, but I haven’t circled back that way.

I also got the Sherline scale from Amazon and got results within about 5# of yours. With the Andersen “No-Sway” WD hitch, I don’t think being a hair under the “10-15% of trailer weight” is a problem. Zero tendency to sway even if I antagonize it to test it out. I AM taking the Sherline out of the basement and leaving it in the Bus Barn though. That thing is solid metal! I don’t need to tote around any more weight than I have to, and we’re not changing the W&B of our trailer significantly by adding bikes, scooters, etc anywhere.

I haven’t needed - or wanted - to remove the jack motor yet. That said, I did have to tighten up those Allen screws on the front jack when they weren’t tight enough and the whole top end of the jack spun around when I tried to level the trailer about 6 months ago. Luckily, it isn’t smash my hand against the propane five -too- bad… I did go through the whole video that illustrates servicing the Jack. Unfortunately, I find that the most important parts of the Jack - the parts that do the actual lifting - don’t appear to be serviceable. Only the gear reduction that turns the main screw inside the Jack body. Seems silly to me. Looks like the real “Jack” just goes without TLC - or lubrication.

I think if a jack motor went bad, I’d go with the hand crank. Hopefully the PO of your trailer included it. I needed to use mine once to “break loose” the front jack when it jammed in the fully-up position and the motor just ratcheted the torque limiter.

Yikes! I read that whole thread and my head is spinning about 3,000rpm. We have the NOISY Dometic unit from the factory that pretty much everybody loves to hate. We heard that OTT offered to replace it with a Truma for too much $$$. Heard that others thought Houghton was superior (quieter). Had planned to go that way once I’m someplace I can work on the trailer. After reading the above, not sure which way to go. Our short term plan - from now until “summer” is to camp where we won’t need the A/C that much (July-August in Minnesota), and then the trailer goes back to the Bus Barn (the real company name) until Christmas. On one of the (many) threads lamenting the sound level of the Dometic and plans to replace it, someone mentioned yet another brand of A/C that they implied was even -better- than the Houghton. Between condensate drains, fans running all the time, thermisters, humidity, and all the rest - my big concern is still the “shim” or support to assure -whatever- unit replaces the Dometic is solidly supported and doesn’t tear up the roof of the trailer. I guess I’ll be scouring the forum to find the name of that other A/C and doing research until I’m ready to pull the trigger. THANKS to all of the contributors in the above thread! You’ve literally overwhelmed me!

Some of those stops look familiar. I’m sure I have pics somewhere. Did the NOLA to Grand Canyon route last year and hit Winslow, Homolovi, Church Rock, Palo Dura, Sedona, Carlsbad, et al. We didn’t really follow Rt 66 - but did bounce on it a few times. (Watch out for that black wasp with the bright orange wings! A “Tarantula Assassin” I think they call it. Reputed to have the most painful sting known. “All you can do is lay there and scream”….)

I think this is a huge factor. Of course, a really attentive person or crew doing the work for you could tell you everything they found, but seeing, touching, feeling everything for one’s self is huge for a DIYer. Last trip on top of the Oliver was to do a detail wash after being up there to rescue the bolts that had vibrated out of the fan motor on the Dometic A/C. (That unit is SO loud and obnoxious that it needs a nickname - like the “Vultee Vibrator” or the “Piper Traumahawk”) That little exercise got me familiar with the crud buildup by the awning brackets, weatherproofing around the various gadgets attached to the roof, and an as yet unexplained stain on the roof caused by something leaking of that dang A/C. Even from inside, I can see the MaxxFan needs to come OFF the roof to detail clean the inside of the translucent dome. I thought I was being anal when I removed the fan blade for a proper wash rather than just a quick wipe-down. We use the fan A LOT (probably because the damn A/C is so freaking loud - have I mentioned that before? 😋 ) so dirt, dust, cat hair, etc build up on the fan parts and can’t be cleaned thoroughly from inside. We don’t even cook much inside, but something being drawn out of that fan is acting as an adhesive to hold that dirt. Anyway, here’s to getting intimate with our trailers…. Oh, and I can’t find the bottle at the moment, but I’m using some expensive, highly-recommended milky-looking spray on the front of the trailer and TV to help the gozillion “love bugs” - that completely coat the front of vehicles driving through Louisiana - slide off as opposed to needing sandpaper to remove them.

Salt is extremely water soluble, so in my experience, just hosing off your vehicle should remove salt. I spent my youth in Chicago where 120,000 TONS of salt are used on the roads every winter. I never got 100,000 miles out of a car before rust doomed it. Salty, slushy water and snow get into crevices that defy washing away. We can try, but it’s a losing battle. As for the urine bottle on Nature’s Head (or anywhere exposed to urine) any deposit is more likely akin to “stone”. Whether it’s something like “lime” or some other mineral like in hard water I can’t say. Even the rubber seal in the porcelain toilet can get a whitish deposit that can build up on it. I find that plain old distilled white vinegar is extremely effective at removing it. I guess you could use CLR.

Oh, I’ve “upgraded” from the baseball bat…. It was hard to break the habit of locking car and home doors when I moved from Chicago to rural Texas. OTOH, leaving doors unlocked means that at least I stand less of a chance of having somebody break a window or kick in a door to steal stuff…. 😋

If you or I tried to sell a spare, mounted trailer tire - even a new one on a nice rim - you’d be right. No one would give us $5 for it. Unfortunately, the types of amateur thieves who steel anything not nailed down, don’t know what the street value of stuff is. They might toss it away after not being able to sell it for a fix or a drink. That still leaves you and I picking up the pieces and repairing the damage they do. I once made the mistake of leaving a tote bag in my car that -looked- like it might have a laptop in it. Some knucklehead broke my window to steal it. They were likely quite disappointed to find out they stole a bag full of Libertarian party literature. I, on the other hand, had to drive home 15 miles in the dead of winter with no passenger door window, and spend $60 and a day chasing and replacing a window from a salvage yard.