Search the Community

This is an issue I have not seen before. While checking my trailer this morning I noticed that my battery box is separating from the hull. I don’t know when this started. When we replaced my AGM batteries in Dec ‘20 I did not notice this. Once the four AGM’s were out I did a lot of cleaning and work on the tray and I feel that I would have noticed it then if it was happening. I will submit a trouble ticket with Oliver to see what they think. Not sure how this would be repaired. If you have an older trailer that carried those heavy AGM batteries I would check for cracks or separation. Here are some pictures, what does everyone think? Here is the right side: Here are a couple of the top: Left side top:

I am going to be moving from a 2008 toyota tundra to a 2017 f250 for my tow vehicle. I already intend to add a dc-dc charging system for while I am towing. But I am now moving into the camper full time as I will be traveling for my new job. I would like to install a converter that allows the batteries to charge on a single smaller generator instead of 2 hondas in parallel. Im not sure if this is doable but I would appreciate any input.

It’s the Starlink router, RJ45. The dish came with a pretty long power cable and we got a similar length cable for the router. We ran the cable from the dish back to the trailer, through the dinette window (screen slightly open) to the router that we set on the dinette table. Beside the tonneau cover and tongue box we’ve used the picnic table to set the dish on, and we’ve also just set it on the ground. Just wherever has the best shot to a clear sky in the right direction. If we’re gone for the day I just bring it inside until we get back.

Hello again Bob, and thanks! I merely purchased a 4 ft piece of 1 1/2" PVC (2" OD) and a coupler from Lowes. Sawed the PVC in two 2 ft sections and the coupler will join the two only in the truck installation (pic1). The lower 2 ft section is permanently mounted to our extra fresh water tank. This works in an open bed but the lower section could be bumper mounted or to the side of a truck cap or the Oliver front basket. For the "umbrella stand" option the set screws from the stand fit into the drill holes. There is also a 3rd drill hole up top (cannot be seen in pic) to hold the Starlink set screw. Half fill the umbrella stand with water and it's not going anywhere! Good sale price on this today at $27! https://www.lowes.com/pd/Patio-Premier-Patio-Premier-Square-Blow-Mold-Umbrella-Base-Black/1002629278 Starlink includes two mounts. Mike mentioned he would merely lay the Mini on a flat surface. He's using the simple base mount that has a kickstand to produce the correct angle. I started the same way but found often in the woods finding a flat spot to support the dish is difficult. Starlink includes a second mounting plate (pic2) which comes with the 2" mounting hole with set screw. Notice the two drill holes in the upper post. If I'm using the umbrella stand, these line up with those set screws. I love the 1 1/2" PVC mount and would not stray from this. If I was to buy a stand again, instead of the umbrella stand which is large to store, a folding tripod would be OK, if I could find one that would hold the 2" pipe. I wouldn't want to get into camera stands, 1/4-20 screw mounts with adapters. IMHO, a soft 1/4" screw should not be the only thing holding the dish, not in heavy weather. No skinny stands, no long poles, no suction cups, nothing fancy for me. Just open your compass phone app, mount the dish pointed north, check alignment on the Starlink app, just a one minute installation required with this setup! 😎 Sorry, acronym from eBay sales, means "New in Box."

Was it the router a mini? Did you use the mesh wifi or did you do RJ45? If you used the mesh wifi where did you put the router. Living in Oregon we are often under a tree canopy, and the cell reception is very spotty at best on the coast, along the Cascade mountain range and in eastern Oregon prairie land. I still have a problem calling something a mountain range in Oregon after spending most of my life in Colorado Rockies. I do have a hard tonneau cover, but no tongue box . My preference would be to set it on the tonneau and then to disconnect it before take the truck on a outing and store it somewhere.

Thanks..... Great info....... I did read a post about the dc to dc charging, just haven't needed it yet. But it is definitely in the future project file...... The current system, which is the 400 watt system, works well. The batteries charge to 100% on sunny days, when I am away from the trailer. So no complaints. Although I do have a few 100 watt panels I can use if need be...,.... We were at a bluegrass festival. 5 days. The batteries cycled between 75% to 100%. I did run a generator while using the oven, but the panels did most of the work the rest of the time. I was being very conservative with my usage. Did not mind, worked great.,..... Again thanks for your help .....

@OffWeGo, I reviewed the sketches you provided for the Front Storage Basket and offer the following comments: Placing the unit in front of the dog house will move you 26" away from the cover on the doghouse. This will likely make removal of the doghouse cover difficult, if not impossible for one person when propane tanks must be refilled. To remove the doghouse cover on my 2022 LEII I straddle the tongue of the trailer and am able to reach the handles on both sides to lift it. Some clearance space will be needed between the front of the doghouse and the rear of the storage unit for clearance of the doghouse cover when dis-mounting and mounting. If the top of the storage unit is hinged at the rear, space will be needed to avoid hitting the top of the doghouse. No details are included to show how the storage unit is to be mounted. The indicated mounting positon places the storage unit on top of the fiberglass covering the trailer tongue. The fiberglass would need to be drilled for passage of mounting bolts. You would likely need spacers to keep the storage unit from resting on the fiberglass and potentially cracking it. You would need to tap into the aluminum frame members or use long "U" shaped bolts to secure the storage unit to the frame. As I recall, Oliver uses long "U'" bolt to secure the front storage tray they offer as an option. The storage unit design has a lot of doors (2 side, 1 front, 1 top). This presents a challenge for the frame of the unit to have sufficient rigidity to support the doors. To have sufficient rigidity you may have little choice but to have a square tube inner frame. Having the tubing presents an obstacle to installing and removing the generator, as you have noted. Also, securing all of the door to prevent theft will be a challenge. The top will need a gas cylinder or other support to hold it open, I had an outdoor grill stand fabricated from stainless steel to support a 200 lb grill. My initial design used square tubing to be clad with stainless steel sheeting. I took the design to an experienced fabricator, who recommended eliminating the square tube frame and building the stand using stainless sheet only. This change produced a much better result. There are storage areas on each side of the grill and they have stainless steel doors. The unit is quite stiff and strong. If you are interested I can provide photos of the details. How is the removable shelf to be supported? "L" shaped brackets mounted to the inside of the unit could work. The mounting method could be either bolting or welding. Your sketch lists routing of the power cable from the generator to the shore power connection on the street side of the doghouse. You might consider attaching a weathertight electrical box containing a 15 or 20 amp outlet on the exterior of the storage unit, with a short cable running through the wall into the generator. I suggest making a short cable that would connect from the weathertight box outlet to the shore power inlet. How accessible are the pull starter, choke and controls on the generator when in the storage unit? I have used small Honda generators before and they are usually relatively easy to start, but I never tried starting one in a confining box. I suggest you reconsider having the generator mounted in a storage unit on the trailer tongue, for several reasons: Mounting the generator to the trailer frame will likely transmit vibrations along the frame which will be noticeable in the cabin. The same concern for noise. Having the generator exhaust so close to the cabin presents a danger of infiltration of carbon monoxide into the cabin. Overheating is likely to be a problem running inside the storage unit, even with all of the openings. Additional tongue weight may become an issue. I don't know the tongue weight limit for your Tundra. The generator, storage unit and chocks could add 60-75 pounds. I try to locate our generator as far as possible from the trailer, considering neighbors, wind direction, etc. I use a 25 foot propane hose to connect our generator to the low pressure propane connections on the front and rear of the trailer. I elected not to install any type of cargo carrier on the trailer tongue, primarily to keep the tongue weight within the limits of our tow vehicle, a BMW X5 35d (diesel). I did not like the cargo tray offered by Oliver- too small to meet our storage needs and too difficult to secure. Instead, I installed a rear mounted cargo carrier. The generator, a grill, chocks and Starlink case are accommodated. You can find a write-up on the details here: How To Install a Rear Cargo Carrier on an Oliver Legacy Elite II. Good luck with your project! Regards, Don

This being my first season of use, I am still in the process of learning the proper procedures for many tasks. My trips so far, both on and off grid, were successful with minimal issues. As I approach the summer season, I purchased the Honda eu2200i companion generator to ensure I will meet the power needs when air conditioning may be used extensively. I’d like advice regarding my understanding of the proper process for connecting generator power to the trailer. Here is the current process I have put together, please tell me where I’m missing anything: Turn of AC devices in the trailer and secure the trailer main AC power breaker Set up the generator to run per the instructions Connect neutral ground plug into the 120v 20 amp generator connection Connect the 30 amp cord supply side to the 120v 30 amp generator connection with a locking adapter (noting that it will only be sending 20 amps) Connect the 30 amp cord to the trailer connection Start the generator to run at normal setting (not eco) Re-engage the trailer main AC breaker Given these steps, the generator will be providing shore power at ~20 amps which should run necessary AC functions (with the exception of the air conditioner) and will also charge the lithium batteries alongside the solar charging. Do I need to alter any settings in the xantrex controller app to ensure safe operation under this shore power configuration? My hull (#1056) has the Truma air conditioner retrofitted into it. As I understand it, my eardrums should be grateful to the previous owners. In order to use the air conditioner while using the 2200i, I will either need a soft start installed inside the Truma (all signs point to this not currently being the case) or I can use the inline soft start product in between the generator and the trailer. I appreciate your guidance.

Update on the breakaway unit. The 12V is dead and won’t take a charge, supposition is the 12V is internally shorted. Under warranty Brightway is sending out a new unit as they can’t break out the battery separately. Which brings up a DIY project … I have a Honda 7000is generator which has a similar small 12V SLA. Got it long ago before the EV came along which now powers the house in an outage. Early on I found that the starter battery dies after a couple months of not being used, pretty much like any lead acid. With a battery minder on it doing the conditioning its fine. What about the breakaway battery? If these trailers sit for a couple months off seasons I’d expect those to become very unhappy. When’s the last time you checked your breakaway battery, is it still viable? I think what I’ll do is make up a 7 pin socket to 12V port and make sure it’s plugged in at least once a month to top off. Ideally later with a more permanent solution.

That’s just the fuse box for my truck in in the frunk. Basically the high power ones including a 30A for the trailer 12V Don’t know what they had before, just assumed this was standard but sounds like not. In the ‘26’s (mine) my understanding is the 12V truck power is only used to charge the Brightway controller unit. It’s a closed circuit, so there’s three power systems in the truck, this, the 12V and 120V. One of the electrical mounting panels has lettering for a DC to DC controller, so presumably the ‘27’s will offer an upgrade for that to charge the house batteries off the truck (don’t want/care about myself) So there’s no battery in your breakaway unit? Interesting … oh! OK, I think this was done in preparation for the DC-DC upgrade. You can’t have the house battery feed back to the brake controller, so they put in the independently powered unit above, and then they can tap off with a DC to DC converter too. Good thing; safer, in the rare case that the house batteries are offline or dead. Bad thing potentially; I need to make sure that battery is taken care of. And already I’ve got a short. So for ‘26’s and on, a potential failure is if your trailer isn’t towed for a couple months, these batteries might die. I get the impression that Oliver might not have thought of this. No starter battery in an EV, it’s a very small 12V SLA to power the computers and act as a buffer from the internal inverter. But that’s not important, if I understand you yes the ‘26’s have isolated circuits, but sounds like yours the breakaway is powered off the house batteries.

A short clip that some may find useful. It shows just how easily an inverter A/C unit ramps up and how it allows a much smaller generator to run it safely as compared to a standard compressor A/C unit. While this was on a Greenland Turbro, the numbers and ramp up profile should be very similar with any of the current units on the market. This test was using a Honda EU2200I generator and the readout is in volt-amps and not watts. VA actually topped out at 970VA but the video stopped right before the peak. After running 15 min power draw leveled out around 600VA and then down to 400VA after an hour or so. Should be able to get 6+ hours runtime on the .95 gallon tank if the A/C runs continuously. Not my plan to ever have to use the generator to power the Ollie, I just wanted to know how it would perform in an emergency situation where we're left without power for several days. Something everyone here in Florida thinks about during hurricane season! Video Project 8 (1).mp4

Aw thanks, good to hear. I was wondering if anybody is listening Yeah definitely I'd pay somebody, but let me tell you how expeeeeensive it is around here to do anything. Remember that $1500 Alcan install quote I got? It's wine country, Bay Area money and generally rich people around here which makes you a DIY. I called around on coating my truck and couldn't even get anybody willing to do it 🙄 Anyhow unfortunately the front has more minor coating defects, but only from the right angle in the light. Sides/back/top is perfect, but on the front I was really tired and let the coating dry for too long before attempting to buff off. I did find later that you can reapply and the new will liquefy the old, if you don't wait too long. Oh well, nobody will notice except me, and it'll abrade off eventually and I'll do it better next time in X years. In other news I found my breakaway battery was dead. Put in a ticket, diagnosed no 12V AUX off the seven pin. Chased down a burned out 30A fuse in the frunk/eTrunk fuse box I should say an expensive $8 30A fuse. Hard to find too ... did various investigations, unfortunately the SLA in the controller is dead, they don't take getting run down for long, so that'll need replacing. Everything looked fine, maybe it blew on an adapter I use for the lights on my bike rack and ... no. It blew again. I have one fuse left, tried it without the trailer hooked and it's fine, so it's not the truck. So will need to figure this one out ... the wires deadhead into the front bulkhead through the propane. There's probably junction there I'll need to get to by taking the small towel hanger off the bathroom cabinet. Or, maybe the controller is just bad. Don't know what Oliver did in the past but now if it's any component they send you off to the manufacturer.

Geoff, from what I've observed over the last couple years, you know more about electronics than most of us who posts on our Forum. There is electronics in brake controllers but NONE at all on the Oliver side brake wiring. I do not mean to offend either, but is there such a beast as an "Auto Electric Specialist?" Some believe in Bigfoot! 🤣 We don't have this kind of service in our area, so are you offering a solution? So, how does this point to a trailer wiring issue? Why not a bad ground or faulty controller on the truck side? Aren't you just guessing without at least touching the Oliver, running the most basic tests with multimeter or clamp ammeter in hand? The U-Haul rental idea was a simple binary test to see if the error would occur towing another trailer. If the error could be reproduced it would eliminate the Oliver wiring as cause. Of course, the rental trailer must have brakes and 7-blade connection. Only one U-Haul counter person thought the 7-to-4-pin adapter would fit the need! 🤣 Also, in trailer wiring the white wire is ground, the black is 12V+ which is why in the picture the black is fused in the junction box. Am I wrong on this? If there is a ground issue on the Oliver side and there very well could be but we just don't know that. If it was my issue, I certainly wouldn't spend more money on specialists, just replace the ground. Attach a new ground wire at the junction box, test for continuity to the ground on the 7-blade plug, then run the new wire directly to the main ground bus under the rear dinette seat. This would eliminate trailer ground as cause in an hour with 10 ft of new wire, a simple solution. There are only 3 places where a connections, positive or ground, could be bad on the Oliver: 1) the 7-blade plug and wire harness back to the junction box, 2) the connections in the junction box and Oliver brake (blue+) and ground (white-) wiring from the junction box back, and 3) the wiring to the streetside brakes and through the axles to the curbside brakes. I would do some current and ground testing in these 3 areas and replace the most likely culprit. The entire trailer brake wiring, on the Oliver side, could be replaced in a day with $200 in parts. However, simple current and ground testing would determine one of these 3 areas to be at fault. It could be determined the factory brake controller is defective or has wiring issues. Four (4) GM dealers already struck out in finding a solution here, too much money spent. If true, I would bypass the factory system and install a reliable Tekonsha P3. There are only 4 wires in this controller harness, install new wire with +/- connected directly to the battery. Yeah, it's "piece-meal" but simple. But I can hardwire all of this at home (or any trailer shop) with hand tools and when done count on its reliability for many miles to come! 😎 I don't expect we'll agree on this one and that's cool. When I do yardwork, the weed-whacker is my tool of choice. I'm not planting a new flower bed. It's just not me. I know you like electronic switching systems, and you have demonstrated some great ones! Very cool, but some are a bit too complex for my liking. When I restore a used vehicle, like our Oliver, with factory or prior-owner aftermarket additions, once again I reach for the weed-whacker! Love your work, Geoff. 🤗

Better stay with a 3-way fridge, unless you're plugged in. Running on DC overnight takes too much power for AGM batteries. We do, and it must stay below 10F to keep my Qt of ice cream cold! Glampin' right?! 😎 We also make ice! Two of these fit in one corner of the Dometic freezer, taking very little room. I refill one each night so we always have ice available for those adult beverages! https://www.amazon.com/Molds-Silicone-Trays-Large-Square/dp/B0771YDNCY/ @Ronbrink was first to have one of these in his TV. Like you, he has the dual-zone CFX which is great! At first, I didn't want to use the space, but I went with the single compartment CFX5 45L which just fits in this space by the passenger door. It's so nice always having cold water with us, and not only in the cabin. Often when traveling, we buy a load of meat from a local farm or butcher shop. I'll remove the drinking water, set the CFX5 down to freezer temps to carry the box full of frozen meats, yum! Some people go to museums. That's not us. We shop the great local food markets. Leaving to SW Colorado this Wednesday! With both fridges half empty, our first stop is always the Delores Market! 😍

We always have a friend with an EV stop by our campsite needing a charge! 🤣 Everything listed in KWh, but I'm missing whether this is a 12V system or other. Why the gas generator and gas tank if a generator can produce power from the trailer just rolling? NOT all-electric as advertised! Gas tank in a trailer not safe. 60-gal FRESH is very good, 30-gal BLACK also very good, 30-gal GREY. "What are they thinking!" There goes their 7+ days OFF-GRID rating. 8 FT wide and 9,900 LBS GVWR, 8,900 dry weight, better leave those kayaks and e-bikes at home! 1000 LBS available goes quickly filling the fridge and pantry, clothes, bath and cleaning supplies, drinking water and beverages, etc. Love our 7 FT width and the Oliver has a lot more available weight capacity at 7K GVWR and many of us have an upgraded 10K suspension. Made in China! We prefer Tennessee! 😎

You're welcome! Your work and supporting documentation is a positive addition! With the DC-DC charger, and an increase in Ah storage, you can make running your TV sitting at a campsite or running a generator quite unnecessary. Nobody likes hearing a generator anyway, so just give it away to some poor soul still running lead acid batteries! 🤣 Rooftop solar; it's nice having them up there. When parked outside the rooftop solar runs our day-to-day needs. Perhaps a good addition for the future to-do list. When you do so, please do not drill mounting holes! You only need 1-2 holes for the wiring with a dab of Dicor to seal them. The standard 1x3” Renogy solar panel mounting brackets can be mounted to fiberglass using only a 3” strip of 3M VHB tape (2x stronger than screws in fiberglass). Smart to replace your A/C ASAP if you've been listening to that ROCK CONCERT known as the Dometic Penguin II A/C! 🤣 If you're camping in the hot & humid SE, even in the shoulder seasons, you will need to up your 400 Ah storage to run an efficient inverter or variable speed A/C unplugged. Yesterday was 98F up here at 5400 ft and was 116F in the desert valley below. I have a Ruuvi sensor on the roof of our Oliver, under the solar panels, which reported 115F with 16% RH at 1PM. It’s a “dry heat” but only in the shade, LOL! You could cook eggs on top of the solar panels! We don't go to The Valley in the summer months! Up here after dinner it will be in the 70s, high of 98F, low of 68F. Of course at low altitude where it's humid it doesn't cool down as much at night. The Chill Cube cooled our cabin down to 76F all day long, got to its set temp of 74F once the sun set, and for 24 hours we used only 220 Ah in battery storage. Extremely bright sun supplied another +/- 160 Ah by solar charger all day long. Think that the Orion XS 50A can add equal Ahs in 4 hours towing vs. all day long with 320W rooftop solar. I could not imagine all this 2 years ago when I started working our mods! Now that you have a proper DC-DC charger, my suggestion is more Ah storage capacity. You should have room to add more of the same batteries and if you need to, remove the tray. 😎

The above is accurate for our 2018 Elite I... as nice as that refrigerator is, the Nova Kool R5810 will not fit through the "neck" between the refrigerator/microwave cabinet and the bathroom wall. We recently replaced our Dometic RM2454 with the Nova Kool R3800. It is slightly smaller overall than the OEM Dometic, but it has the same size freezer, which was important to us. JD was correct with his comment that the original refrigerator cabinet is "wonky" in multiple dimensions. I had to shrink the width of the opening in order to mount the R3800, so I also squared-up the floor and sides prior to the Nova Kool installation. We did have to disassemble the original Dometic fridge to get it out through that same "neck" as described above, although not in quite as many pieces as JD did... I took off the Dometic door and hinge brackets, the mounting flange (which was seriously double-sticky taped on...), and removed the cooling unit from the back of the fridge. Otherwise, the fridge "insulated box" remained intact and did not have to be cut up in order to remove it [although the sawzall was standing by... 🙂 ]

BRIEF UPDATE July 14, 2026: I accepted the generous offer by John @jd1923 and Chris to come farther west to Prescott and tackle this 'Check Trailer Wiring' issue. While my Oliver was jacked up, I was able to take care of some other regular maintenance work, and John helped out with that as well, but I will focus here on the trailer wiring. The main job was to replace the brake wires beginning at the left side (below the battery box) where the wiring exits the hull, and connecting new wires to each of the four brakes. John suggested pulling the new wires through the axle by taping them to the end of the old wires, for various reasons, but once the taped joint reached the opposite side and I needed to pull it out through that small hole in the axle, the tape broke apart. I tried pulling the new wire through that hole with some needle-nose pliers but the wire was so soft that small pieces were breaking off. So we reverted to my initial plan (based on several others here on the forum), and ran the new wires along the rear side of the axles, using split loom and zip ties to anchor it. We found that the butt connectors I ordered from Amazon did not hold; John tested one and the wires pulled right out without any effort. He had some older style butt connectors that we used, with much thicker metal inside, and then we added tape on the connections. I will probably come back to those taped joints with some liquid tape to try to weatherproof them better. (I saw that someone had used a clear sealant -- if anyone knows what that is called, I would like to find it. The liquid tape I have is black like tar.) The finished job looks really good. Note that I haven't tested by towing yet. After the rewiring, I measured the amperage at each wheel, after disconnecting the 7-pin connector from the truck and pulling the Emergency Brake pin. Each one measured about 3.0, with the left front measuring slightly higher. This was a good result in so far as the power was flowing from the Emergency Brake battery (I believe on the Oliver, this is the trailer battery; SOB trailers have a separate little battery for this power). After the tires were back on and everything was back in place, I tested again using the power from the truck through the 7pin connector, with John's son Adam helping me by being at the controls in the truck. Measuring the two main wires exiting the hull (below the battery box) the amperage was 1.85 and 1.71 on the left front and rear wires. This measurement is obviously without being in motion, and my understanding is that the truck will not provide the full power to the brakes in this case; I'm not sure what amount should be expected here, but power is flowing to both wires from the truck. Quoting from @Geronimo John in an older forum post, "... modern brake controllers sense when a vehicle is stopped and back off the power flow to the magnetic coils when stopped..." Yesterday, John and I performed another set of tests on the 7pin Cable wires where they enter the hull and exit the cable, inside a double sized junction box behind the small panel below the vanity sink (see earlier photos in this thread.) We tested amperage for each of the wires, and the 7pin cable seems to be working fine -- even jiggling the wire at the connector and below the Oliver -- so we elected not to replace it. Of course, once again, this is not in motion driving down the highway. None of this is definitive until I actually tow the Oliver, tomorrow morning. I will report again in a few days, and try to add some photos here for clarity. I don't think this is resolved yet, but making progress on eliminating things is good. Many heartfelt thanks to John, Chris and Adam -- they have all been extremely gracious hosts and very helpful, and have cheered me up as well. Many thanks as well to all the other forum members who have been helping out with ideas and links and questions. Now we are heading out for some fun! EDIT: Added Photos with captions. Some of these might be helpful for others. These are the grommets that come with the Dexter Axles -- the wires pass through these from left to right side of axle. NOTE that they have sprung tabs on them to keep them in the axle; when you try to remove them, the tabs break off. They are not rubber grommets they are stiff plastic. I tried to replace the missing one with a rubber grommet (I cut it to place it around the existing wire) but my rubber grommets were not deep enough to cover the thickness of the axle. These two came from a new Dexter axle that John ordered. This is one of the nicks in the wire where it passed through the hole in the axle without a grommet. There was a larger section of exposed copper, but I can't find it this morning. This is the brake wire pulled from the front axle; I didn't see melted insulation nor other nicks exposing the copper here. (The original rear axle wire is still inside the rear axle --EDIT: but it is cut loose from the brakes. There's a new brake wire run outside that axle as well.) John's handiwork -- thank you John. Butt connectors splicing original to new brake wires, before being wrapped in tape. I would have preferred heat-shrink style for better weather-proofing, but this is what we had to work with. The front axle with new wire from left to right brake assembly. Butt connectors (both images after crimping); the new heat-shrink style on the left didn't hold the wire at all -- it pulled right out. The old style held, but is not weather-proof. They are taped for now. I'm seeking a good quality liquid tape or other product to address this.

I am just starting my research on a new fridge. I also have the old Dometic 3-way fridge in Hull #110. It still works, for the most part, but cannot get it to go to level 5, only runs up to level-4. Have not search on that yet. Works great until cabin gets warm. I would think the Nova kohl R5810 or similar fridge really should be powered by Lithium batteries. I'm not yet ready to upgrade to Lithium as my Lifeline AGMs are still quite new and great shape (2024). Not sure if I could just live with a portable Lithium box for the fridge, when needed on drive days. Thoughts? I'll be digging though all the forums with this model fridge to see what's what. Maybe I will see some of you at the October rally this year and we can discuss in person. Thanks!

Barb and I have had our LE I for about 18 months now. We fancy ourselves minimalists, but truth be told, we viewed the LE I as a bit of an experiment knowing that it would be a challenge getting all of our gear in the trailer and the Pathfinder. What helps is that we are both perpetual organizers and efficiency nuts so we welcomed the challenge. The game changer for us has been connecting with the folks at Sea Biscuit. Knowing we needed a little more storage one of the first accessories we added was the rear basket from Sea Biscuit. We weren't quite sure what types of containers we could put in the basket, but we knew it gave us lots of options for adding storage. After looking at the myriad options of storage containers, boxes, etc. that could go in that rear basket, we settled on the rear storage box from Sea Biscuit. The locking rear box is home for our hookups, a large tool bag, our outdoor carpet for under the awning, and several other items that immediately come out when we land at a destination. Our sewer hose for draining the gray tank (we have a composting toilet, so no black tank hose) is still in the bumper and it is surprisingly easy to store and deploy when needed even with the box over top. The expanded storage we gained from the rear basket and box combo was our first game changing moment. It allowed us to move several items out of the Pathfinder permanently. Shortly thereafter we noticed the front box that many of the LE II owners had added. To our disappointment, the box was not compatible with the LE I, but we started a conversation with Dave and Kristine at Sea Biscuit about our options. Fast forward several more months and we are one of the first to acquire a front box unit designed specifically for the LE I. The front box is deeper than the rear box and fits neatly between the front jack post and the bull dog coupler. It sits on a steel platform making it super stable, and when opened leaves plenty of clearance for the jack post. The front box now holds our DC to DC charging cables, wheel chocks, and several other necessities that also formerly rode in the back of the Pathfinder. This was game changing moment number 2. One of the final accessories we added to compliment our storage accessories from Sea Biscuit was the rooftop basket from Rhino Rack. The rack holds our chairs and camp table that were also - yes, you guessed it - in the back of the Pathfinder. (Low and behold, I can now see out of the back window.) Barb and I are huge fans of the little Ollie having put over 15,000 miles on it, visiting 21 states in 2025. Our travel style is such that we rarely spend more than a couple of days in one spot so the flexibility of the smaller LE I, and smaller tow vehicle (17 mpg with the Pathfinder) is the perfect combination for us. For anyone who is considering an LE I, or who has an LE I and is looking for quality accessories to expand your storage, we cannot recommend the folks at Sea Biscuit highly enough. The products are top notch and the Hess's are awesome folks. See you on the road!

There’s a saying among pilots who fly retractable gear aircraft “there are those who have landed gear-up, and those who will.” I’m glad you have had good luck with none of your stuff growing legs, but if you poke that bear enough - you will -eventually- get bit. I’m generally a pretty trusting guy. Relying on the goodness of my fellow campers to respect my property. That said, I was born and raised in Chicago - where leaving a door unlocked or anything tempting in plain sight is an outright invitation to theft. I’ve had a car broken into to steal what -looked like- a laptop bag. It was nothing but some work papers and political flyers. (Hah! Joke’s on you!) But - replacing that window cost me $60 and a lost day. When I moved to rural NE Texas - I never locked my car or my cabin door. Then again - my front door was a quarter mile from the road and folks in Texas have guns believe in the three S’s (shoot, shovel, shuttup) - even so - I had neighbors who lost some ATV’s and expensive mowers. Sure, your Walmart beach chair or grungy looking Igloo cooler are almost certainly safe left unattended at your camp site for hours or even days. Nobody wants stuff like that. But if you leave an E-Bike unattended - you’ve just invited a less-than-hi est person to help themselves. I don’t think I’ve seen a Honda generator that DIDN’T have a chain or cable on it. Folks DO pass through your campground who won’t share your midwestern upbringing and associated respect for your property. Especially places with easy road access and no security Leave something tempting enough out where an opportunist can see it and have little concern of being caught - and it WILL grow legs. I watched people cruising slowly through campgrounds and marinas with pickup trucks with assorted bikes and the like piled in back. If they see you watching them - they clear out fast. If you’re not watching them - who knows. I don’t tempt fate these days. Even if I’m in a relatively secure place, if my basement door is too close to the campground loop - I lock the door. I wonder what the actual “freeloader” statistic is for public campgrounds. Sure, if you show up between 10 and 4 on a weekend, you’ll likely find an employee. (Maybe not) But on a Wednesday after 6pm? It’s all on the honor system. I see campers in older or run-down units show up at a campground late - after the employees have left. They set up - and they’re gone at first light. Did they leave the required fee in the honor box? I don’t know - but certainly - no employee ever saw them.

While traveling we've used our Starlink Mini often. Though more often with cell coverage we are able to use our our T-Mobile 5G SIM on our Pepwave router. I have also used the Pepwave with 5G service as a backup to our home network. Twice while teaching, in the last two years, our Sparklight service has gone down, and I've logged into the Pepwave Wi-Fi to continue the Zoom class sessions. Over the last two years, 5G service in our neighborhood has gotten better/faster. I decided to cancel our home cable service which has grown in cost from $40/mo eight years ago to $86/mo lately for 300 Mbps service. I've worked out a complex installation that allows us to be logged into the same Home Network whether we are physically at home or on the road with the Oliver! To date we have only used the Starlink powered by battery, connecting via Wi-Fi using the built-in Starlink Router. I just finished a more complete installation where we have the Starlink powered by 12-24V DC-DC charger (thanks Geoff) and connected by Ethernet cable to the WAN port of the Pepwave. This will start to get technical for many of you... Internet connection comes into Pepwave router by means of the Parsec 5G antenna (priority #1) or when needed by the Starlink Mini via the Pepwave LAN input. The Pepwave can if needed also share bandwidth between WAN connections for greater overall speed. The Pepwave router will also broadcast Wi-Fi but like any Wi-Fi broadcast it has distance limitations. The Wi-Fi coming from our truck installation by itself will not pass through the garage and the walls of our home to the other side of the house or our lower level where it's half underground. But it does fine more than 100 ft radius around any campsite. At home, we've been using a Wi-Fi 6 Mesh network, a main with two satellite routers to cover all the area on our 3/4 acre property. Including the Oliver which is parked 100 ft away! Now that we're not using a home-based modem anymore, I thought "How could I repurpose this system connected to the Pepwave?" I installed the Mesh Wi-Fi main unit in our truck connected by ethernet cable to a LAN output of the Pepwave. It's so cool that when I read the label on the 120V power adapter for the mesh unit, the output was stated at 12VDC 3.5A which means all I had to do was to cut off the adapter and connect two wires to the 12VDC in the truck! I mounted it in the back window behind the rear bench seat, behind the driver's head. Out of sight when driving and good line-of-sight out the rear of the truck. Where our truck is parked most of the time, backed into the driveway, the mesh satellite in my office also has line-of-site to the main. Our "Home" network is getting 300-400 Mbps down and about 20-50 up from this installation, 5G cell through the cell antenna on the truck! I then parked the truck in the garage where the Wi-Fi signal must travel through 3 walls. We could still stream TV at about half these numbers. Half speed is also about what the Starlink Mini delivers day-to-day. Yeah, good 5G service is 2-4 times faster than the Mini. I've canceled our cable Internet service. The savings of $86/mo in two years will pay for everything spent in this installation; the Pepwave and antenna, the Starlink Mini and accessories, the converters and cabling, etc. Now here's the real kicker! 😎 I setup a home network on the Wi-Fi mesh. We have all of our laptops, cell phones, network printer, TVs etc. all connected to the same "home" network. We also have the TV in the Oliver on the same network. Regardless of whether we are home or away the network login is constant so no need to reconnect ever to another Wi-Fi. If we need Starlink, when traveling, or for emergencies when at home and the cell network is overloaded, just mount and connect the Starlink Mini and it feeds the same home network. If we wanted to connect to a public or friend's Wi-Fi we can also input that to the Pepwave "Wi-Fi as WAN" so it becomes the Internet source for our home network. It's a lifetime, seamless setup! 🤣 So, you might be thinking a router with antenna, the Starlink Mini and a Wi-Fi Mesh could pull a bit of power from your truck starter batteries. Yes, and it will over time. Earlier I had installed a 100W Renogy flexible solar panel on our truck toolbox along with a small 15A Victron MPPT SC. This small solar setup always keeps our truck AGM batteries to 13V+ and powers everything listed above. It also has ample power for our Dometic CFX5 45l fridge in the truck bed! 😎 One exception is when I have the truck parked inside the garage for more than a couple days. So then I connect a battery charger, quick connect leads already installed above the front bumper. I got done yesterday as the sun was setting and this picture shows it all. Notice the Starlink Mini mounted top right with the small blue power light on. You can see the Renogy panel on the toolbox, the SC is installed inside with outputs to battery and the fridge in a separate circuit. You can see cable looms, going up to the antenna and to the Starlink running across the box. The Mini is removable but the cabling stays. If we ever camp where the Northern sky is blocked where the TV is parked, then the Starlink would be mounted elsewhere, Starlink Wi-Fi login, powered by battery again. We find this is a rare case where we camp most of the time out West. The Pepwave install was shown earlier in this thread and is behind the rear bench seat below. Lastly, notice the blue light in the truck rear window. This is the Arris Mesh. I had purchased this mesh network 6 years ago, so it was great to reuse it, no cost. If I was to purchase new today there are better and smaller products available, though this system as a whole works great. We've got more installed in our tow vehicle than most have in their homes and RVs put together. What a great upgrade! 🤣

And we both started from Chicago! 😎 It was a great city, back in the day. In 1999, a company move got us from IL to Northern VA. The big 51' moving trailer full. They even transported a couple of horses and a classic car! 🤣 The only time in my life we used a moving company in more than a dozen moves (only because the company paid)! VA to AZ in the 26' trailer mentioned above. Moved a classic '59 Chrysler 300E from TX to AZ on a HD car hauler. Moved AZ to TX to FL in the 16' box, 19' trailer we had for years. Lastly moved back to AZ from FL in 2018 after purchasing a new 18' box cargo trailer. I had every SF of this trailer packed. You can't see it but there are 3 motorcycles and a ton of tools in the front of the box! The red cargo trailer was the only one purchased new. Bought and sold 5 trailers all at a profit from buying well. Made a $700 profit on this last trailer which was breakeven for the diesel fuel spent on the move! 😎 Sorry for the thread drift, but we were done talking Casitas, right?

Trying to decide which to get... I like the idea of more storage with the locked box, but having to remove the generator for every road trip is probably a pain too. What do you prefer?

After packing our truck up this morning, going through our checklist, and getting ready to rollout on a trip, I thought about how useful these tool boxes have been on previous trips. I think I may have posted this a few years ago. So I pass this forward for the benefit of any new members with a Super Duty TV and the rear collapsible cargo tray. These three Craftsman tool boxes (link) fill the rear seat cargo basket just about perfectly and allow easy access to my tools. This mod does not allow use of the rear seat. https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-DIY-20-in-Red-Plastic-Lockable-Tool-Box/1000578365