Oliver mod

[Landrover]

I haven’t seen many Ollie mods posted in awhile. I thought I’d share one of several i did recently.

while camping with full hookup i keep my grey water valve open. I didn’t like the idea of having the basement door open while the valve was open. And having the valve open slightly With the door closed didn’t seem like a good idea. The pictures show what i came up with. Just a note. This access hatch is stainless steel one of the reasons for it, was its a 3in opening smallest available. All  the white plastic versions are 4in and larger. I will say it does look good in stainless.  Install was straight forward  a 3in hole saw  stainless hardware, measured 90 times then measured another 90. Wiped the sweat of my head and did it. My first major cut into Ollie. 

[Mainiac]

Nice job. "Well Done"! I can see the need. To be able to have the gray open, while the basement is secure, is an advance forward. I do make sure I have a nearly full gray before dumping the black, but this makes it easy to do. No keys needed. Care to share the measurement?

[John E Davies]

Nice! It is rather hard making that first hole..... after that it gets easy. I always wondered why the handles were designed so that you had to leave the big door open. 

What’s next on the Honey Do List? FYI, if you change the name of your thread to put the subject in it, like “Grey handle access hatch”, a Search will turn up much better results.

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited February 5, 2020 by John E Davies

[Overland]

I like this. What’s the part # on the deck plate?  

[Landrover]

2 hours ago, Overland said:

I like this. What’s the part # on the deck plate?  

As quick as you once explained how to post items i quickly forgot,  maybe a how to for the rally navigate and post on the forum. I’m in.   Amazon  Amarine Made 3” heavy duty 316 marine grade stainless steel boat deck access hatch. $26.99

[Landrover]

Thanks for the reply’s. I was skeptical about posting mods. I’m not one to put pen to paper as you can see from all the crooked pictures, and like John D who does a great job detailing on mods. Most of my fabrication and mods are from thought, eyes and hands not much paper. That being said as for measurements, nothing written down. Simple way. Open the compartment door measure top edge of opening to center of dump handle do the same from the side. Close compartment door and do the same measurement from the compartment opening not the door edge. The two measurements marked on the door will bring you to the center of the dump handle. Only measured ten times to verify, before using the hole saw. One thing i was surprised to see the compartment door is not solid fiberglass, its two thin layers with a plastic honey comb material in between. Still a strong door. 

One thing i forgot to mention. Because i wanted the smallest opening 3in i had to trim off approx 1/8 in off each side of the handle to be able to pull the handle through the hole easy.  Another surprise. The tee handles are not plastic they are aluminum with a black coating, good quality. 2019 model year.

[Townesw]

Now you need to replace those black handles with some 303 Stainless Steel knobs 
https://www.mcmaster.com/#60205K37

drilled and tapped for M6x1.0 threads.

 

[katanapilot]

Nice job on the mod to install the hatch.  As to fiberglass - honeycomb is very common, very strong and lightweight.  Cutting through it and then reinforcing where you cut through can be an issue.  I'm going through this right now with an airplane cowling.

Now a question.  The option list shows a "backflow preventer" valve, which seems to be an automatic (electric) drain valve. Does anyone have one installed and does it replace the T-handle mechanical drain valve or does it serve some other purpose?  If it does, this would be another, albeit more complex, solution to continuous gray water drainage when hooked up (and I assume you could keep the drain door closed).

[Overland]

The automatic back flow preventer does replace a similar valve and pull handle.  Someone was talking about replacing their dump valve with a powered one, but I don't remember who or if they went through with the mod.  Provided there's space (the powered valve is bulky), it wouldn't be a hard thing to swap out.  

 

Edited February 5, 2020 by Overland

[Townesw]

I had considered replacing the black and gray manual valves with Barker Electric valves because I don’t like the way the water runs onto the open basement door when I have to dump in the rain. 
 

[csevel]

Landrover's mod has been high on my mod list since the day I brought ILOVHER home.  Imitation is a genuine form of flattery they say!  

I have a sewer clean out near my driveway and I really wanted to be able to run grey into it while keeping the door shut and locked.  I have a few tools/cords that I don't want to walk off.  Keeping the door open while raining also seems counterintuitive.  I admit to showering in the trailer and driveway camp as we get frequent power outages here. 

Something that I was worried about was exact measuring.  I came up with an idea to use a pencil eraser super glued to the middle of the handle.  I added bit of chalk line chalk to hit the inside of the door to find center.  I'm happy to say it worked well!   Attached are the photos of my progress.  I'm a girl and these kind of things freak me out a little but I'm happy to say everything worked out perfect!  I used butyl tape around the marine fitting and stainless screws and nylocks nuts.  I decided to paint the handle silver as well since the shortening and grinding of the handle (with a Dremel) made it look ugly.  I'm really pleased with this mod.. THANK You Landrover! 

[Landrover]

4 hours ago, csevel said:

Landrover's mod has been high on my mod list since the day I brought ILOVHER home.  Imitation is a genuine form of flattery they say!  

I have a sewer clean out near my driveway and I really wanted to be able to run grey into it while keeping the door shut and locked.  I have a few tools/cords that I don't want to walk off.  Keeping the door open while raining also seems counterintuitive.  I admit to showering in the trailer and driveway camp as we get frequent power outages here. 

Something that I was worried about was exact measuring.  I came up with an idea to use a pencil eraser super glued to the middle of the handle.  I added bit of chalk line chalk to hit the inside of the door to find center.  I'm happy to say it worked well!   Attached are the photos of my progress.  I'm a girl and these kind of things freak me out a little but I'm happy to say everything worked out perfect!  I used butyl tape around the marine fitting and stainless screws and nylocks nuts.  I decided to paint the handle silver as well since the shortening and grinding of the handle (with a Dremel) made it look ugly.  I'm really pleased with this mod.. THANK You Landrover! 

Great job you do nice work.

[Free2Roam]

csevel and Landrover:  Such an awesome mod and both look great!  The thought of cutting into Ollie makes me so nervous but now am considering this as it makes so much sense.  Thank you for the inspiration!  ~Angela

[Overland]

On 8/11/2021 at 2:56 PM, csevel said:

Something that I was worried about was exact measuring.  I came up with an idea to use a pencil eraser super glued to the middle of the handle.  I added bit of chalk line chalk to hit the inside of the door to find center.

You can also pull the handle out slightly and tape a thumbtack to it. Then close the door and the tack will puncture the insulation to mark where to drill. 

[csevel]

On 8/15/2021 at 8:37 AM, Overland said:

You can also pull the handle out slightly and tape a thumbtack to it. Then close the door and the tack will puncture the insulation to mark where to drill. 

I didn't want to cut and have the drill twist up into the insulation so I just peeled it back to find the center and used some spray adhesive to put it back when the job was completed.

[fairmontrvpark]

Will this valve open at all with the original door intact and closed? given this is the Grey Water tank full open would not be necessary to let it drain. 

[Overland]

It will open to a trickle, which is actually fine for the most part.  

[AlbertNTerri]

Well, I did a similar mod but used the 4 inch plastic deck port. Using the larger port makes it much easier for me to get my (large) hand through the hole to pull the handle. Additionally the door can now open and close even if the handle is in the "out" position, finally, having the hole a little larger than the handle allows for a bit of wiggle room in the placement of the port, it is much less of an exact science if the hole is 4 inches and the handle is just under 3 inches. I didn't worry much about the insulation, I just marked the hole and after an initial drilled hole, I used my cordless sabre saw to cut out the circle. The mounting was simply gluing in the base using 5200 marine adhesive. I did place a couple of clamps in the base ring overnight while the adhesive set. Finally, a small screw, 12 inches of chain and a bent piece of  scrap metal rod I had around sufficed to make a removable device to allow the cover to either hang in place or be removed easily and stowed.