LEAKER

When the replacement speakers arrived for the broken external speakers on our fifth wheeler, we had already cleaned all of the old caulking away and were ready for the install. After removing the tape that I had applied to keep the rain out, the next step was to clean the surfaces with alcohol to insure that the caulking sealed well.

Since the factory installer had put the speakers in upside down the first time, I made sure that they were placed as they were engineered to be. The above photo is the correct way. Here, below, is a look at how the installer had them placed.

Note that should the speaker cone break, water can easily enter the trailer.

So, have you got a potential “speaker leaker” ? It might be worth the time to take a look. If your external speakers are covered like the one below, it’s a easy check.

Loosen a screw or two and take a quick peek. It’s a investment in peace of mind !

SPEAKER

During our latest stay out on Lake Ouachita we had a big storm that at first we thought did no damage. However when we went to backtracking a strange drip from our Kitchen cabinets, we made a discovery. Our outside speaker cone had blown out and water could come in.

  

Looks ok from here.

 

Here is the culprit after being removed.

After removing the suspect speaker I could see that the cone was broken, allowing water to come inside the trailer. Here is the port the speaker was removed from.

Here is the speaker box inside of the kitchen cabinet.

New speakers were just a click away on eBay, so, we covered the port with shipping tape while waiting for them to arrive.

Now, when we bought the trailer, I did not care for the outside speakers, but I thought, “well, I’ll just leave them off. And we have, but they still came back to bite us in the butt ! Our trailer is six years old and it looks like the leak was there for awhile before we detected it.

Outside speakers, do you want them ?

REMEMBERING

It was back in September of 2007, the 9th day, a Saturday as I recall, when I saw my first Oliver travel trailer. I had cruised through the web site, called the factory and talked to the guy in the parts room. The Sales Manager at the time was going to show one at the River Valley Egg Rally in Van Buren Arkansas, and Betty and I drove up to take a look.

Oliver Legacy Elite

My cell phone was fairly new, but the technology just wasn’t there yet and it took grainy and blurry videos that were three minutes long.

Oliver Legacy Elite

As soon as I got back home, I put them up on YouTube so I could show the Oliver to friends.

Oliver Legacy Elite

YouTube didn’t stabilize the video back then, so they were pretty shakey.

Oliver Legacy Elite

The old cell phone didn’t have much memory so it was maxed out on the fourth video.

We just absolutely fell in love with the Oliver and soon we were at the factory picking up our Ollie.

It was hull #3.

The Oliver Travel Trailer makes a lasting impression on every one that sees it, or so it seems. Do you remember the first Oliver that you saw ?

BEACON

There is a thing that Betty and I love to do on those sultry, hot, breathless, Summer nights when not a leaf is moving on the lakeside, and it is impossible to sleep. We cruise slowly out on the lake with the stereo playing those old rock tunes that we like so, playing softly. Our dive boat that we had for twelve years or so is long gone and we now have a smaller fishing boat. So, we now operate a little differently.

http://youtu.be/vP33zanSNJQ

BEACON in the night

Our dive boat had lots of cool electronics on it for navigation that our fishing boat doesn’t have. This Coleman lantern provides a constant visual fix on the campsite’s location, backed up with a low powered solar light. Not nearly as high powered, as the old boat,  the sound system is pretty good. Here is a look at the bluetooth connected speakers.

 

The cell phone connects wirelessly to the speakers and also picks up SiriusXM radio for the oldies sound.

As we quietly slip across the surface of Lake Ouachita with no light except the boat’s navigational lights, our night vision is ever so good and we invariably begin to talk about the stars above in the sky. That’s when the cell phone’s star map app comes in handy.

Our four cycle engine is so quiet that we can hear conversations around campfires on the shore, as the sound travels across the water.

Late night cruising, it’s pretty nice. Boondocking on Lake Ouachita, in Arkansas.