Our Aliner Restoration: Update 10

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Update 10

We got a lot done this weekend!

The two larger cabinets are installed with wiring and battery vent plumbed.
End panels installed (which included a lot of clean up and old staple removal!).
Rock guard and tow tongue stripped, primed and painted.
Old fridge vents closed.
Several outside openings cleaned up and re-caulked.
Curtains made for the three triangle windows and the big "passenger side" window.

I spent several hours Friday night engineering and working on curtains. I don't sew, but I had fixed my mother in laws old sewing machine with this project in mind. I've been looking at fabrics and pricing them out, most more than I wanted to spend. So I picked up a couple sets of sheets on sale at Target, one set a quirky nature theme, the other solid green and I'll use a brown set from the house (top sheet only.....we never use top sheets anyway).

Saturday Mike and I worked earlier in the day on the end panels. There were a ton of staples to remove, but overall it went pretty smooth. Later in the day after Billy came home we worked on the front tongue, the rock guard and planning the electrical system. We also closed up the fridge vents, removed the fan and resealed a lot of the outside openings.

Sunday, today, we installed the two larger cabinets. We had to remove the toe kicks. The smaller ones are uppers so did not have them and fit. Mike used a straight edge and the router to trim them down. They build cleats and made cut outs for the battery vent, electrical and just a bit into the wheel well to make sure the heater will be centered over it's vent/intake. I also cleaned up a lot of the old cabinets and debris. I'm burning all the old wood, the rotted flooring went into the woods and recycling the old plastic and metal we removed.

You can see more pics under "Update 10" on the right hand side bar.

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Future Plans

(Written shortly after bringing home the Aliner in June of 2009) I'm hoping at the end of the day to put together these blog entries and photos and publish some comprehensive notes and instructions that will help the next poor bastard out. There is a ton of knowledge out there, it's just really hard to find it in one place. We will most likely publish in google docs and link pdf or doc files here.

Our primary goal at this point is the floor. In our imaginations we can see the potential for this little unit and there is a lot of inspiration on the web. It's really hard (for me, I think Mike has his head on a bit tighter) to not want to look into the cool mods and daydream about crazy efficient cabinets and gadgets.

(May of 2011)

As of today we are working on getting into our second season of camping in the Aliner. Last year we only brought it local to Otter River State Forest in Templeton with plates off of our utility trailer and the old tires. This season after new tires we brought her to Myrtle Beach in April and have since removed the old decals and applied new ones. We love this camper, so don't ask to buy it unless you're looking to forkover 6-7k. It's pretty much a new camper now, even better it's made well....no stapled together cabinets or chintzy counter tops. It may not be the biggest thing but it is just right for the two of us!

Aliner Parts and Pieces

Aliner Owners Club on Floor Replacement

Here you can find the AOC write up on floor replacement with some helpful links, such as to the wood petrifier if you just need to fix a soft spot and links to pictures that show a floor replacement done by lifting the body of the camper and using the old floor as a template. We chose not to lift the camper and to replace piece by piece for a few reasons. The first was because the floor was so far gone it was pretty much dirt. There was no using the old floor as a template and no need to try to get it out in one piece. Second, we did not have the garage or other space to work on the camper and did all our work in our then gravel driveway. And lastly time, we didn't want to leave the camper up and apart for the length of time we thought this would all take. The main reason though was because our floor was so far gone. I think either method is fine but do realize when doing it a piece at a time you need to place the new floor in as you go or you will lose structural support. The walls are wrapped around the edges of the floor and stapled all the way around. When you remove the old flooring it will fall if you take it all off. Also doing it a piece at a time you will need to do the parameter first then the center of the floor rather than what would probably be three full sheets. We half lapped, used liquid nails and recessed bolts. We also did spray a rubberized undercoat and we added reinforcement to the rear of the frame.