Our Aliner Restoration: Tiny House Blog Likes Us

Friday, June 17, 2011

Tiny House Blog Likes Us

Yesterday we were featured on the Tiny House Blog. Although the Aliner is not really a tiny house it's related :) I read the blog a lot, daily usually. The Aliner is as close to living in a tiny house as we get. With two kids, two dogs, 2.5 cats (the half cat adopted us when the neighbors up the street left their foreclosed home and him behind) plus the two of us. Someday a simpler life will be the way, but for now the chaos is awesome. But the Tiny House Blog generates a lot of creative ideas, methods and choices for not only a simpler life a better one. Most of us only need or use a fraction of what we have, it is the American thing to do after all. And honestly the more we pair down or the more we camp in our small, simple, contained unit the more content I am. Don't get me wrong I make sure I have what I want but think about how much easier less is in the long run. The KISS method is making it into my top 5 a lot more often than it used to. And one of our goals this year has been to purge and re-access what we really need in our space(s). Here is the link to the write up on the Tiny House Blog but take some time to look around at the rest of this blog and become inspired by the less is more frame of mind.

2 comments:

AnonymousJune 17, 2011 at 1:09 PM
We run all kinds of stuff at our off grid cabin with a single 80 watt panel and a 110 ah gel battery. I recently upgraded the power inverter to a 2500 watt unit that can run my miter saw...much better than firing up the genny.

All of our lighting is 12 Volt LED...with every light on in the entire cabin draw is less than 40 watts.

Here is a post on the lights I modified

http://kmswoodworks.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/to-build-a-better-light-bulb/
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UnknownJune 20, 2011 at 5:56 AM
Thanks for sharing, that is great! It's amazing how much less draw the LEDs have. I think eventually everything we use as a light source will be LED. Which will be great because that should help lower that initial cost of the bulbs or fixtures.
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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.