"Chandelier v1.0"

Parts and pieces laid out.

I had this idea for a movable, more direct and functional light for the camper that was also 12 volt (most of our camping is dry) and "cute".  My idea was to take a work light meant for emergency tire changes or working under the hood on the side of the road and add a cheap little lamp shade from the craft store to give it that "I'm not a work light" look.  So I picked up this cheap little work light from eBay (there is still 364 of them left, lol) and then I bought a little shade meant for the candle lights that people put in their windows at Christmas time (using a coupon it came to $1.40).  I liked this light because it had the longer, straight cord at 10 feet.  It can reach anywhere in the camper and my 12 volt plug is pretty much in the center of the camper.  I also liked it because it was really small.  I was also looking at this one at Walmart for $6, but it is much bulkier (can't find the Walmart link at this moment).  But it has a retractable cord that is maybe 6' or 8'.  But again bulkier.  The only reason I may still try something out with it is because I am sure it is much brighter than this little one I choose over it.  So all I did was open up the wire of the shade that goes over the bulb a bit then slid the cord into an already opened up piece of a clip that went around that.  I used a suction cup on the window itself, my walls are textured even though a command hook will work if I decide on a permanent spot on the wall that folds in first. I have one up already in the  center for a little sign I hang up when camping.  Here are a couple pictures.  I'll call this Chandler v1.0.  I am happy with the concept, execution and the looks of this but I just wish it was a bit brighter.  The clear plastic is just glued to the red top over a bulb soldered in, maybe I'll drag Mike over to radio shack to help me find one just a tad brighter.  Either way for a total cost of $5.65 I am very happy with my little light and will give it a test run this coming weekend at Otter River.

My movable 12 volt Light

Solar Panel continued (Plug details)

This post contains a bit more detail about the solar panel setup and connector.  Search the blog for keyword solar for other details.

Solar Panel --->2-Pin Connector--->Controller--->Battery.

Two Pin Connector From Radio Shack

2-Pin Plug Opened, Plug in only one way.

Small controller that came with solar panel (3 amp, max output of the solar panel is 1.68 amp).

Alligator clips on battery from controller.

Simple power gauge.

Line in from the solar panel (to the connector).  Plug is before the controller.

Cable from panel through power opening.

Front view.

I'd like to either mount the panel to a multi-directional pole on the front tongue or add an edge over the bubble so the panel sits a bit more secured.  The 2 pin connector was bought at Radio Shack for a couple dollars.  The wires off the panel were bare and easy to crimp into the connector.  The connection from the controller was easy because it came with alligator clips.

eta on 6/30/2011:  I came across a website today about RV mods and it had a really good solar write up.  It has a lot of the information I found all over the place in one place.  Granted the install is more complex than mine and it's meant for a larger camper with a full roof and permanent set up but the general info and background is very useful if you're researching for your own project.

Logo's Complete!

Mike suggested the brown stripe, picked it up locally and applied it. We think it really pulls it together. We had an extra logo because the vendor had made a mistake so Mike used it on the rear and added the green stripe with a concave cut near the wording. It's raised up so it sits over the lights and spare. Like a new camper, love it! Well worth all the hours agonizing over the right logos, fonts and colors as well as all the picking and cleaning up from the old logos.

Green Stripes Added

Today we applied the green stripe on both long sides. We're thinking of not adding anything to the front (not sure yet, suggestions welcome!) on the back we're going to put the wording, Aliner LX and a variation on the green stripe. We're also going to add a small one inch stripe under it all. We were up in the air about the brown stripe but now that the thicker green stripe is on we think it would really tie it in with the wording and all.

Logo Removal Day 3 and New Logos Applied!

The last of the old logos and stripes were removed today and the new cameos and wording applied! We still need to add the 4" solid green stripe and we are thinking of adding a 1" solid brown stripe under it (already have the green). We spent a lot of time making sure the camper was very clean and free of any oils before applying the new logos. It was nerve racking because there was a bit of a breeze but once again Mike showed his expertise.

Here it is all clean and naked:

The application:

Close up:
Other side:
Curb side:
Road side:
I am beyond happy with this! Source of the logos is signnetwork.net. It is a small business in Canada but shipping is very quick. There was a mistake with my first shipment and she corrected it immediately and we had the replacement in just a few days. We'll add more pictures once the stripes are added.

Winter Updates

Over the winter we took care of a few things on the to do list. We installed 80# shocks under the bed and they make life a lot easier. Maybe we could have gone with 100#, if there is much on the bed it will close but it is nowhere as difficult as it was to lift and keep open. If it is just the bed, cover and linens it stays up just fine and I am quite happy with it. Mike did this work by himself and surprised me with it when I got home, such a sweetie :)

And before we could take a long trip like Myrtle Beach we had

to get new tires. The tires on the Aliner were mismatched, same brand different thread and we have no idea what the history was on them. They work

ed fine for short trips to Otter River but not a 1800+mile round trip. Tire research was all over the place and I found lots of info, most of it contradicting the last. So our theory was P style tires came off it and it road fine, even without matched threads, so P tires went back on it. I found pluses for ST tires and minuses but they seemed like less tire for more money. And if the sake was so they don't dry rot out then whatever, the P tires weren't that much anyway. Since putting these tires on we did take our trip to SC and the camper road just fine once we balanced the tire pressure. Initially one tire was 6psi less

than the other and the camper walked and bounced. After the adjustment it road even and smooth, even through NY city on I95! The r

ims aren't so pretty, but they are true round and happy. We went with the same size that was on it from the previous owner, 180/70 P13. We paid about $100 for two tires, balanced, replacement and road hazard insurance.

And lastly (for this update) is the entertainment center. It consist

s of a add on shelf over the seat near the door. We thought of a fold down which is typical but we decided it was a tight seat already (I cut a couple inches off the original cushion to fit the seat area so the bed would fit). Plus we only need this shelf for a rare movie off the laptop when its raining or someone is sick (this happened to me in Myrtle Beach, blah). The wood is a leftover piece from the partial wall right behind it at the door (the supporting wall for the opposing triangle wall when folded), and it is finished with

left over oak veneer edging. Mike rounded off two of the corners for me. The supports are the wire shelf frames that screw into the wall with a couple shelf arms. The laptop sits on top and the portable Bose sits under it (because the laptop speakers are not enough in the pouring rain!). I store the shelf arms under the seat and the shelf it

self fits under the cushion. I'm happy with it, it's just enough.

Currently we're working on our new logo's, removing the old, see other posts.

Logo Removal Day 2

We picked up heat gun cheap enough and well worth the $24 because it's working out much better, still far from easy or fun but at least a bit quicker. It takes an easy hand and patience. I haven't done the work with the heat gun but watching my husband I can see he working just enough heat to make it pliable and it's a fine line before it just melts. Each color has a different threshold too. The purple color has been the worse. I'm going behind him with Goo B Gone a soft scuff pad and a magic eraser to work off the dirt and left over adhesive. I am having the most success with the goo gone right on the magic eraser, just enough abrasive so to not damage the paint. It kinda creeps me out without a logo, looks weird...

Logos

We ordered some new decals from signnetwork.net and after a little going back and forth they are here so we started removing the old decal....fun, not.

Spring, 2011

It's been a while since I've added anything to this blog. Spring, 2011 is on its way though. We pulled the Aliner up to the active part of the driveway yesterday and there are a few things we'd like to do to it before our first trip of the year, which is next month and it's a big one. We will be going to Myrtle Beach State Park. It'll be the camper first trip out of the state. It didn't go last year because we knew we had to replace the tires before such a trip so we tented that trip. So our to do list is:

• Replace the tires.
• Paint the sink/heater cabinet.
• Put a removable shelf in at the seat for the laptop.
• Lifts for the bed.
• Seal off opening under the bed.
• Replace the vent that I broke over the winter :(
  
• Restock.

Mike started up the heater today so while the camper was warm I went out and painted the cabinet. I had some DCR brown so that's what it is. I wish we had stained it initially, but we didn't. Mike says he can cut new wood for it, maybe down the road. I do like the DCR brown much more than the color it was. The darker brown is the same brown that I had painted the heater vent, close at least, and one of the electrically outlets. It looks better.
After:

Before:

June Update

Maybe I should change the title of the blog now that the camper is pretty much done? Not that these things are ever actually done, done anyway. Someone on the Yahoo Aliner group has a 2000 that they rebuilt the ceiling panels on. (link will only work if you're a member, sorry). Looks like something we could do down the road too. Their work is a good baseline, but I would change a couple things....like add a layer of plywood, and use glue made for adhering foam to metal and plastic. But that is what's great about other people sharing their experiences online. I had contacted the factory about buying new panels, but at $1000 each (at least for the front....the back is probably less....no fan, less windows) we're all set. We spent less than that doing the rest of the camper over. Our panels aren't that bad either, just a bit of delamination at the seams near the bubbles. Plus the new panels have a lot less windows, which might be good for less chance of leakage down the road, but I want windows. The windows are part of the reason it doesn't feel as small as it is.
I made Mike a little pouch to put his stuff in at night, glasses and so on. He said he wanted a pouch like in the tent, lol....he has a hidden cabinet under the side table this pouch is on. That's okay, a dollar ball of yarn and a couple of command hooks. I also crocheted a band with a button on the end of it to hang the paper towels off the wall lock over the sink (inspired by someone elses camper diy...sorry no pic yet). And I picked up this little shelf that is made to stick to the wall of a shower with suction cups. I got it off the clearance rack for $7 at Lowes and it fits perfect on the small triangle corner window. I'm going to put a little plant there when we're set up. Next week I will try to blog about the graphics we've been looking at and designing to replace the old tired and peeling graphics on the Aliner now.
Mike and I are going out to camp for the weekend alone. I don't think we've gone out alone since before we were married! Thanks to the simplicity of throwing the camper on the hitch and going, thank you very much. So later gators, hope you have the chance to get out there this weekend too!

Systematic Website Documenting Our Work

Blogger is a great journal, but when you are looking for data and facts it can be a bit difficult to find your way around a blog. So I am in the process of putting things together in a more systematic way over here on a google site page. It's cleaner and various pages can be made. I plan on doing one page for the floor, one for cabinets, bungee replacement, curtains and so on. Of course I started with a background page and the flooring. Navigate through the sitemap and it should be much easier to find information, and less opinion and thinking out loud there.
There must be a way to make the site map itself show up in the sidebar, but for now you have to click on it. Hope this makes it easier for people looking for information.

Bed Lift Idea

I want to add this to "the list":


This is a Chalet, I think stock too. Right now we have the original boards from when the Aliner had a dinette where the permanent bed is now. It folds up okay, kinda hangs up a bit on the right side hinge. This looks a lot easier to deal with. I have two small shocks already. I doubt we'll need more than two as we are using an air mattress (that will be deflated for travel). Maybe next year?


5/27....I just found this bed lift option in a 2009 High Side Aliner on Danny's Campers website....I wish I lived closer to this place. I don't know if I like this yet, looks like it would be harder to get into the side compartments. I think I like the Chalet design better.

Cabinet Update

I added the pictures to update 14, sorry they are dark I took them at night. Mike added the latches to keep the cabinets and drawers shut as well as the knobs.....my penny knobs that I picked up last year in the clearance pile at Lowes :) We took a trip to Harbor Freight last night and I picked up some great little LED lights that are magnet activated. So when you open the doors (release the magnet) the light comes on inside the cabinet. It is the little things, because I am tickled pink over this, lol. They were $2.50 each and I picked up 4. I also had a tap LED that I will put in the double cabinet. The magnetic ones would be hard to install in the double because the door opens from the middle of it and there just isn't anywhere to attach the light so it will be near the magnetic plate.
We are very motivated right now to finish things up. I have a few more curtains to make, but the doorway and the bubble windows are done now...just need to install the new rods. The big window over the sink curtains are pinned and ready to be sewn. Maybe today?

Update 9....The Floor is in!

The floor is in! And I love it. It just needs a edge of caulking (poly) around the walls. Then I was motivated to clean the walls and start working on replacing the exterior caulking and rusty screws. Billy removed the rock panel (maybe there is another name for it....?) and we got some paint made for plastic to freshen it up a bit. I'd love to put diamond plate stainless steel there, but we just don't have the money for it. Maybe down the road. Mike and Billy picked up some plastic rivets to put the rock plate back in. And we got some screws with anchors to replace the ones that really aren't catching anything. Partially why the drivers side tail light caulking cracked, because two of the upper right screws were just there. We'll also squirt some poly caulking into the screw holes too. We picked up some panels for the end walls, 10% off at Lowes because some of the edges are a bit tattered, which is not going to effect the project anyway. Tomorrow Mike and Billy will cut and install the end wall panels and probably start putting in the cabinets. I will work on replacing caulking and cleaning things up. It's really starting to come together now that the floor is laid. There are more pictures on the sidebar in the Album called Update 9.

Plywood, Cabinets and Pulls.

Okay, we had bought two pieces of plywood at Lowes for the subfloor and said we'll come back for more when we need it....mistake #2, mistake #1 was going to Lowes. Yeah they save us $, just like Walmart, but at the end of the day do they really? The wood we bought said it was 19/32nds. We went back and bought two more yesterday....it was thinner, and had 4ply whereas the first set was 5ply. We had cut it, brought it back and got our $ back and checked everything they had and nothing matched, same deal at Home Depot today. So we went to the good ol' Plywood Plus store and jackpot! Found the right thickness and scored some cabinets at an unbelievable 92% off! Was seperately over $1400 for these four pieces that were ordered wrong, we paid $120 to take it away! Nice units too with pull outs inside didn't take a pic of the inside of them yet). Two are base cabinets and two are upper cabinets, but we'll use all 4 as lowers of course. Three are maple, one is oak but you can barely tell the difference because they are the same style. We will have to do some engineering to get these to work with the heater and the fridge, but we always seem to make it work and can not beat the price! Plus I had picked up some cabinet knobs off the clearance rack at Lowes yesterday for a penny each....usually $4.50 each. I bought 13 out of the 20 in the bin knowing I wouldn't need that many but for 13 cents whatever. When we went back to return the crap wood the rest were gone. You can see a few more pics on the side bar in the album called cabinets. Score!

Update Five

One week since we brought her home now, we got some work done today too. We are working a bit at a time taking out the rotted floor and replacing it with new because we do not have the space to take the top off from the bottom. We have started at the door and to the right. You can see all the pics on the right hand side here --> Update 5. We also had an end of the year party for our youngest today too, so we are beat! We are going to have some dinner and relax for the rest of the night. Rain is knocking on our back door so we've had to do some temporary sealing to keep the rain getting in on our new floor, a trashbag over the baggage door and some packaging tape across the top of the rock guard. Tomorrow is Father's Day. I'm kinda hoping Mike is planning on relaxing for the day.