Well, we finally did it, we outgrew the Aliner. Not exactly I guess as we still love it and are most reluctant to sell it, however, in planning longer duration travels we realize that we just need more space, an inside shower, and toilet. Out little cassette toilet in the Aliner worked well for us, but was awkward to use, and still required climbing over Pat during the night if I had to get up. So, the answer is a slightly bigger trailer, with an island bed and proper bathroom.

After much deliberation we settled on the Winnebago micro Minnie 2106 DS. It is still not huge, only 21’11” in length and weighing 3780 pounds. So not huge, but certainly bigger than the Aliner. This, of course was too much for the Forester to tow, so necessitated an upgrade in tow vehicle also. Neither of us wanted to go with a truck as an SUV is just much more suitable for us, so we finally settled on a Toyota Highlander. It is rated to tow 5000 pounds and with a tongue weight of 500 pounds, so should do the trick for us.

The Aliner sold after almost constant rain during the month of April and Early May ruined most interest in campers. And we brought home the new “Minnie Winnie” and Highlander.

I think we did it!!!!   
Finally I think we have beaten the leaks!
Here's what I posted to a fellow sufferer who posted a plea for help on the Aliner owners Blog:

We have a 2008 expedition and have had constant problems with leaks. First in the left rear corner, then the front right and next the front left. We tried every way for Sunday to find the source but simply could not. In desperation we bought a couple of rolls of Eternabond tape and taped every possible seam in the dome windows, the vents and the perimeter of the roof sections. Still leaked!!!!!   #@$^%&*E$%@!#$#%%^Y  !!!

Then took off the dome window surrounds front and rear and took a good look at the windows from the inside. There were minute cracks (stress fractures?) in the corners of each of the windows right where the leaks were. We did some research and came across a product called .....wait for this....its worth it...... you won't believe it.....Captain Tully's Creeping Crack Cure. Available from a company called Vintage Trailer Supply at about $10 + S&H for enough to do several coats on each of the 4 upper dome window corners. You can also get it from West  Marine at twice as much.The stuff really works, but you have to be prepared to put on multiple coats, let it dry in between and then be disappointed by further leaks. However, the leaks will be smaller, so you put on another three coats, and eventually the leaks stop. If you are not so fussy about how the windows look from the outside then just get some clear silicone caulk and smear that around the upper corners of each of the dome windows. These seem to be the prime offenders for leaks.

FINALLY! we are leak free!

Fighting The Leaks! Still!
Yep we are still fighting leaks around the front dome window and around the roof vents. The right vent cover has given in to the sun and the hinges have fallen apart. Ordered a "Universal Replacement" from CYNDER.Com  but it is 14 1/2 x 14 1/2 " overall and what we need ins 13 1/4 square. Found that we could get the right one from Seven Os in Kirkville NY for just $15.
The Eternabond has not stopped the window leaks so we went to Captain Tyully's Creeping Crack Cure. Great stuff. We read about it on the Aliner Owners Club e-mails. It seems to have stopped the leaks from the hairline cracks in the dome windows, but the vents are still to be tested. A strange request for one who wants to go camping, but I would like to see some rain!

6/30/18       Getting the A-liner ready for the season. This may be the last summer that we use it before moving to NZ, or not, but we have some camping planned. First issue is to replace the front dome window casing as the old plastic one is broken and buckled, and just ugly. I bought some nice oak mullion that I joined to make a 2" x 1.5" angle stock from which to make the new frame. I'm mitering the corners and hope that I don't have to modify the opening too much ti get it to fit. Photos to be posted soon. The next order of business will be to apply Eternabond tape to all the external seams to try to stop the persistent leaks that seem to plague so many A'liners. More on that soon too.
7/1/18        The new window casing is made, now to sand, stain and install it. We put the first Eternabond stripping on the left side vent yesterday. It went on well, though is super sticky stuff to work with, not at all forgiving if you put it in the wrong spot!

Air Conditioner Replacement

What a blunder! In the fall of 2016 I decided to drill a small hole in the bottom of the air conditioner pan to let it drain better. Mistake! The condenser coils are very close to the bottom front of the housing and I put a tiny nick in one of them. Of course all the coolant immediately leaked out.
We looked at the prospect of repairing it but decided that, by the time we got it out, shipped it, paid for repairs, and reinstalled it, we would be better off just to replace it. Finding a new one to exactly fit the opening was tricky, but we eventually found that an LG model LW 6017R would fit right into the opening and do an excellent job of cooling the camper. The first thing of note is that the LG air conditioners use the model number to describe the capacity and year of each model, and these change each year. So an LW is a through-the-wall type, the 60 stands for 6000 BTU capacity and the 17 is for the year. I have not figured out what the R is for.
We followed the excellent video posted at this link:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3EqSoG5ka4&t=112s

He gives very clear instructions and video of the replacement, and it goes just fine. Here are a few shots of our work. I hope that this will help a few others who tackle the same task.

Saturday 4/15/17
First camping trip for the 2017 season.
 We headed out around 11:00 AM for points South. Went as far as the Front Royal KOA. We have stopped at this place several times over the years as it is a convenient half way point on the way to Wilmington NC to visit family. If you are looking for the most modern and best kept campground in town this one is not it. However the managers are friendly, it has all the basic necessities, and is reasonably priced at $34. We Plugged in, made dinner, and settled in for a quiet night. We also put out our little bit of spring that we just couldn't leave back in NY to die

In this photo you can also see the extension step that we had made at the end of last year. It certainly makes getting in and out of the camper easier for oldies like us.
As often happens the Aliner attracted visitors in the morning as we were finishing up breakfast and getting ready to leave.
Meeting other travelers really is one of the best parts of camping.

We found a lovely campground last weekend on the shores of Lake Ontario at Hamlin Beach State Park North West of Rochester NY

. Absolutely perfect weather with temps in the low 80s sure helped, but even so, it is a beautiful park and we can thoroughly recommend it.

Like every Aliner owner......  Ok, Like many, we have had our share of leaks. Mostly these have been around the rear dome window. It is generally less of a problem if we store the camper in the up position, and not when down with its custom cover over it. Once again recently though, we had torrential rain and a small leak. I looked very carefully at the bubble and saw that the left upper corner was showing signs of tiny cracks through the last lot of silicone that I put on there. I caulked it again with clear silicone adhesive and then put a 1/2"  aluminum angle rain deflector on that part of the roof similar to the one that I have on the front. It is held in place by one screw each side into the Aluminum frame of the roof and by silicone adhesive caulk in the area between. 

It got thoroughly tested over the last two days as we have had heavy rains for almost 48 hrs straight. It effectively deflects the rain to the sides, and there has been no leaking. I'm keeping my fingers crossed even so.

 

We added and indoor "toilet".....well, "Porta-potty" may be a better name for it. On one of our weekends last year we were at a state campground in central NY on a Friday night. We had been cautioned by other senior campers on the Thursday that they would all be pulling out on Friday morning to avoid the weekend party groups. They weren't wrong! the partying started well before sunset and went on until the wee hours of the morning. During the night Pat had to get up for a quick visit to the ladies room. I always accompany her, at least to the general vicinity. When she came out she said that there was a considerable amount of puke on the floors and stalls and one drunken girl still in there drinking and puking alternately. That was the point at which we decided to make an inside toilet of our own for future late night stops. It worked out great. We don't use water in it, but instead (on the advice of other veteran campers of our age) just line it with a plastic bag and put about three cups of unscented kitty litter in the bottom. there is no smell, a goodly amount of pee can be absorbed, and it can just be dumped in the trash in the morning. I had to raise the lid of the front compartment just a little to fit the toilet in, but it works Great! I appreciate it too.

great!

Hi folks,

I posted a question on the Aliner Owner’s list serve a few days back about a problem of the battery in our Aliner not charging. I found that all the fuses were fine, it was the battery that was not. I replaced that and now the 12v system is fine again,   but now we have another problem.

We towed the camper from Syacuse, NY to Wilmington, NC in July and when we got there found that there was an audio alarm sounding whenever we turned one of our interior 12v lights on. According to our owner’s manual this is an overload warning. Here’s the odd bit though, it is perfectly fine when we are running off the brand new battery, but the alarm sounds when we are plugged in to shore power. It seems to be just that one light that sets it off though. We can run everything else at once with no problem but the alarm sounds when we turn on the one light. It’s a 12v, 50W screw base lamp that I spliced into the system. The odd bit is that it has worked perfectly for the last couple of years, then suddenly we have this problem. More to come on this soon ……….  A solution, I hope.

Summer 2016:
We didn't do so much camping this summer due to other travels. right after I finished teaching we took the A-Liner South to Wilmington NC, stopping for a night our favorite half-way campsite Front Royal Campground. It is very reasonable at just $37/night with a hook up and we have always been comfortable there. It is not fancy, but the showers and toilets are clean and the owners try to please. We then drove on to Wilmington and had 3 nights camping in my brother-in-law's yard before packing up the camper and flying out for 5 weeks in New Zealand. We came back to pick up the camper, the last week of August and drove North again.
the drive South was "interesting". The car (2014 Subaru Forester) was loaded more heavily than usual and, even though the camper was at its normal towing weight, we had tire problems. Part of this was due to the 90+ degree heat, and part to the load and the nature of the tires. it was all too much and we had significant wear on the outer edges of the tires. We will be replacing them soon with a better quality and stiffer tire. We are also considering getting a mid sized truck with a 6 or 8 cylinder engine as the camper seems to be just a bit more than the Forester should tow and our gas mileage is only 19 on the highway.
More on this to come in the future.

Summer 2015:
We had a busy summer this year, and, with any luck, will still get another trip or two in before the snow flies.
First was a week in a time share just East of Quebec City, then a week at a time share in the Berkshires, next a camping trip South to Wilmington NC, and finally a weekend trip with friends to Prince Edward County in Ontario Province. So here are a few shots taken at various places.
1.  Locust Lake
A nice little campground in Southern PA that we found. Just the right distance to stop at the end of our first day of driving. Not many photos here, but I can recommend it as a clean and pretty campground.

2. Peaks of Otter:
 Yep, really odd name. It's a federal campground in the Blue Ridge Mts, and well worth a visit. The campground is "primitive" so we were off power, but that is no problem. If you have had enough camping by the time you get to this one, there is a resort beside the small lake at the foot of the mountain. The campsites were clean, paved, and very pretty, and the bathrooms adequate. If you are into some strenuous hiking there is a good trail all the way up the peak, or if not, then there is a bus that takes you 3/4 of the way for $10 each. It is a spectacular ride, but not one for those who don't like  small winding roads. The views from the top are spectacular, even though it was very hazy the day that we were there.

No, this last one by the bus is not us, just some other folks that we met along the way.

Here's the latest mod that I did.
I screwed a length of 1/2 x 1/2 aluminum angle to the front edge of the front roof section. It runs right across and extends an inch either side of the camper body. The idea is that when the camper is up, rain coming down the roof will follow the track off to the side instead of flowing down over the front roof hinge and front storage compartment.
I saw this idea on Tea Haus Camper's blog and copied it. Of course I made a slight mod to the mod though. Instead of putting the track straight across the camper I put a small cut in the flat face so that I could form the track into a long shallow V shape. The sheds the water even faster than if it were straight. The whole thing just works great!

Last weekend we had our “shakedown cruise” for the season in the A-liner. Two new additions (mods) were well tested and proved to be just great. First was the futon frame that I made for the bed so that it could be pulled up into a couch during the day. This worked out just fine and was very comfortable. The only small glitch to is that the little prop legs on each side that hold it up do not swing into place freely and have to be persuaded down by hand. No big deal really.

The next addition was an idea that Pat found on another A-Liner blog site. It is an “Over-the-toilet” rack that we have shortened to fit into the space over the stove to hold daily-sue items such as coffee, tea, sugar, cups etc. When on the road we simply take these items off the shelves, stow them in boxes, and put the boxes between the shelves where the rack is put on the floor under the front table. It worked out just fine and is one of the handiest adaptations that we have made so far.

We camped at Sampson State Park on the East side of Seneca Lake in NY. A nice State camp ground, and a huge lake right there. Learned that for old fogies like us it is WAY better to do our camping during the week days rather than at the weekends. Thursday and Friday nights were pretty quiet, though there was considerable more noise on Friday than on Thursday, but by Friday afternoon most of the campers of our age group (60+) were heading out due to the expected noise that the younger group would make.

We were woken up early each morning by the #$%^*$#%#@ crows! There is a healthy and boisterous group that must be employed by NY State as clean up detail, judging by the efficiency with which they patrol every unattended camp site for scraps.

Here is one of our favorite additions to the A-Liner…..a hanging lamp. We saw some really nice lamps in a bar in Old Forge, NY, when we were camping there during the fall of 2013 and thought that one of those would look and work great in the camper. However, we could not find one anywhere. We bided our time, knowing that we would eventually find the right light, then out of the blue one day we found it at Home Depot. At least we think it is the perfect light for our camper. I did a little more wiring and added a toggle switch at the front of the sink and it was done. It ruins on the 12V side of the system and takes a regular large base screw-in bulb, but in 12 V and 40 watts. It gives tons of light for cooking, entertaining, reading etc, but when we are just sitting talking or relaxing, we still use the smaller ceiling lights.

Summer of 2015 is finally here!

Wednesday 7/1/15

What a long, long, winter we had! But we are now into summer and the Aliner is all prepped and ready to camp. Finally have the clearance from the Dr. for Pat to travel after rotator cuff surgery so we are now planning some trips. The big addition to the camper this spring was the Futon frame that we made. So far, testing only in the driveway, it seems to work just fine. It pulls up into the couch configuration with a nylon strap attached to the top center and a small prop leg at each side drops down into a slotted base to hold the back in position. Putting it back down into the bed configuration is achieved by pushing the props back out of their notches with a short dowel. Not the best arrangement, but it works and gives us much better use of that area as a couch, especially when we have company to visit.

A winter cover for our Aliner
we have had so many problems with reoccurring leaks that we decided we just could not chance leaving the camper uncovered for the whole winter. After looking around at various off-the-shelf covers we decided to try getting one made. We went to Marcellus Canvas Repair on Paul Street in Marcellus NY, and had one made to fit the camper. Pat Reap did a super job of making it, and did so at what we think is a very reasonable price. So now it is sitting in the side yard, getting covered in snow, but at least sure not to leak.   Roll on next spring!