I'm sorry you didn't have a good Aliner experience. We bought our Aliner Classic in 2012, and so far, we're enjoying it. We haven't made too many modifications, but we've bought several things to make the experience more enjoyable. At first, we were overwhelmed with the lack of space, but we've become used to it and now enjoy figuring out ways to make the most of the small space.
*We bought an REI camp kitchen to keep all paper goods, cooking gear, coffee maker, toaster oven etc. in outside (no food though); the 2 burner stove fits on a bracket on the side of the camper (with a propane hookup), or it can be used inside, if necessary.
* We bought a Trekker porta-potty shelter for our porta-potty is great for those night time emergencies, or when we're too far from a restroom to make it.
*We've also bought several slide out drawers that stack on a counter (dry foods/towels/foldable clothes/dog stuff) for storage - they work great, and they store under the table and bed during transit.
*In addition, we have an Easy-Up in the place of an awning, which we love! It's 12x12, so we actually like it better than the awning we used to have on our TT.
*We use the back of our Pathfinder as our hanging closet (we have a hanging rod across the back end for hanging shirts and pants), to avoid junking up the camper with all of our clothes.
*We have an x-pen for the dogs to hang out in outside, along with folding dog camp beds - spoiled? Yes!
*We put a bike carrier on the back of our Pathfinder. We load one bike, then hitch up, then load the second bike - works great!
*We have an air mattress/memory foam topper for our queen sized bed
Would we love a bigger camper? You bet! However, we enjoy being able to store the camper in our garage (saves us $50/mo. storage fee), and we enjoy the ability to have a "normal" tow vehicle with decent mileage (21 +/- mpg non-towing; 15-18 mpg towing, depending on speed/grade). This beats the 8-10 mpg (along with a hefty monthly payment!) of our former truck we towed our 31 foot camper with. Insurance, tag fees - everything - is cheaper with our Aliner.
We're becoming very resourceful in making our Aliner work for us. We even take our dogs with us - our 60 lb. boxer sleeps under our slide out queen couch/bed (which we leave in a permanent bed configuration) - yes, he crawls under there on his elbows - LOL,and the little dogs sleep on one of the dinette cushions on their beds(sorry, no dogs in bed with us...).
Yes, it takes more effort in planning to camp in an Aliner, but the ease/cost of travel and set up is worth it to us.
OP, I'm glad that you found a camper that fits your needs better.
*We bought an REI camp kitchen to keep all paper goods, cooking gear, coffee maker, toaster oven etc. in outside (no food though); the 2 burner stove fits on a bracket on the side of the camper (with a propane hookup), or it can be used inside, if necessary.
* We bought a Trekker porta-potty shelter for our porta-potty is great for those night time emergencies, or when we're too far from a restroom to make it.
*We've also bought several slide out drawers that stack on a counter (dry foods/towels/foldable clothes/dog stuff) for storage - they work great, and they store under the table and bed during transit.
*In addition, we have an Easy-Up in the place of an awning, which we love! It's 12x12, so we actually like it better than the awning we used to have on our TT.
*We use the back of our Pathfinder as our hanging closet (we have a hanging rod across the back end for hanging shirts and pants), to avoid junking up the camper with all of our clothes.
*We have an x-pen for the dogs to hang out in outside, along with folding dog camp beds - spoiled? Yes!
*We put a bike carrier on the back of our Pathfinder. We load one bike, then hitch up, then load the second bike - works great!
*We have an air mattress/memory foam topper for our queen sized bed
Would we love a bigger camper? You bet! However, we enjoy being able to store the camper in our garage (saves us $50/mo. storage fee), and we enjoy the ability to have a "normal" tow vehicle with decent mileage (21 +/- mpg non-towing; 15-18 mpg towing, depending on speed/grade). This beats the 8-10 mpg (along with a hefty monthly payment!) of our former truck we towed our 31 foot camper with. Insurance, tag fees - everything - is cheaper with our Aliner.
We're becoming very resourceful in making our Aliner work for us. We even take our dogs with us - our 60 lb. boxer sleeps under our slide out queen couch/bed (which we leave in a permanent bed configuration) - yes, he crawls under there on his elbows - LOL,and the little dogs sleep on one of the dinette cushions on their beds(sorry, no dogs in bed with us...).
Yes, it takes more effort in planning to camp in an Aliner, but the ease/cost of travel and set up is worth it to us.
OP, I'm glad that you found a camper that fits your needs better.
bondebond wrote:
sushidog, you bring your pet bird along?? At least where I live and have lived, I would keep a close eye on the sky for anything looking to make a meal of your friend. Too many raptors cruising.
Otherwise, quite the set up you've got there. Is the awning from the factory, 3rd party or personally made?
Yes, I've had my sun conure for 27 years. We always take her camping with us. She's fully fledged and can fly back to the camper or more often, fly under my shirt if she feels threatened. She always comes when called. Raptors are my biggest fear, so we both keep a sharp eye out. She likes to hike the trails too, sometimes visiting nearby trees. Occasionally visitors will ask: Aren't youn afraid she will fly off? I always reply, if you had a dog for 27 years would you be afraid that it would run off some day? Of course not, we couldn't get rid of her if we wanted to.
This is what we look out for. This eagle was at land between the lakes on the Ky/Tn border.
Sunny at Horsetrough Falls Near Helen Georgia.
For some reason she liked this tree, making for a beautiful shot.
A close-up of her enjoying a mountain stream in the smokies. She actually wanted to get down in it and take a bath in the babbling brook! Ihen I brought her to the edge at a safe spot, she touched the ice cold water and would have none of it, running back up my arm to snuggle next to my neck.
Sorry for the hijack. ๐
Chip
Congrats on your new camper! BTW, what do you pull your Travellite with and what kind of MPG do you get? Yes, an Aliner is a specialty camper that is not right for most people. On the bright side, I'm sure someone will now get a good deal on a slightly used Aliner - like we did.:)
We customized ours extensively to make it suit our needs. Most Aliner owners do. We rarely use our dinette, and couch. Instead, we leave it made into a king bed which gives us very little room to move around inside, but with just the 2 of us camping we're fine with the intimacy. But frankly, what other full-featured (king bed, shower/cassette toilet, fridge/freezer, microware stove, air conditioner, etc.) hard sided camper can you pull with a 4 cyl car and get 22-25mpg towing, and still have a 30+ mpg vehicle to tour the area when unhooked? Of course if you don't travel much and can afford a big dedicated fuel hungry TV then this may not be important. For us, the great gas mileage is less important than the expense of buying, insuring, maintaining, etc. a dedicated TV. We now have over 230,000 miles on our little Chevy Cobalt (about 30k miles towing) and it still runs great, towing our 1,700lb (loaded) Aliner up and down the steepest grades at the legal speed limit (up to 75mph across Texas 2 weeks ago).
We easily live with the cramped space inside. This forces us to spend more time outside when we camp. If you like to stay inside a lot, then you would probably go stir crazy in one. If we're just over-nighting, we often don't unhook, (perfect for those 700+ mile days) like we did a couple week ago at a visitor's center, like this.
If we plan on staying a while then out comes the screen room, awning and all the goodies, like this:
Different strokes for different folks. I hope your new camper suits your needs as well as our Aliner suits ours.
Chip
We customized ours extensively to make it suit our needs. Most Aliner owners do. We rarely use our dinette, and couch. Instead, we leave it made into a king bed which gives us very little room to move around inside, but with just the 2 of us camping we're fine with the intimacy. But frankly, what other full-featured (king bed, shower/cassette toilet, fridge/freezer, microware stove, air conditioner, etc.) hard sided camper can you pull with a 4 cyl car and get 22-25mpg towing, and still have a 30+ mpg vehicle to tour the area when unhooked? Of course if you don't travel much and can afford a big dedicated fuel hungry TV then this may not be important. For us, the great gas mileage is less important than the expense of buying, insuring, maintaining, etc. a dedicated TV. We now have over 230,000 miles on our little Chevy Cobalt (about 30k miles towing) and it still runs great, towing our 1,700lb (loaded) Aliner up and down the steepest grades at the legal speed limit (up to 75mph across Texas 2 weeks ago).
We easily live with the cramped space inside. This forces us to spend more time outside when we camp. If you like to stay inside a lot, then you would probably go stir crazy in one. If we're just over-nighting, we often don't unhook, (perfect for those 700+ mile days) like we did a couple week ago at a visitor's center, like this.
If we plan on staying a while then out comes the screen room, awning and all the goodies, like this:
Different strokes for different folks. I hope your new camper suits your needs as well as our Aliner suits ours.
Chip
