Today We Toured The Aliner Folding Camper Assembly Building

[bama_ed]

Today turned out to be a wonderful day up here in Pennsylvania as part of the 2023 Aliner Owners Club National Rally. It was the last full day of the event. I have kept up with some of our sightseeing during this trip in the Community Board Chit Chat Thread beginning on page 265. https://www.disboards.com/threads/the-disforts-chit-chat-cafe.3509163/page-265

After attending a local church for Mass (06-25-23), we had the 10am tour at the Aliner assembly plant. The 200 people had signed up in 4 tour groups spaced 2 hours apart and we were in the second group. It was only 20 minutes away from the campground and the visit was worthy of its own thread. I have written here before about my visits to the Airstream and T@b assembly plants (both in Ohio). The building has a Mt. Pleasant, PA mailing address but it in reality is in Kecksburg, PA and is quite unassuming.



Once you get past the office areas at the front and get into the big open workspace/warehouse in the back, think of the layout of the "factory" in terms of a football field. We went onto the "field" under one goalpost and walked the length down the middle to the far end zone.



To either sides of us on the playing field were all the work centers and materials. At the far end zone was the "finish line" of some completed Aliners. In the far right corner of endzone and sidelines was materials cages and supplies.









They had some coffee and donuts for us to enjoy for a few minutes while we nosed around the finished campers both closed up or set up.









Let's roll to the next thread.

Bama Ed

 

[bama_ed]

We were welcomed to the tour by the President/CEO/chief investor of Aliner Brett Randall (Columbia Northwest [CNW] is the real company name doing business as Aliner) who has run the company since 2014.



We broke into two groups to start our tours. We started in the lamination shop where side panels are formed under vacuum pressure. In the football field analogy, this begins on the sideline down in the corner by the parts cage. The trailers move along the sidelines to various workstations for parts and work before and make a full circle of the "field" (remember all the core parts and sub-assembly spaces are in the middle of the field) and end up finished in the far end zone.

Anyway, in the lamination shop they make all the raw side and top panels. The core is an inch of styrofoam with vinyl on the outside and a thin wood sheet on the inside. Remember these are the side (vertical) panels.



Roof and dormer panels are similar but no wood layer just vinyl on both sides. If you don't know what dormers are, they are the window boxes that are optional on either/both ends to allow for more interior head space. Here is an exterior picture as an example.



The increased head space can be seen in the last picture of the prior post as an example.

After the raw rectangular panels are produced, they are laid on a CNC lathe to cut the outline and holes necessary for the unit being produced.



Then the trailer/order moves from work station to work station as it is assembled. Tires, an axle, and a frame are joined to a marine-grade wood subfloor (it is delivered to the factory with the wheel well holes cut out but then goes through another CNC lathe for required additional floor holes unique to each model). The vertical panels are applied next.







A vinyl/top floor is applied and the trailer rolls to the next work station which is cabinets and furniture.



And after that it rolls to the electrical work station.



By now it has crossed the near end zone we walked onto the field across and is ready to roll down the other sideline to the finish in the far end zone.



Let's roll to the next post.

Bama Ed

 

[bama_ed]

A lift gets the unfinished trailer over head to allow for any work that occurs (plumbing, piping, electrical) on the underside of the trailer. The unit is fitted for plumbing, counter tops, appliances and now it is time to attach the side panels, roof panels, bubbles, windows, fans, and dormers if any. There is a sizeable sub-assembly area for this step.





I asked the question and 90% of the units now request dormers (spec orders from dealers) which are mostly the hard sided variety but can be had in a canvas/soft side (solid roof) version. Hard sided weighs 50# per so 100# extra for a front/back hard dormer but only 40# per or 80# extra for a pair of soft side. That's why the dormers have the extra lift pistons attached for the extra weight involved.

The last step is to install cushions, exterior fixtures, propane tanks, external stoves, doors with latches and hardware, and final finishing.







A couple facts from the tour.

A. The facility finishes about 6 trailers a day. They build a batch of trailers per dealer order so the dealer's units roll off the line one after another which can then be flat-bed shipped to the dealership all at once.

B. They employ about 80 workers on the production floor (and are hiring).

C. After the pandemic, many optional features were made standard which simplified manufacturing (fewer things to leave on/off) but raised the overall prices.

D. They went from a standard 13" tire (what I have) and "off-road" being a 14" tire with a rotated/higher axle to a 14" standard tire with a 15" off-road and rotated axle which requires a double folding step (instead of the single step which I have).

E. The Evolution is the latest/greatest/biggest model and retails around $40k

F. The small 8' box is no longer made just 10', 12', and 15' (add 3' for the rear bumper and front tanks/battery/hitch).

My 15' Expedition 2014 model has no dormers but doesn't need them - it is quite roomy inside. I noticed that the side doors now are hinged on the right side (as you look at it from the outside) rather than the left side as mine is. I could sell my Aliner used for $5k more than I originally paid for it HA.

They gave us a goody bag going out the door at the end which did in fact contain something useful.



Me and DW each got a bag.

Back at the campground, I've backed onto the Aliner and dropped the hitch on the ball then raised the front jacks. I am ready for the quick getaway tomorrow morning to Nashville. Raise the rear jacks, drop the side and roof panels, unplug from shore power, plug in the tow 7-blade plug, and pull out. Should be home Tuesday mid-day.

Thanks for reading along both here and in the chit chat thread.

Bama Ed

 

[Sjm9911]

Ed did you ask about the ACs, I know a lit of Aliners think they are under powered, and you took a picture of them, so.......

 

[DL1WDW2]

I enjoyed your trip report.
Thanks !
How much for that cup? Nice gift from Aliner .

 

[Stratman50th]

Nice report Ed. Thanks for posting!

 

[FtW Mike]

Great Job ED. One tour and you can build the next one yourself

 

[Sjm9911]

Ed, I am stealing your AC photo, I will give you credit of course. Lota of my AC isn't cooling thread on my pop up fourm. If you mind, Ill take it down.

 

[bama_ed]

Ed, I am stealing your AC photo, I will give you credit of course. Lota of my AC isn't cooling thread on my pop up fourm. If you mind, Ill take it down.

Pls do. If you zoom in, you will see that LG model AC is rated for 260ft^2. Most get put in a 12x8' aliner (or smaller) so the new AC should be overkill for those size units.

Will be home tmrw and will relay the tour discussion aroumd AC. Typing with my thumbs on phone now and the AC discussion will require finger typing. Lol.

Ed

 

[bama_ed]

Will be home tmrw and will relay the tour discussion aroumd AC. Typing with my thumbs on phone now and the AC discussion will require finger typing. Lol.

Ed

More on the discussion regarding air conditioning in the Aliners during our factory tour.

Remember, out of 200 people spread across 4 tours (50 ppl avg), each split into 2 groups so my comments represent a majority of approximately 25.

First, let me say that I don't have a problem with the AC in my Aliner. It keeps us comfortable in a summer campsite with no shade if need be (it has) but we don't go camping in summer (Jun-Jul-Aug-Sep) down south much for the same reason I never played golf in those months: too darn hot outside. If I wanted to sit inside my AC camper all day long during summer, I'd stay home. And do.

On to the tour discussion regarding AC.

There were comments from members of our tour wanting Aliner to use window units (like the LG model in the photo I shared in an earlier post in this thread) in ALL Aliner units. They are "better" (the opinion of the commenters). I have a heat pump which works fine in Aliner's biggest box (15') so I listened to our tour guide ask questions about why the window unit and the answers were revealing.

The window units sit on the side of the camper about waist high and can be on either side and vents upward from the interior countertop. Here is a representative picture.



Personally, I HATE the look of the window unit hanging off the side of an Aliner. But hey, that's just me.

Maybe the window type AC unit in earlier models was "underpowered" or sized for a smaller space than the current units I photographed. Or maybe the comments referred to the heat pump unit (like mine) whose accusations are since the vents are close to the floor (and not blowing waist high like the window unit) that the middle and upper spaces of an Aliner don't cool. All the cold is "down there on the floor".

Regardless of window unit or heat pump, Aliner does provide some advice about how to keep your unit cool (my 2014 model had this info in the owner's manual). This was the same advice our tour guide gave our commenters.

Open the vent at the top of the roof. Hot air inside your camper rises. Thus you must let it escape so that it can replaced with cooler air. (This was a revelation to 2-3 commenters who made comments like "ooh, really?" indicating they likely closed up their vent/door/windows tighter than a drum when they kicked on the AC).

Open a side window slightly to allow air to be pulled in and help circulate the air (cool) in the camper (from the window towards the roof vent). My owners manual says to drop the curtains on the sunny side of the camper and crack open the window on the shaded side of the camper (while leaving the vent at the top open).

It is somewhat true that the heat pump puts the cold air on the floor. We have a small quiet fan that sits on the floor or the counter to circulate ALL the air in the camper and thus spread the cold around. But it was instructive that our fan froze up this trip, got tossed in the trash, and we pulled into our Nashville campsite last night in 98F temps at 3pm in a site with no trees/shade and turned on the heat pump, vented the roof fan, and cracked the shaded window, but no floor/counter fan.

In about 10 minutes it was quite comfortable.

So I don't know what the problem is for some folks. It could be not using proper cooling techniques. It could be an older undersized unit. What I can say is that Aliner has literally decades of feedback from end users and dealers and selects OEM to handle those issues and provides additional advice on how to get the most out of the OEM. It's up to us to follow their advice.

That was our discussion on AC, @Sjm9911.

Ed

 

[Sjm9911]

Thanks for that Ed, i will share the info.

 

[bama_ed]

Great Job ED. One tour and you can build the next one yourself

Mike, actually the tour gave me a few ideas on additional minor modifications I can make to my own camper. In fact, I ordered parts already for the first mod which will make visits to Gulf State Park more enjoyable.

Ed

PS - I could build one from scratch if I only had one of those CNC lathe machines. You think I can pick up one of those at Home Depot?

 

[FtW Mike]

ED. Go see them at the Commercial Services Desk at your local HD. They can custom order it for you.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Sometimes, IT IS NICE "to see how the sausage is made".
It does give one an appreciation of the finished product(s).

 

[rideswithchrist]

Late to the game here- what a cool trip Ed! I tried to get my husband's uncle to get an A-liner so they could stop sleeping at hotels when they visit everyone camping, and they could go to the Fort instead of Pop Century