Tacoma + Aliner Ranger 12

[xearth]

I've been in and out of this forum over the years (and vehicles), but after moving a little closer to some of the places we love we traded in the Forester for a Tacoma and pulled the trigger on an Aliner Ranger 12.

2021 Tacoma TRD Off Road - we haven't done anything to the truck at this point, just included a tonneau cover for some easier storage while traveling and a brake controller for the trailer. This gives us flexibility to drop the camper off and get to some more remote areas to climb and hike.

2022 Aliner Ranger 12 - also stock at this point and just getting used to the systems currently. We landed on the Aliner for the ease of setup, low weight, and off road axles for getting away from the crowds.

• Dual propane tanks
• Deep cycle marine battery
• Sink with 11 gallon tank
• Dual burner stove
• Single vent fan
• 2 way refrigerator
• Propane furnace
• Heat pump
• Sofa bed
• Dinette (w/bed conversion)

Looking forward to sharing updates and seeing what others are doing as well.

Cheers

 

[xearth]

A few weeks back we enjoyed our first trip with the camper hooked up to electric and thoroughly enjoyed being able to run the AC and cool that bad boy down at night.

We also had the great opportunity to troubleshoot our first blown fuse at the battery and get it swapped out:

If anyone has any interest I also keep a more detailed report on my personal site:

Climbing and Camping

 

[tlin]

Keep the Aliner updates coming - considering one myself. Cheers!

 

[xearth]

We've had the Aliner out for 11 days total now (mix of boondocking and having hookups) and I feel like we're getting it much more dialed in for our usage. This is our first RV so everything is new to us, but it's super pleasant figuring it out.

The heat pump has been way more advantageous than I would have thought throughout the summer, making it super easy to cool down the interior. The fridge has also been more utilized than expected, and a cold beer after a long day climbing is nothing to shake a fist at.

Each trip we're figuring out something new with the Aliner, and I feel like I at least have managing the battery between trips in a better place than when we started. Now that we're figuring out the shorter trips, we'll be mulling over some longer ones. Some of the climbing we do happens to be off the Daniel Boone Backcountry Byway so that might be a good start.

 

[calicamper]

Its been on and off my list lots of positives!! Some negatives…
I would only have one workable model.
Family Expedition with three separate bunk area’s.
Big positive is its low road mode profile vs wind storms during transit.
I likely can’t make it work due to the lack of gear storage options on/in it. Add bathroom vs wife want and I’m pretty sure its a no go. The next closest option that addresses both those challenges is the Taxa Mantis but do far COVid price gouging makes that a no way…

So currently best option is the E/geo pro 19FBTH which I would only need to build out a bunk bed solution.

I have a SUV so need gear storage ideally in the trailer vs on the trailer.
But still very curious about your Aliner experiences ?

 

[xearth]

I likely can’t make it work due to the lack of gear storage options on/in it. Add bathroom vs wife want and I’m pretty sure its a no go.

I feel you there, with just the two of us and the dogs and keeping our non-essentials in the truck has been a good balance so far of keeping the Aliner tidy but workable. Not wanting to manage a black tank was on my list, so we nixed the bathroom and have just been prioritizing some amenities based on places we stay.

 

[ahlerscurtis]

Thank you for posting this. My wife and I just had our fist kid and wife is wanting camper to help with summer and winter camping. I have almost the same set up as you. Trying to fine a small camper that will keep us cool in summer, warm in winter, and get best MPG.

2019 Tacoma TRD OR DCLB all stock except camper shell on back.

We are also looking at a ranger 12 as an option. I was wondering if you could provide some info/data from your experience with the Aliner.

• When towing what type of MPG are you seeing? What is your cruising Hwy speed?
• Did you install a Anti sway bar/ do you think one is needed?
• Do you know total weight of the ranger 12 setup? Looks like they start at 1450 basic wondering with options how much heavier they get.
• Do you feel like the Tacoma hauls the camper fine, or have you wished for a bigger truck? How does it do in the mtns?
• Do you have much truck sag with your camper?

Any issues with the camper? Looks like they only have a 1 year warranty

• Any water leaks?
• How well does AC cool the inside?

 

[xearth]

• I’m getting a little under 18 MPGs and I’m typically cruising around 70 MPH
• I did not put in an anti sway bar and so far there have been no issues pulling the camper
• 1,796 pounds and that’s posted on the camper but I have not done anything to validate that
• The Tacoma tows this bad boy just fine, I don’t fine myself wishing I had any more power. Up and down everything around the gorge has been fine, and I’m not flying on the highway. I did purchase a brake controller and I have it dialed down pretty far (and by dialed down I mean not braking too much) otherwise its been more of a pain then helpful.
• Hardly any sag, pretty much the same amount if you just stand on the tailgate. Nothing of note.
• No real issues with the camper thus far, it has a 1 year warranty itself but many of the components have manufacturer warranties you can file separately and send in
• No leaks so far and the AC has been awesome. When we are hooked up to electric we bump that bad boy down to the 60s at night and my wife loves it. The only time the “AC” didn’t do so well was user error when I only had the fan on and not the mode set to ”Cool”. Just to call out the cooling is via the heat pump and that is relatively new for these models.

 

[xearth]

Lately we've noticed on travel days the bed with just the cushions from the sofa side are a little stiff, and if the dogs are at all antsy we can have a rough first night sleep.

We ended up adding a 3" mattress topper since we don't use the sofa functionality at all, and just use that side for a bed:

We had to cut it down slightly to fit, and will probably trim a little more away from the control for the heat pump as well as the USB access, but it has made sleeping much more comfortable.

 

[Todd n Natalie]

Lately we've noticed on travel days the bed with just the cushions from the sofa side are a little stiff, and if the dogs are at all antsy we can have a rough first night sleep.

We ended up adding a 3" mattress topper since we don't use the sofa functionality at all, and just use that side for a bed:

We had to cut it down slightly to fit, and will probably trim a little more away from the control for the heat pump as well as the USB access, but it has made sleeping much more comfortable.

Good call. We've been adding foam to our RV mattresses for a while. Stock, they aren't the most comfy.
We are thinking of changing out our foam to this:

 

[avlfj40]

We have almost the exact same camper. Just got back for a couple night at Jackrabbit Campground for some swimming and riding.


We love it. I just wish there was a good way to add a bike rack to the camper bumper. Humm...I might have to get a tongue box and move the spare to there just to offset the weight.

 

[Todd n Natalie]

We have almost the exact same camper. Just got back for a couple night at Jackrabbit Campground for some swimming and riding.
View attachment 795129

We love it. I just wish there was a good way to add a bike rack to the camper bumper. Humm...I might have to get a tongue box and move the spare to there just to offset the weight.

Careful with that. Most bumpers aren't rated to carry the weight of a rack and bikes.
Might want to check out frame mounted receivers to carry bikes.

 

[xearth]

Had a few minor updates recently:

• Our deadbolt was inconsistently locking, and it turns out there was just enough in the way behind the latch guard to cause some issues. This filed down quickly, and the longest part of this was getting a magnet to retrieve a screw dropped into the frame....

• We have also had at least two instances of being woken up to the CO/LP detector throwing a fault. It does still seem to be functioning (mostly) as expected, confirmed with another detector. That being said, we threw in a switch to be able to kill the power to it in the event another fault code goes off rather than actually detecting CO/LP.