Voted most helpful review
James Cunningham Jr
New York
Reviewed on September 19, 2021
We traded an '05 Scout for the new twin-bunk Aliner Expedition in July 2020. First, the cable on the camper was too short to reach the plug in my 4-Runner, so I had to pay more than $200 for an extender right off the bat. We stayed in a local park the night we took delivery and the Dometic...read more
We traded an '05 Scout for the new twin-bunk Aliner Expedition in July 2020. First, the cable on the camper was too short to reach the plug in my 4-Runner, so I had to pay more than $200 for an extender right off the bat. We stayed in a local park the night we took delivery and the Dometic Refrigerator wouldn't get cold. When we returned it to the dealer the next morning a tech found that the fridge compartment was so packed with foam insulation that the fridge wouldn't function. Excess foam was removed and we went on our way. While "dry camping" in August '21 the refrigerator failed again while running on propane. {we have medication that has to be kept cold, so had to buy a cooler for the rest of our trip.} The panel wouldn't light up, even on AC, so after we got home we took it to the closest Aliner dealer. The tech found that a fuse had been shoved into the converter panel "crossways" and created an intermittent short which ultimately blew another 30 amp fuse in the battery harness. Since the camper was out of warranty the service and repairs cost $92.
Apart from the stressful, aggravating experiences with the refrigerator I also found that 3 of the 6 roof and dormer latches are mis-aligned so that the "hook" part on top doesn't engage squarely with the plate on the bottom. One latch is also mounted so closely to the roof "lifter" that it's hard not to pinch a finger. The screws in the lenses on the exterior lights are badly rusted already. Inside the camper we noticed that the sink basin is canted and the collar holding the trap underneath was never tightened, causing a leak. The "wall" of the cabinet housing the cassette toilet was wobbly, and I found that there were no screws fastening it to the rear bracket. While it may have been our own misunderstanding, I expected the post for the dining table to be the solid "twist lock" design shown on the videos. Nope. Same wobbly, pinch fit design that we hated in the MUCH less expensive Scout.
Our frustrating, aggravating experiences with the fridge spoiled our annual trip to our favorite campground this year, and we are very disappointed in the lousy overall workmanship in what's billed as Aliner's top of the line camper. What we thought would be an exciting upgrade left us wishing we'd kept our old Scout.
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