Alaskan Camper Build Up

[Carlyle]

Carlyle, the rig looks great! I'm sure you have covered this somewhere in the 300 or so pages, but why did you not go with a cabover? I would think having a 12' and cabover bed would net you more room, and way less rear overhang. I am going to guess you don't like to climb up into the cabover bunk?

Glad too see you are out enjoying it!

Hi Redthies,

The reasons for the non cabover unit are pretty much something that is mostly personal. The non cabover Alaskan is a better sealed unit by far. The sides have better insulation and less wind leakage. If the storage area beneath the bed is kept more, the bed should stay warmer, in theory. Set up and down is quicker as well. You still have to climb up in a bunk, but not much of a big deal for us as we are many years away from walkers.

 

[Carlyle]

Definitely liking the roof rack on there. Any pics of the rails you mounted to the cab?

I'll post some pictures this week.

 

[pods8]

I think the rack smoothes out the transition (visually) between the cab and camper heights better, looks good.


P.S. Update your avatar photo with your new rig.

 

[Dogmann]

I love the truck and those TIRES!! RIMS... It looks bad ***...

 

[ersatzknarf]

Hi Carl,
Would it be possible to see some photos of the finished interior, please ?

 

[Carlyle]

I'll post some interior pictures very shortly. I purchased a set of Firestone Ride-Rite Airbags to put on the rear tomorrow. The back end has a bit of sag that I want to fix sooner than later to avoid leave springs wearing out prematurely. Wednesday the truck goes in for an alarm system install. The truck alarm will be hard wired to the windows and doors in the rear of the camper just like I had in my previous build. In addition my Yaesu 7900r will be discreetly mounted under a seat with the face plate up in a usable area. Radio, external speaker, and antenna will be grounded separately and then I need to program it... Finally, I'll get the Pioneer dvd deck in the camper wired so that it thinks the nonexistent parking brake is engaged and play movies through the flat screen.

Wow! 300k hits!

 

[Carlyle]

Firestone airbags in place:

Yakima tracks in place on roof of truck:

Flatscreen tucked behind couch in down position:

Gray water tank:

View from door with top up:

Top down:

Inverter and batteries under driver's side settee:

Table behind driver's side setter:

Pioneer stereo before bypass kit in place:

 

[Carlyle]

19 volt upverter for backlit led flatscreen:

Solar and battery monitor:

Full size bed with real mattress:

 

[FishAll50]

Carlyle, great build - very nice. It appears you sleep east to west........how does that work for you? Do you know the width? (I assume wider than a typical topper on truck bed).

 

[User113]

Knob Lock

I love the high tech blob of silicone RTV locking the output voltage adjustment knob on the step-up regulator. An excellent idea.

 

[Carlyle]

Carlyle, great build - very nice. It appears you sleep east to west........how does that work for you? Do you know the width? (I assume wider than a typical topper on truck bed).

Mattress is 72" x 56", and yes we sleep with our heads on the driver's side. Must be a habit by now...

 

[Carlyle]

Hi David,

The tires are like any tire are a compromise of one versus the other. They are noisy on the highway, but most tires I've run on my trucks have been noisy. They are big, heavy and probably reducing my fuel mileage, but I don't have a comparison of what it would be with the factory 225's, but I'm sure it's now lower now. I've had them once in snow and they have an incredible grip. I'll have them on some poorly maintained backroads next week to see how they are on dirt and probably mud as well. I'm not sure how well they are going to wear, but time will tell. My speedometer was off by 8 mph when I put them on, as the State Patrol pointed out to me on the way back from WA with the camper... I fixed that at the dealer and now am running at a more reasonable speed. The handle fine at speed, but probably heating up and wearing faster over the recommended 68 mph max.

Overall I like the tires and time will tell how long they last with lower speeds and 3000 mile rotations.

I'm planning on flying up to the great white north this summer for a quick visit, but only local trips this summer in the camper.

What is NVH?

Carl

 

[arktrekker]

Wow, I was following this thread back in the beginning and took some time off. Pop onto it today and 3 hours of reading later I am caught up. I really liked the attention to detail on the original build, but I think you and the wife did the same thing on this one that you did on the last one. You sat down and used all of your experiences in a camper to design out whatever faults you had found along the way and incorporate all of the good things you had found in the past.

Maybe you should just call this one the phoenix as it is definitely born from the ashes

 

[Carlyle]

Just a warning, I lucked out.

 

[southpier]

i think it's hurting my fuel mileage, in addition it throws off my outside temp reading especially when the engine fan turns on.

how can you see around it?