This being an opinion page, I would say the Alaskan is too accessory-free, and too old to be a viable, long term expedition domicile. It's not a lightweight either. It would be pretty bare bones travel.
Ron's MB416 with '72 AK: I think he's on this forum and he goes everywhere his jeep club goes.
The Bigfoot, as well made as it is, is too heavy for a stock F-350 without a lot of expedition enhancing of the truck. For a trip as extended as the OP's friend's plans are, I would pay more attention to the truck than to the camper. It has taken me 10 years to get my TC to the point where I have few reservations about taking it on the road less travelled.
A few basics I have found over long experience are:
1. Use a manual transmission. Up until about 2006, automatics in pickups were not reliable enough to stay together over a long period. Heat is the enemy here. After 2006 you could not use Sud Amerika diesel fuel anyway.
2. Beef up the suspension. My truck was a "camper prep" from the factory and had secondary springs just like the 1 ton dualie. I added another set of secondaries, and stable loads to give my 3/4 T. pickup an upgrade to about a 1.25T weight rating. For floatation I use aggressive super singles on the rear: 33x15.50R16's ( 3750 lb. load rating) on 12" wide wheels. When you run a camper, almost the entire weight goes on the rear axle. When you get in mud or sand you want a wide aggressive patch:
My neighbors are the Wescott's, (Turtle Expedition) and I have followed their travels for decades. I remember when they were set to do Siberia in the winter with their Ford F-350, SRW, and pop up camper. I took one look at those skinny little 32" AT tires, and the flimsy, insulation-free design of the pop-up camper and thought, '"whoa, there is trouble ahead." They learned the hard way to use BIG tires and not using a pop-up for all-season travel. Subsequently, they put a custom designed, hard shell camper (well, not a removable one) on to a three point suspension system and a porta-potty and can run in any weather, any temperature, any road condition, any place on the earth. They are still bare bones though compared to an eleven foot Big Foot. I did not get to see the Wescott's before they left on their latest adventure over the Silk Road. There was an article in the local paper about them and the trip. The thing that makes it most newsworthy for me is the time frame: THREE YEARS! A three year expedition. Monica speaks 6 languages fluently, and I suspect she's brushed up on her Mandarin.
You'll see roads like this up high in S. America. This is from our trip over all the jeep road high passes in the San Juans. We did 8, 12000 to 13000 foot passes in our truck campers.
In the desert sections of S. America, expect to see roads like this:
In the end, I would say to your friend who wants to run the Americas, just buy a small, old piece of junk TC with just enough amenities for a modicum of comfort, and run it into the ground. It's the adventure of a lifetime. The big thing here is: "weight is the enemy". There are a large body of folks who have done this trip. Find their stories on the internet.
regards, as always, jefe
