New Alaskan side entry flatbed 8.5' build!!

[Sparse Gray Hackle]

Thanks! We've been using it quite a bit and it's holding up great! We usually keep our Instagram up to date with "post worthy" photos - https://www.instagram.com/iggy_the_igloo/. You'll be able to see some good shots of trips on there.

We've had to make a few adjustments like add more weather stripping, new blocks to hold up the walls (pushes them out further for better seal), and a few other small things. We did change out the outside drain/water spigot to be a real hose spigot and then changed out the inside plumbing between that and the water tank to be 1/2" Pex. We now have much better water flow outside and it sticks out a tad further to be able to get water bottles under it (this was a big reason we wanted the outside drain is to fill up items). Another big thing we did with that was add heat wire to that plumbing because we've had that section of pipe freeze in very cold temps which then takes away from us being able to drain the system until it thaws. We've also added Reflectix under the mattress to see if it helps make the bed feel a little warmer. We've added strips to the guides on the front inside of the camper so when you raise and lower, they slide on that rather than the wall.

I finally got the courage to drill into our flatbed and install the rear sensors that came on the truck. We've had them turned off and stored by the spare and I finally decided to give it a shot. They are turned out really nice and work perfectly!

We had rock sliders made and welded onto the truck (pictures on Instagram).

We just ordered new front coils and front and rear shocks that are going to make the ride quality so much better and control the back and forth sway. The hope is to get rid of the Firestone airbags in the rear since our camper lives on the truck. They are taking a lot of wheel travel away and we want that back. Should have those from Thuren in 5-7 weeks!

There have been other small things we've done as well, but overall the truck and camper combo have been great. So far, I think we've slept in as cold as about 0F and it was nice and warm inside. The cabover is definitely colder than the rest of the camper which is why we are trying the Reflectix.

Let us know if you have any other specific questions!

Reflextix is a very poor insulator, maybe a R1 - 1.5. I believe you would be better off with a layer of hard foam, with something like Hypervent between your mattress and the foam to deal with condensation.

Scroll down to common uses. https://www.radiantguard.com/collections/reflective-insulation

We have 2” of foam insulation and Hypervent in our TC.

 

[ncalies]

I have my slide in bolted through the floor as well with 1/2 grade 8 bolts because turnbuckles would block the doors, the utilty box is less than 1/2 inch of clearance on the walls so it fits very snug and butts against 3 walls fore & aft. One other thing you might consider is reinforcing some of the joints with strong ties. At least on my rig the camper walls, floor and corners definitely benefited from the added rigidity its just glue and staples.. Mines a 2000 though so perhaps yours is different.

Do you have pictures of where you reinforced with strong ties? I looked through your build (awesome posting and build) but couldn't find it.

 

[ncalies]

Reflextix is a very poor insulator, maybe a R1 - 1.5. I believe you would be better off with a layer of hard foam, with something like Hypervent between your mattress and the foam to deal with condensation.

Scroll down to common uses. https://www.radiantguard.com/collections/reflective-insulation

We have 2” of foam insulation and Hypervent in our TC.

Thanks for the pointer, I know it's not a great insulator (only being like 1/4" thick it can only do so much). We were hoping it would "reflect" the cold down and not let it pass through to the mattress as easily. I'm not sure how other truck campers are, but since the Alaskan is a hard-sided pop-up and the walls fold down, we don't have the freedom to add thickness to the mattress area, it has to stay below a specific height (max about 4-ish inches).

 

[Motafinga]

Do you have pictures of where you reinforced with strong ties? I looked through your build (awesome posting and build) but couldn't find it.

Thanks! I've done a lot of other little things since creating that thread but have been lazy about updating it, I do need to make that happen someday!
I don't know if the places I added the strong ties really apply to your camper since it's a flat bed with side walls going straight up. By comparison mine has several bends from the floor up by design since it's a slide in. I found a major weak point was the at the very rear drivers corner where the LP compartment is/was. The framing around the compartment door was very under built (for my use) and was starting to buckle causing a bit of separation at the seams. I luckily caught it before any real damage occurred and was able to remedy it and reinforce the weakness. Since I now run 2 LP tanks inside my utility box I actually eliminated the LP tank door and turned that LP compartment into a cabinet accessed from inside the camper. In the process I built up the framing around the compartment door before facing it with some ply and a piece of 1/8 diamond plate plus strong ties in various points on both corners, it's super solid now. I'd at least inspect how much reinforcement if any Alaskan used where the side walls meet the floor on your camper, the off-road rocking side to side could put a lot of stress on those seams. As you're no doubt discovering you can't always take it on faith that oem build is up to the task of what we put these rigs through!

 

[Motafinga]

Thanks for the pointer, I know it's not a great insulator (only being like 1/4" thick it can only do so much). We were hoping it would "reflect" the cold down and not let it pass through to the mattress as easily. I'm not sure how other truck campers are, but since the Alaskan is a hard-sided pop-up and the walls fold down, we don't have the freedom to add thickness to the mattress area, it has to stay below a specific height (max about 4-ish inches).

Don't wanna hi-jack your thread but we went through the moisture under the mattress game too, it was causing mold to form under the mattress over time...no bueno!
The fix is a thing called "FROLI" not only did it fix the moisture build-up but it keeps the mattress off the cold wood floor. But wait there's more! It acts as a suspension for the mattress and is way more comfortable. I can't recommend it more.
Make sure to get the "travel system" as you need it to be as low profile as possible and you might need a thinner mattress too, otherwise the cabover walls wont fold down. https://froli-systems.myshopify.com/collections/travel
cheers

 

[ncalies]

Thanks! I've done a lot of other little things since creating that thread but have been lazy about updating it, I do need to make that happen someday!
I don't know if the places I added the strong ties really apply to your camper since it's a flat bed with side walls going straight up. By comparison mine has several bends from the floor up by design since it's a slide in. I found a major weak point was the at the very rear drivers corner where the LP compartment is/was. The framing around the compartment door was very under built (for my use) and was starting to buckle causing a bit of separation at the seams. I luckily caught it before any real damage occurred and was able to remedy it and reinforce the weakness. Since I now run 2 LP tanks inside my utility box I actually eliminated the LP tank door and turned that LP compartment into a cabinet accessed from inside the camper. In the process I built up the framing around the compartment door before facing it with some ply and a piece of 1/8 diamond plate plus strong ties in various points on both corners, it's super solid now. I'd at least inspect how much reinforcement if any Alaskan used where the side walls meet the floor on your camper, the off-road rocking side to side could put a lot of stress on those seams. As you're no doubt discovering you can't always take it on faith that oem build is up to the task of what we put these rigs through!

Thanks for all of that and the pictures. I'll definitely look into reinforcing certain areas within our camper. And yes, OEM anything doesn't mean it can handle what we put them through. I'm sure if they all just stick to pavement, it would be totally fine for a very long time!

Thanks for the recommendation on the Froli system, I'll look into that as well.

 

[Motafinga]

Here's a pic of the froli travel san's the topper we used. The froli is 1 3/8 high and the topper 3 so the extra 3/8 height gets squished down easily when you fold the walls down. Thats a reflective tarp we use to reflect a little heat up towards the mattress

 

[Sparse Gray Hackle]

Thanks for the pointer, I know it's not a great insulator (only being like 1/4" thick it can only do so much). We were hoping it would "reflect" the cold down and not let it pass through to the mattress as easily. I'm not sure how other truck campers are, but since the Alaskan is a hard-sided pop-up and the walls fold down, we don't have the freedom to add thickness to the mattress area, it has to stay below a specific height (max about 4-ish inches).

You could probably use 1/2 foam and Hypervent and keep it down to an inch. Even the Hypervent alone will help, plus significantly reduce the issue of moisture condensation and mildew on the mattress.

 

[ncalies]

You could probably use 1/2 foam and Hypervent and keep it down to an inch. Even the Hypervent alone will help, plus significantly reduce the issue of moisture condensation and mildew on the mattress.

Thanks for those tips, I'll look into both of those. I haven't heard of Hypervent so glad you mentioned it. Fortunately, we don't have any problems with condensation under our bed. Not saying we won't/can't though, but living in CO is helpful since the air is dry.

 

[Darwin]

How has the camper been holding up as far as a longer term review? What would you do different? I have considered a 10 ft flatbed Alaskan, but bryan didn't seem to jazzed about doing a grey tank and shower set up.

 

[ncalies]

How has the camper been holding up as far as a longer term review? What would you do different? I have considered a 10 ft flatbed Alaskan, but bryan didn't seem to jazzed about doing a grey tank and shower set up.

Overall, it seems to be holding up well. There have been a few fixable problems with (propane/plumbing). There are a couple small stress fractures in the laminate that I'm not super excited about but Bryan said it's not a structural concern, it's just the laminate, not the actual wood behind it.

I think my biggest qualms right now are things that can't really be changed, it's just part of being an Alaskan Camper. Ideally for me, I would have a fiberglass camper. I would want that because it would resist hail more, has no real leak points except for the fan/solar, and I like the look of fiberglass. I'm not a big fan of all the caulking points on this camper, it's not hard to keep up with, but I would prefer them to just not exist in the first place.

I would also prefer a camper that does not have the Pirelli webbing, it's already cracking from sun exposure and I'm already somewhat annoyed thinking that I'm going to have to replace it sometime in the next year or so. The camper isn't even a year old so I'm a bit bummed on that.

We love the fact that it's a hard-sided popup and there still isn't anything that really competes with it, so it's hard to say if I would or would not choose Alaskan again. The craftsmanship is really nice, the customization they allowed us to do was awesome, and working with Bryan and his team has been awesome. But to be completely open about it, if a company came out with a hard-sided cabover popup that was fiberglass and let us customize the inside like Alaskan did, I personally would be very excited about it.

I think there is a way to have telescoping walls for the cabover portion for a fiberglass camper as well, just have to wait and see if someone will come out with it. It's not hard to put up the walls, but it is an extra step and I think having telescoping walls would be awesome, especially when the weather is bad and you are setting up or breaking down camp. Overall, my wife loves our camper and I am glad we have it since I'm not super excited about the other options out there right now.

It'd also be nice to have a lighter weight camper which I would hope fiberglass would be able to provide. I know ours is a bit heavier than an equivalent FWC for example, but it's because we have the entire top half that is hard-sided. From our experience in it, the hard sides are awesome for both hot and cold weather. I believe it also does better in high wind situations and with noise.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

[ncalies]

A quick upgrade to our camper, Bryan from Alaskan sent me another guide to install next to our door. It really pulled in the side of the camper and holds it all nice and tight, it was a really nice upgrade and overall pretty quick and easy.

 

[Chorky]

A quick upgrade to our camper

How's progress? Have you done any winter trips?

 

[ncalies]

How's progress? Have you done any winter trips?

We haven't done much more to the camper, it's in pretty good shape. Since our last update, I think the three big things are:

1) I decided to buy aluminum strips and attach them around the camper where the Pirelli flap rubs when the camper is down. It was rubbing through the white paint and I was nervous it would eventually rub through the siding. The strips should keep anything like that from happening.
2) I re-did the plumbing in the entire camper after we had a leak from behind the furnace from an improper fitting used in the initial install.
3) We ended up buying/installing the Froli Travel system with a 3" memory foam topper.

We did a big New Mexico trip over Christmas that had lots of snow and cold temps. The coldest night was around 3 degrees Fahrenheit. The camper does great in cold weather, we've never had issues and condensation really isn't that bad. We get the normal condensation on the windows. The two spots that did frustrate us a little bit were moisture under the bed and ice on the aluminum near the mattress on the wall panels (picture attached with the red arrow). A while ago, we painted the wood on the cabover with a mold-resistant paint just in case. We then put the Reflectix on top of that to hopefully keep a little bit of the chill out. With the super cold temps we were having, there was moisture on the mattress in the mornings and we would have to flip our mattress to let it dry out. I didn't want to have to deal with that each morning we camp since we use it quite a bit in the winter months so we bought the Froli system. We haven't slept on it yet but so far from just laying on it, it seems like it's actually going to be very comfortable. We replaced the original mattress with an Ikea one which was a huge upgrade. It was definitely pushing the maximum height for the wall panels to fold down without too much stress. With the new system (Froli and 3" topper), it took away that stress and fits great. You can see in the picture with the mattress that we actually cut the mattress to be wider in the middle section which is nice.

For the aluminum around the mattress getting icy in super cold temps, I thought that putting something insulating over it would help keep that chill down and hopefully prevent the ice from forming. So I installed little strips of Reflectix along two of the walls (with hot glue) and felt on the third wall. I wanted to see if one performs better than the other or if they even make a difference. We haven't tested them yet either so we'll see. It's only when the temperature outside is super cold, like below 15-20 Fahrenheit.

This wasn't recent but we did have the copper tubing for the propane system replaced with the flexible rubber tubing. I highly recommend doing this if you plan on going offroad. It's very comforting knowing that the vibrations should only be going into the tubing itself rather than the fittings (pictures attached). These pictures are from before the plumbing was redone. You can see the hose clamp used on a PEX style fitting . I redid the whole water plumbing system with PEX and proper PEX clamp style fittings.

Also, a long time ago (not sure if I already mentioned this), we installed heat wire on the outside spigot plumbing that goes from the water tank to the spigot. It's what is used to drain the water tank but we also use it to fill water bottles/dog water from the outside. It's done a great job of keeping the spigot from freezing in cold temps.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

[AeroNautiCal]

I love how you did the interior decor, it looks modern, light, airy and really comfortable.

Your Travel Cabin is elegantly simple and simply elegant!