My crew cab IDI Alaskan Camper build

[bluewool]

Nice rig. I am looking for something similar.

Every time I do propane plumbing I always wish diesel stoves were more available / affordable.

[Rot Box]

Today I made my first cup of coffee in the Alaskan!

I plan to remove the porta potty and store a 5gal. propane cylinder there (while on the road) along with a few other things. I plumbed a fitting in the rear so that my extention hose will go from there to the cylinder that I will place outside. So far I like not having a tank permanently mounted to the truck because it makes it much easier to use my camp chef... On the negative side my fridge now becomes an ice box.

Anyway I really only plan to use the lights and water pump on DC power so these aligator clips work pretty good. If my battery(s) get low I can easily remove them and put them on the charger. I'll see how well this works and if I end up draining them too fast I'll figure out a way to keep them charged up.

[psychohawk]

Hey there, nice truck! I just bought the same one about six weeks ago, '91 F350 CC LB, SRW, 7.3 IDI though N/A. Anyway, I'm happy and have a camper I'm anxious to put on there this weekend.

Back to you ... uum, alligator clips? I'm guessing this is 12v from your camper and a battery dropped in ... rather than tie camper electric to your truck batteries you dropped a battery in the camper and attached it via alligator clips?

If so ... really? Kragen has battery clamps for probably the same or even less than alligator clips. Go ahead, do yourself the favor and spend $5 later today.

Hey good luck, I'll be watching as I have a similar project planned.

Carl

[Rot Box]

Back to you ... uum, alligator clips? I'm guessing this is 12v from your camper and a battery dropped in ... rather than tie camper electric to your truck batteries you dropped a battery in the camper and attached it via alligator clips?

If so ... really? Kragen has battery clamps for probably the same or even less than alligator clips. Go ahead, do yourself the favor and spend $5 later today

Yeah it's pretty ghetto I suppose... The battery is just dropped in under the seat, but I am planning on building a shelf to secure two batteries. I did not want any part of the camper tied into the trucks power supply for a couple different reasons and I do not plan to use AC to power anything hard mounted inside the camper. I normally don't cut corners and I like the clips because I can just switch from one battery to the next and remove them easily to put on the charger

[Rot Box]

My family and I went to the Spiral Jetty located on the North shore of the Great Salt Lake for the afternoon. It was an excellent opportunity to get a feel for the new setup. I am very happy that I chose to keep the rear sway bar on the truck--it was quite stable. There was not anything super technical, but in some spots there was a fair amount of mud, goo and snow/slush and right away I could tell that I need better tires. Aside from that I am very happy with the turnout. I can't wait to actually take this thing camping!

Here are a few "muddy" pics

[ntsqd]

Now I can see why you want to loose the roof mounted A/C. The Alaskan would be nearly cab height without it!

[jasonL_031]

great project cant wait to see more pics

[Loco-Nomad]

I didn't know Alaskan made a fiberglass body camper that's too cool. I love my Dodge but the Ford comes in as my second choice and I love that body style the best! Great platform for a build!

[WKCwith5]

Nice pictures. I am still looking for a truck like yours. I bought one and it ended up needing to much motor work. Looking forward to see what comes next.

[valleythunder]

I had thoughts of putting the KM2's Load Range E on my truck, but the lack of pretty much any other LR E tires in that size, and the limited availability of even the KM2's really pushed me to more common sizes (especially for E/10 ply). You have a lot more options with 235/85, 265/85, and 285/75. Just my own thoughts on E range tires, looking forward to seeing this get built up.

(i.e. 255/85 shows less than 5 available on tirerack, 235/85 and 285/75 KM2's are available everywhere)

I recently bought five 255/85's from Tire Rack. They shipped from Reno NV. A bit expensive to VA. But with the heavy snow we've recently been having, I can testify that they are awesome ...... You would think BFG would make more of these. Several places I looked at said they were on National backorder...... Rob