Hi Rusty,
thank you very much for your comments and the nice feedback. I also follow the Alaskan Forum and all your posts. I don´t know if there is one Alaskan in europe. Also Guttis Alaskan from Iceland is back in the USA i think,
Yes, we also had our doubts when we started! We told ourselves: "OK, if we burn this money and stop the renovation we have learned a lot how campers are built!" Two guys from our german TC-Forum provided me a total of 7 ltrs. Fuel to have a nice fire....
But you know : Somewhere is a "point of no return" at the time you invested a lot of money and work in such a project. I tell you:
we never considered stopping the renovation! We used material and tools which we had at home from our farmhouse renovation,
bought a few square meters of plywood and changed some details to european needs and rules.
Our total investment (without work) including all the technic like Chargers, AGM Battery, Battery-monitor, new furnace, Toilette, is around 5400,- $$ at the moment including the price of the rotted camper.
Parts that are missing now: solar panels up to ~ 200W, water crane is still ordered, LED-outside lighting, happyjac Tiedown-system is still ordered, the camper jacks will be an own construction using a chinese copy of the famous Hi-Lift. ( we only unload at home )
and a few meters of aluminium profiles.LED interior lighting is already waiting in our workshop,
The aluminium profiles at the corners are our way to cover the bad looking corners of the aluminium panels. stay tuned!
I think the roof repair will be "Part2" in 2015
Now we are waiting for our truck: It is at a workshop that is specialised in the changes and documents to register in Germany .
Also the payload ( real only 1653 lbs ) must be increased to 2500 - 2950 lbs. ( Rear Axle weight is enough remaining for more ).
The engine runs fine with it´s low miles and i got a great mpg of 22,4 at the first (unloaded) test drive over 470 miles.
Front receivers and bike carriers are not allowed in germany. Reason is pedestrian protection. One project can be to change the european hitch to an original American Trailer Hitch with 2" Receiver because there are so much Gimmicks available for these hitches.
And the Alaskan plans are always growing in my head. May be a selfmade "bavarian alaskan" with some changes to make it interesting for europe and my needs. I thik there is no real market for Alaskan in Europe because the best sold Pickups are
Nissan Navara (similar to Frontier) Toyota Hilux, Mitsubishi L200 and the actual Ford Ranger. Alaskans are too big and heavy for these trucks. But this can be another thread in the Alaskan section.
Thank you again for your compliments