Looking at Alaskans, have a couple of questions

[Dogman Ventura]

Hi, I am a newbie here.

I currently have a Northstar popup with an extended cabover on a 4WD F150 truck. I have had it about 10 years. I am getting tired of the wind noise and lack of insulation with the soft sidewalls of the pop up, so I am considering an Alaskan 8 ft. cabover.

The dry weights are probably within 200 lbs of one another. I have read in threads that a lot of you folks don't recommend a 1/2 ton truck, but seems I would be okay based on what I am currently running?? I have helper springs that do a nice job with the load (used to have airbags, but the holes for them led to a cracked my truck frame - no more airbags for me!!). With my Northstar, the truck handles pretty dang good on curvy mountain roads.

I saw the Bryan Wheat video demonstrating putting the Alaskan top up and down. My biggest concern are the cabover walls in a rainstorm. It looks like the bed would get soaked if you were doing a setup or takedown in a hard driving rain. Am I correct in interpretting what I saw in the video? If so, what do owners do about that.

Other than that, it looks like a pretty sweet rig!

If anyone owns one in the Santa Barbara or Ventura areas and would like to demo it for me, I would love to see one in person.

Thanks

Harley

 

[Ripperj]

I'm in the process of restoring a 8' cab over. I had put a deposit on a Northstar 850, but for the same reasons as you state ( and the fact that some parks our west wont let soft side campers in) decided to go with an Alaskan.
When I picked it up in my Ram 2500 it was gutted, but I expect it will weigh at least 2000 dry. I have added hot water, furnace,arb fridge, 3/4 pink foam with 1/4 " ply over it on all the lower surfaces( floors,walls and outs)
Point being they are heavy when loaded, and will probably push the limits of a 3/4 HD, no way I would try a 1/2 ton.

 

[Dogman Ventura]

I asked Bryan at Alaskan about dry weight. He said an 8 footer Alaskan CO with options weighs "1,800ish". My Northstar dry with its options weights 1,740 lb.s. I have been running it on the f150 for about 11 years. The braking could be a little better but as I said, the handling on mountain roads is pretty dang good. I want to eventually get a 3/4 ton diesel, but the budget won't allow it right now.

 

[Henricksen]

Hi, I am a newbie here.

I currently have a Northstar popup with an extended cabover on a 4WD F150 truck. I have had it about 10 years. I am getting tired of the wind noise and lack of insulation with the soft sidewalls of the pop up, so I am considering an Alaskan 8 ft. cabover.

The dry weights are probably within 200 lbs of one another. I have read in threads that a lot of you folks don't recommend a 1/2 ton truck, but seems I would be okay based on what I am currently running?? I have helper springs that do a nice job with the load (used to have airbags, but the holes for them led to a cracked my truck frame - no more airbags for me!!). With my Northstar, the truck handles pretty dang good on curvy mountain roads.

I saw the Bryan Wheat video demonstrating putting the Alaskan top up and down. My biggest concern are the cabover walls in a rainstorm. It looks like the bed would get soaked if you were doing a setup or takedown in a hard driving rain. Am I correct in interpretting what I saw in the video? If so, what do owners do about that.

Other than that, it looks like a pretty sweet rig!

If anyone owns one in the Santa Barbara or Ventura areas and would like to demo it for me, I would love to see one in person.

Thanks

Harley

We have had a 10 ft. cabover since new in 2006 and driven it around and camped a lot in the Northwest and the Southwest in many different types of weather, including rains, snow and strong winds. In raising and lowering the cabover during nasty weather we find timing to be important if you can arrange it especially during strong winds like we have experienced in the 50 or 60 range. However, the actual raising and lowering of the cabover takes so little time for us that having the bed getting wet has not been an issue at all. We just work together with getting the cabover walls up or down (depending on which way we are going) and the cabover up or down and don't waste anytime in bad weather. I would truly say that that issue should not sway you from getting an Alaskan. Good Luck.

 

[MikeDahlager]

You could put a small tarp over the bedding prior to raising the top.