New Alaskan Owner-1968 8' NCO

[Kburris68]

Hello!

I just recently made a trek 400 miles one way to pick up this 1968 8' NCO Alaskan Camper. According to the data plate it was assembled in the Seattle shops. I have been searching for quite some time to find a clean example of a vintage Alaskan and I'm happy to finally be a new owner of one of these neat campers. And for $500 I think I got a fair deal. This forum has been a huge asset during my search and for my research prior to purchase of an older Alaskan. From what I can tell it seems the internet is fairly sparse when it comes to vintage Alaskan campers. Any advice on additional resources for maintaining/restoring these old campers would be greatly appreciated.

Here is the picture of it at the sellers property. They had it on some sketchy cable jacks, which I did not take, those things were terrifying when loading on to my truck. I'm currently looking for better options. I have seen some Alaskans with mounted brackets for more modern camper jacks. Is this a good way to go?





Interior. Overall in pretty good shape. Little things to repair. It has a Ice box cooler, not a fridge.




Mounted on my truck. Its a 93 Dodge D350 with the Cummins 5.9. 177k on the odometer. It also seems like a previous owner resealed the camper at one point as there seems to be a excessive amount of sealant on the camper. According to the seller it's been to Alaska twice in it's life time.





My main question is in regard to the electrical system. I have searched on this forum and have gotten some answers. I tested out the 110 shore power and the lights turn on, but I'm curious how most of you power your Alaskan when off the grid. My truck has a 7-pin RV connection in the bed and a 12volt connection for trailer lights. I'm new to truck campers in general so most of this is new to me, any help would be appreciated.

Secondly, a previous owner must have removed the original 12volt power connection plug, because now there is just a hole there with one red (power?) wire sticking out, there is not ground wire visible and I tried fishing around in the whole trying to find it. I will take a picture of this tomorrow to be more clear. I would like to power the running lights through my trucks 12 volt system. From looking at the wiring schematics on this forum it seems that the wires are hidden behind the wood paneling and aluminum skin of the upper m section.
Thanks in advice for any advice.

Kenton

 

[Rusty]

Welcome Kenton.....glad you found one to your liking

The schematics...at this point in the campers life are mainly a diagram to start with. with several builders building Alaskans, minor tweaks to the plans are often found...then....nearly and sometimes more than 50 years of ownership and minor modifications not on the schematics leave you with a wiring puzzle to figure out....

the first thing is to find that second wire at the 12v port.....probably the ground but who know what has been changed along the way...it's your baby to coddle and sort out now.....

Many take the bull by the horns and rewire the entire camper to their liking...a wise move with electronics available these days.....proper wire sizes, locations, battery inclusions into the camper body et al....much of the 120v side can be used as it is in most cases a grounded system post 65 models.

Do some reading here...there is a wealth of knowledge on all the boards which will aid you in determining which way to go.....

meanwhile.....seal it up and protect that wooden frame and interior...and along the way who knows what you may find.

something to concentrate on....those additional penetrations, probably from a boat rack....clean them up and seal the entire penetration....all the way through the frame....