new guy saying hello

[alaskaninak]

Hi,
I've been lurking for awhile and thought why not join up !! I have a 76 CO Alaskan that replaced a 58 NCO that i sold a few years ago. The picture is from last october rainbow fishing down on the kenai river in alaska, the blue tarp on the roof is because the roof vent blew off on the trip down and to make things even worse one of the rams developed a leak/split so i needed 4 guys to raise the top !! I fixed the split by soldering it and thats the subject of my next post. By the way the temps got down to 15 below zero for all of the 4 nights i stayed there.

 

[Buckwheat]

Welcome

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

Yes, welcome to WtW!

 

[Ted]

Hi Alaskaninak. Good of you to take the next step and join the conversation. 15 below four nights in a row? Yowser!

 

[takesiteasy]

I like the jack/log fix.

 

[alaskaninak]

I like the jack/log fix.

had to hold it up with something !!

 

[caseboy]

welcome. looks like my camper, my truck, my housekeeping skills. thank goodness for blue tarps and duct tape and ingenuity. those three things have influenced many a camp-out for me(as well as every day life).

wes

 

[sgiandubh]

Welcome to the forum! I was like you in that I lurked for a long while before actually joining...

 

[alaskaninak]

Thanks for the welcome everyone ! I was actually a member when this forum was on the yahoo groups ak camper page but never had much time to look or post there. Hope i can add something to the forum, i semi retired from commercial fishing a few years ago and now i have a small business building and selling shrimp pots/traps and the gear needed to fish them here in Alaska so i'm always fabricating something for boats or changing things on my boat, last winters project was a fiberglass cabin addition and installing a auto pilot. Check out my website alaskashrimppots.com (hope the website mention is allowed ??)
Well thanks again for the welcome !!
Steve

 

[alaskaninak]

Hi Alaskaninak. Good of you to take the next step and join the conversation. 15 below four nights in a row? Yowser!

The real fun was launching the boat in the morning because after the first few boats before me launched the ramp became a nicely ice covered sliding board, all i did was try to keep it straight and hoped the the truck stopped when the rear tires went underwater !!! THEN the boat was frozen to the trailer so i had to wait a bit till it thawed and the stern of the boat poped up !!

 

[alaskaninak]

welcome. looks like my camper, my truck, my housekeeping skills. thank goodness for blue tarps and duct tape and ingenuity. those three things have influenced many a camp-out for me(as well as every day life).

wes

Wes,
Yup we got twins !! Is your camper a side dinettee ? thats what mine is and i like it much better than the larger table that hangs off the ceiling. Truck is a 97 F250 w/7.3 powerstroke and yes the camper was a mess just trying to keep the cold from sneaking in, trying to make a good dinner, drying out the waders and most importantly keeping the boots from freezing. That kerosene heater kept it nice and comfy all night. The tarp was a life saver the first night since i only got the top up half way before the ram blew so i couldn't get the cab over sides up, i wrapped the front of the camper with the tarp and that at least held in some of the heat. I never saw the missing vent till the next day after coming in from fishing. Seems like the poop never hits the fan when its nice out !!!

 

[caseboy]

yeah, mine is side dinette also.i fell in love with the long counter and lots of storage compared to our 10'nco.i'm in heaven not having to change from sit-down to bed and back again, although, we worked out a pretty good system for it. my wife loves the potty closet as it is out of the way and still easy to get at. we have our moments when that little space is the most important place on earth. every thing looks same,same. mine has a small split in the top of one front ram that has popped out a couple of times, but easily righted. i think it's a great combo.for me, it's a very affordable set-up that won't break the bank for a few trips a year. your rig looks like one on another site-- stripers online -- alaskan steve--the pics are viewed by searching alaskan camper images in google. if i'm wrong, i'm sorry for the reference. i looked at those pics for months while i was working on mine to visualize my combo when finished.

wes

 

[alaskaninak]

yeah, mine is side dinette also.i fell in love with the long counter and lots of storage compared to our 10'nco.i'm in heaven not having to change from sit-down to bed and back again, although, we worked out a pretty good system for it. my wife loves the potty closet as it is out of the way and still easy to get at. we have our moments when that little space is the most important place on earth. every thing looks same,same. mine has a small split in the top of one front ram that has popped out a couple of times, but easily righted. i think it's a great combo.for me, it's a very affordable set-up that won't break the bank for a few trips a year. your rig looks like one on another site-- stripers online -- alaskan steve--the pics are viewed by searching alaskan camper images in google. if i'm wrong, i'm sorry for the reference. i looked at those pics for months while i was working on mine to visualize my combo when finished.

wes

Sounds like we had the same alaskan experience, my nco was also a 10 footer. Thats me on SOL !! The guy that owns the site is a friend of mine and i lived in that part of the world before moving here. I think the only thing i'd rather have than my camper is a fiberglass alaskan if i could find one, wonder if they made them in a cab over model ?? I've been thinking about building one myself, using either a foam/fiberglass or nida core/fiberglass sandwich construction. I'd like to find a rotted wrecked alaskan for the pump and rams & slides then it would be just get ichy and scratchy for a couple of months in the shop laying up the glass boxes. I think it would be a fun project and i know it would be super lightweight but very strong. Maybe if i find a fiberglass one i could pull a mold off of it and go into business ??? Wonder what the market would be for alaskan camper shells built out of fiberglass, finish the interior yourself the way you want ??
I was a day late getting a nice late 90's C/O alaskan last year it went for under 5 grand !! We've got friends that live on Bainbridge island so maybe we can meet for a pizza someday ? your not that far from there are ya ?? We always drive around when visiting Seattle, try and hit the home show in the spring and my favorite was going to the Filson friends and family sale every fall (have a friend who works for Filson) but thats gone now since they opened the factory store in Burlington. Well its been pouring rain and thundering here for the last hour so i'm going to go out and see how my install of the roof vent is doing !! Type at ya later

 

[caseboy]

yeah sounds like we're brothers from a different mother. it would be great to meet sometime. we're about an hour south by gig harbor. i've met buckwheat and oz_70 and found them to be great folks.just give me a shout. we could probably meet in between if the drive is too long or on your way by if driving around. direct e-mail is cty87300@centurytel.net


wes