Rusty
Senior Member
For the longest time, restorations of our Alaskan campers have been long and laborious processes...certain, very talented individuals...I'll mention no names here...you know who you are....have taken on restoration projects and produced beautiful results...sometimes at great cost in both materials and time spent. These have been worthwhile and extraordinary examples of what can be done...time and $$$ allowing.
I want to broach something a little different here and contributions are encouraged from whatever direction. Older Alaskans are a dying breed. Yes, we can restore them and make them beautiful again...but what I'm encountering these days is an exceptionally large number of Alaskans which have fallen into serious disrepair...and they are showing up in greater numbers. Maybe it's because I'm taking the time to look, maybe not...we'll see...it might just be the popularity...
The purpose of this thread is to examine and make attempts at using newer materials and methods to resurrect older Alaskans (which have fallen on exceptionally hard times) easier and put them back on the road faster...without the excessive time and talent needed to completely "restore" one. I know there's probably going to be some resistance here....perfection is what we ( I ) strive for...but it's not entirely necessary to get some of these beauties back into service quickly and allow some younger families the pleasure of dealing with a camper design, way ahead of its time....today. Neatness and architectural originality should be maintained while making these types of repairs....I've seen some real "hack jobs" lately as well, that....is not the purpose here
Cheap, (but beautiful) fixes if you will...to areas which I see come up time and time again.....or repairs which can stop the degradation of the frame...especially the top frame. Some of the problematic issues have been dealt with By Alaskan Campers and the Wheat family over the years in re-design...but the older ones are still out there and are in need of repair by those willing to put in a little time....
here...we have the resource for sharing those ideas easily.
1.....These campers were originally designed and installed "permanently" in the bed of the trucks in which they were sold. Subsequently...it became difficult to remove them and someone with a bright idea ...and a boat...decided to design and use cable jacks and boat winches to raise and lower the campers out of the trucks....problems arose...being that the bottom half needed the jacks...and the edges of the jacks weren't wide enough to grip the bottom half of the camper well enough to be stable...this practice continues today...to the detriment of many campers and to some...the end of the campers life not to speak of the owners injury. IMHO...these jacks should be melted down and formed into Rieco tripod base jacks...or at least Rieco brackets.
This is the first location of a collection of problems and a quick fix for several of them. The angles of the cable jacks are steel angle iron...harder than the aluminum skin of the camper and rest on a point on the camper at which damage to the 90 degrees bend of the aluminum siding is easily done. Breaches in the siding at this point allows moisture into the frame...even from dew condensing on the top and running down the sides in the morning...continual moisture intrusion....The underside of the same location is the attachment point of the retainer bars for the outer pirelli weatherstripping...which leaves holes every 4-6 inches.....changing the pirelli every 5-8 years sometimes means new holes (more penetrations and avenues for moisture to enter the upper frame from rain and dew)....this location becomes similar to a colander after time and the area is prone to rot.
FIX....a piece of flat, untextured aluminum siding...or thin flat sock (color appropriate)...can be attached to cover the holes of both areas. The siding...is hemmed on the top of the front 1" leg and bent to an 90 degree angle and a 1/12" lower horizontal leg. This piece is well bedded in 3M 5200 adhesive caulk for both a permanent seal and an adhesive attachment to the body. The upper leg should have 5200 squeezing out above the hem and a wet finger can remove the excess. On the third day of curing, the 5200 can be rolled off like silicon...but left any longer it tends to bond well to the substrate...and is difficult to remove.
Down and dirty...but a quick fix and preventative maintenance to a rather long and arduous repair. Subsequent installation of pirelli screws should be done with a dab of silicon for a seal on each screw.
There's one....I've got a few more....but my fingerprints are polishing off.
I want to broach something a little different here and contributions are encouraged from whatever direction. Older Alaskans are a dying breed. Yes, we can restore them and make them beautiful again...but what I'm encountering these days is an exceptionally large number of Alaskans which have fallen into serious disrepair...and they are showing up in greater numbers. Maybe it's because I'm taking the time to look, maybe not...we'll see...it might just be the popularity...
The purpose of this thread is to examine and make attempts at using newer materials and methods to resurrect older Alaskans (which have fallen on exceptionally hard times) easier and put them back on the road faster...without the excessive time and talent needed to completely "restore" one. I know there's probably going to be some resistance here....perfection is what we ( I ) strive for...but it's not entirely necessary to get some of these beauties back into service quickly and allow some younger families the pleasure of dealing with a camper design, way ahead of its time....today. Neatness and architectural originality should be maintained while making these types of repairs....I've seen some real "hack jobs" lately as well, that....is not the purpose here
Cheap, (but beautiful) fixes if you will...to areas which I see come up time and time again.....or repairs which can stop the degradation of the frame...especially the top frame. Some of the problematic issues have been dealt with By Alaskan Campers and the Wheat family over the years in re-design...but the older ones are still out there and are in need of repair by those willing to put in a little time....
here...we have the resource for sharing those ideas easily.
1.....These campers were originally designed and installed "permanently" in the bed of the trucks in which they were sold. Subsequently...it became difficult to remove them and someone with a bright idea ...and a boat...decided to design and use cable jacks and boat winches to raise and lower the campers out of the trucks....problems arose...being that the bottom half needed the jacks...and the edges of the jacks weren't wide enough to grip the bottom half of the camper well enough to be stable...this practice continues today...to the detriment of many campers and to some...the end of the campers life not to speak of the owners injury. IMHO...these jacks should be melted down and formed into Rieco tripod base jacks...or at least Rieco brackets.
This is the first location of a collection of problems and a quick fix for several of them. The angles of the cable jacks are steel angle iron...harder than the aluminum skin of the camper and rest on a point on the camper at which damage to the 90 degrees bend of the aluminum siding is easily done. Breaches in the siding at this point allows moisture into the frame...even from dew condensing on the top and running down the sides in the morning...continual moisture intrusion....The underside of the same location is the attachment point of the retainer bars for the outer pirelli weatherstripping...which leaves holes every 4-6 inches.....changing the pirelli every 5-8 years sometimes means new holes (more penetrations and avenues for moisture to enter the upper frame from rain and dew)....this location becomes similar to a colander after time and the area is prone to rot.
FIX....a piece of flat, untextured aluminum siding...or thin flat sock (color appropriate)...can be attached to cover the holes of both areas. The siding...is hemmed on the top of the front 1" leg and bent to an 90 degree angle and a 1/12" lower horizontal leg. This piece is well bedded in 3M 5200 adhesive caulk for both a permanent seal and an adhesive attachment to the body. The upper leg should have 5200 squeezing out above the hem and a wet finger can remove the excess. On the third day of curing, the 5200 can be rolled off like silicon...but left any longer it tends to bond well to the substrate...and is difficult to remove.
Down and dirty...but a quick fix and preventative maintenance to a rather long and arduous repair. Subsequent installation of pirelli screws should be done with a dab of silicon for a seal on each screw.
There's one....I've got a few more....but my fingerprints are polishing off.
