The End of the Beginning, The Beginning of the New Chapter

M

Moose Dog

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Messages
127
Location
NorCal
Here she is, I can honestly say - pure joy!
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Home is where you hang your hat. Picked this up when chalking at an arts festival and been waiting to add it to my camper:

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Here's a spontaneous 'toodle', sauntered off an exit on the way home and found this wee slice of heaven:

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More interior pics to come..drying out after a deluge.

Needless to say...here's to the next chapter. Whoopee!

PS edit: another miracle - magical spinning of previously vertical pictures....
 
Wooo hooo, having seen Moose Dog and her new camper in person, I can say it is fantastic! I was really impressed! A great truck, really neat utility box, and a wonderful Alaskan CO camper.

Just realized the hat hook is a moose!!! :)
 
Looks like a great rig! I've always like the service body/camper combo- makes a ton of sense. Congratulations and happy camping. Looking forward to more pics. :)
 
Great set up MD ! and oh yes we'd like to see some shots of that sweet Alaskan interior and maybe a shot of the rear door and bumper if poss.

Q on the service box, assuming you have a 56"CA pick up chassis, what is the rearward fuel filler for, DPF?

Thanks
 
All the time, effort and research that you put into your camper build really paid off! You got yourself an instant classic there, Moose Dog. Great job.
Bob
 
Thanks, everyone! Annnnnd here's the interior. Of course this is the cleanest it'll ever look heh:

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Here's the better homes n gardens shot. My own little house looks like....whatever..., but for some reason the ambiance of an 8' camper gained critical importance.

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One thing I might regret is taking the tailgate off, it'd be a nice porch. But attaching the stairs ( dog won't do stepladder steps ) to the tailgate was going to be nuisance. Plus 65 pounds off the back is nice plus = more food and drink I mean useful tools. The utility bumper has a shelf big enough for shoes and coffee cups etc...

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Thanks for sharing the stoke
 
Wilsonart Laminates mails as many free samples as you want, a practice I abused shamelessly and with great glee :ninja:
 
Gorgeous !

Thanks for the pics. Glad to see you have the front dinette - best in the business at that.

Yeah, I was wondering about the rear with the step bumper etc. I think you could add a nice fold down board to work as a porch, hinged on the service body or on the bumper if the license plate was moved. Just a food for thought comment.

Enjoy !
 
I like the idea of a back porch. I used the one on my '85 F-150 8 ft. NCO. My 88 F-250 has an 8 ft. CO on it and I wouldn't want to remove the tailgate. It gives you a "staging" location for wet or muddy shoes, a place to set "stuff" down when loading/unloading the camper and when out in the boonies, you can...as I have done before, gather fallen wood for your campfire, saw it up and carry it on that tailgate into your camp area. Most CGs have no down wood left so scrounging by the side of the forest before you get near for down wood is how I do it. This keep any critters, dirt, etc. OUT of the camper and all you need is a couple bungee cords to secure it until you get to your camp and unload.

Maybe others here who also have an older dog that needs a sturdy step system can post what they did to make a safe step system for Rover and themselves? I am not sure if the folding step systems can be adapted to mounting on the tailgate....anybody done that here?
 
Oooo great use of the tailgate for firewood. For now I'm going to put a mat down at the back so it'll be a 'patio' at least. Shake it out when done, toss in a sack, put in a rear utility box.

For my dog I got a portable ramp. That plus the promise of going somewhere fun can get him in. I also work in a dog rehab place so if anyone needs recommendation on harnesses for older woofs just give a shout.
 
Storage inside, out, or both? I'm still in the process of arranging stuff etc,..but personally I LOVE the utility bed even more than I've expected. It's been super handy from the day I picked up the truck. Caveat that being using it in the process of emptying the childhood home/moving a parent etc...it still is holding things I need to ship. I like the idea of outside ( as in, stinky ) things being in outside storage, plus I can put heavier things lower down and forward whenever possible. The utility shelves are adjustable so when need be I can arrange for height.

Inside storage is classic inside Alaskan storage...nooks galore!

Overall lots of storage and very versatile. Okay I'll stop sounding like a commercial :)
 
I made a list of all the things that go into my Alaskan, down to First Aid kit and pots and pans. Then I sketched a diagram of all those doors, drawers, overhead compartments, etc. and started assigning what went where. Of course this takes some rearranging several times to sort out and is best done long before hitting the "Happy Highway".

That list was taken from my overall "Idiot List" so I knew what to include on the "Storage List".

I'm sure that after one or two short weekend shakedown cruises you will probably change that yet again, but it is just you and one other person and Mr. Dog....you have enough space in your rig for it all now that much of the storage compartments on the truck allow you to move non-weather critical items like saws or hatchets or BBQ Grills/Bricquettes, hoses and other non-essential indoors gear to those compartments.
 
Some of my ideal places to put things in is tweaked due to having an awning - gotta put a few heavier things on the opposite side to even out the roof rise. The other heavier things of course are down and front in the utility bed. Feels great on the road.

Mostly kitted out barring a few items, in particular grabbing a can of dog food and realizing I'd forgotten the....drum roll...can opener. Classic. And If anyone hands me a beer around the campfire you can hear the tale, "...and THAT'S how THIS happened...":

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