Here’s the finished camper:

And here is the restoration. Bought it in Richmond Va. 08/15/2014

You can see in the picture above where I had to amputate part of the camper (left side) to jockey it into my truck.

Here how the top and bottom halves stack together when lowered.

The width at the tailgate of my truck is 60 1/4″ and the camper was originally 64″ wide at the rear. That’s why I needed to modify things. Here are the original dimensions for my 1978 Alaskan. 

It’s 80″ tall raised up – not including the roof vent, 57.5″ lowered.

Here is one of the interferences that I’m going to have to modify. There’s another one just like it on the other side. They’re protrusions at the rear of the camper ( behind the wheel wells) that allow for extra interior room. The problem is that it made the rear of the camper too wide to fit into my truck. I’m going to remove the street-side box flush with the camper and take 3″ off of the curbside box.
Before:

After:

Here’s the street-side rear modification. I cut the entire box off and re-built it flush with the rest of the camper. You can see on the underside of the overhang how far the box originally stuck out. The black stuff is Rustoleum rubberized waterproofing spray that I put on to seal the plywood floor edges.

I added a new 110 volt electrical inlet and outlet and a 12 volt outlet to the side. I moved the water inlet to the back of the camper (I removed the ones that were along the bedrail).

Got some decals made and painted the emblems…

I pulled off all of the hardware, doors, drawers, windows and fixtures and refinished the interior. I changed the O-rings on the hydraulic pump and pistons, too. Here’s a shot of the interior with the top half separated and blocked up on the lower half.


Here’s something that I never expected to find in an old camper… quality woodwork.


Since most campers come off the production line as fast as they can slap them together, finding book matched cabinet doors was quite a surprise (especially for something built in the 1970’s). So I looked up Manheim, PA – where this Alaskan was built – and it’s in Lancaster County, the heart of Amish country.

The lower edge of the veneer on the upper half of the camper was delaminating so I re-glued the veneer and added some drywall corner bead to hold it tight to the wall. The corner won’t show once the two halves are put back together.

Now that I have the interior refinished (but not finished), I can get back to restoring the exterior. All of the windows needed a good cleaning, new putty tape and new screws. I’ll be replacing the running lights, too.

I forgot to get a “before” picture, but here are my serial number tags during and after I painted them. I taped over the punched numbers and then once the paint dried, I wet sanded the tags and removed the paint from the raised lettering.

I hadn’t really noticed all the dents before it was painted. This camper must have been driven through a hail storm. I’m going to cover over the worst part of the front with some anodized diamond plate. The paint job was Rustoleum with a roller.

After new O rings in the pistons and pump, I was able to raise the roof again and finish the interior. I rebuilt all the counter tops and table with new wood and Formica.  I added a refrigerator but I took out the gas cooktop… it can be put back if needed.

Before I put it on my truck, I attached some pressure treated 1×4’s to the bottom of my camper. That will raise it 3/4″ and give me a little extra clearance over the truck bed rails.

Heading to the mountains

And a trip to the beach

Camping at Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort, SC

early morning video, getting ready to travel – grandkids still sleeping

Mine was built by Pennacamp in Manheim, Pennsylvania. Finished on 9-22-1978.

At the American Pickers store – LeClaire, Iowa

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