Alaskan Camper vs. FW " Hawk" ?

S

Stuart Rich

Adventurist
I am new to overland travel and need an ABC primer on how to chose a truck and camper. I am looking for a rig for domestic and overseas mild to moderate 4x4 terrain use for extended one to two month trips for my wife and myself. I have looked at the 8 foot Alaskan Camper and the 6.5 FW Hawk and a Ram 2500 4x4 Crew Cab long bed gasser 6.4 V8 automatic.

Two big differences between the Alaskan Camper and the FW Hawk is wood versus aluminum structure and the weight difference. But what are the pros and cons between wood and metal structures and which is more durable for off road use?

As for the right truck I have plenty of unanswered questions: a. Is a crew cab long bed too big of a truck for overland use (longer turning radius)? b. How important is manual vs automatic transmission for off road travel? c. What kind of custom truck work needs to be considered (lifting, air bags, tires, sway bars, recovery gear etc.) d. Should I consider the Ram Power Wagon options? and e. If the truck needs to be shipped in a container what is the maximized container size?

What sources are out there with these types of information ( magazine, website, books etc? ) for the beginner?
Thanks
 
The best info I've seen on the how-to's of shipping a vehicle overseas - documentation, customs, container dimensions, alternatives like ro-ro, etc. - is the chapter on such things in the OVERLANDER'S HANDBOOK by Chris Scott. I have the original 2011 edition, I see there is a new, Second Edition out in 2017:

https://www.amazon.com/Overlanders-...preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

Best Website I've seen is Horizons Unlimited. This is PRIMARILY an Adventure Biker's site, (it can be remarkably cheap to ship a motorcycle across the oceans via air freight) but there is an active minority of four wheeler's there too.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/
 
As for the question of diesel vs gas engine, keep in mind that, depending on where you are going, it can be impossible to find the ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel modern American trucks were designed to run on, and the old dirty fuel that can be the only kind available in some third-world locations can cause expensive engine problems. Gasoline, on the other hand, seems to be pretty good quality pretty much everywhere in the world, these days.
 
My take on it. Alaskan campers are very nice and for very cold climate, better suited for this. The biggest downside is weight. Weight is the enemy of any overland type vehicle. The other downside is being wood construction, rough roads will likely take their toll. Wood does not like a lot of flexing and will tend to start pulling joints apart.

For something that is not being use exclusively on paved roads, the FWC wins hands down. Being much lighter is a huge benefit. It will not tax the vehicle nearly as much, which will help reliability and prevent breakage of parts. FWC is made for offroad use and is designed for the stresses the flexing will incur. The Turtle Expedition folks have had 6 vehicles and 3 of them have used FWC. Two of them have gone all over the world. https://turtleexpedition.com/ Under vehicles, check out Turtle III, IV and Weekend Warrior

As for vehicle, my Ram was a Club Cab, long bed with a FWC Grandby. I never found it to be a problem for most roads and trails we took. Every so often, we would end up on a narrow trail which will give you "pinstriping" but length never was an issue. That said, it was 12-18 shorter than a crew cab truck, so you really need to be honest with where you are going to travel. Overseas there are more tight towns and roads then in the US. As for modifications, that will depend on your total weight and goals. I had custom front and rear springs made to handle the extra weight but it basically kept the total lift height to what stock unloaded height was. I was able to run 33" tires and I really never had an issue with clearance. You want to keep the COG low, so I would stay away from large lifts.

As for the Power Wagon. It is a great vehicle and the most offroad worthy truck on the market, IMHO but to get that, Dodge decreased the load rating, which makes putting any camper on it, not the best idea. If thinking of going PW, I would look at installing something like a Flipac or Adventure Trailers Habitat. Not the same amenities as the other two but much less weight then even the FWC.

Your best resources are forums and real world accounts. The books mentioned above are good but like most books, can become dated very quickly as new products come to market.

A little taste for what our rig could do, here is a video to show what a truck and camper can do.
 
BTW, just to help you out with your preliminary thinking, the following info comes from my copy of OVERLANDER's HANDBOOK:

"The door aperture of a standard 20' shipping container is 7'5" high, and 7'6" wide. Internal length is 19'3". 40' containers (39'3" internal) also exist and some come as 'high cube' (8'5" high) but of course cost more."

If your rig is too big for these options, it has to go on a flat rack, and goes on top of the containers, exposed to the weather during shipping. Plus their can be some security concerns compared to being locked in a container. Here's a picture of an RV on a flat rack:

rv-loading-on-flat-rack.jpg
 
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