Big rig friendly or Truck camper?

I went to Alaska in 2007. I also didn't want to tow the big 5th wheel, so looked around for a TC. Not many TCs here in the midwest, couldn't find a good used one, so I bought a new one. Made the trip with another couple who also had a TC. We had lot of fun. A very enjoyable trip. Plus we were able to put the truck and TC on the Alaska marine ferry in Skagway and got off in Bellingham WA four days later. Our total trip was over 10k miles.

We used our fifth wheel primarily for wintering in Florida, but in 2009 bought a park model. So no longer needing 2 RVs the easy choice was to keep the TC. In those 7 years, we have traveled extensively in the TC. A very easy, fun and cheap way to see the USA.

We downsized and moved last year and got rid or the truck and TC. Big mistake.

ryoung

I know longer own the truck and TC in my signature.

Personally the key to un impeded travel is to somehow have a normal size vehicle, meaning although they rent a butt load of MoHos up there, a TC, Pickup n trailer or MoHo n Toad is the way to go. If I had a MoHo, it would have to come with a Toad or at least a SxS for exploring places that would shred a big rig.

To set the expectation straight about road conditions..... No you're not doing lunar rover travel, but to say the roads are no worse than anywhere else is extremely misleading, unless "anywhere else" already has all those little orange cones randomly placed on the shoulder to warn you you're about to compress your spine against the roof of the truck if you don't slow the f down!
Some stretches are like driving down the freeway thru Nebraska minus the cows and the wheat fields, but there are several areas where every time you get up to speed, you gotta slow back down for another frost heave and a few areas where you just putz along at 30-40 mph so you don't have to get on the hooks so hard at every bump n dip.
That said, after a couple heavy loaded driving trips up there and a good amount of touring around the state, typically loaded with the TC or a trailer or both, I never had to break out the tire iron or tools, but I did stop an help a couple people who did.

We put our Phaeton in storage for our Alaska trip and took our newly purchased B+ to Alaska. WE loved it so much, we kept her and plan on taking her to the Maritimes and also up the eastern seaboard, where traffic is tight and campsites are tighter.

One thing that made a big difference in the Alaska trip. We booked the ferries to come back with scheduled stops in Haines, Skagway, Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan. It cost $1700 for the little rig. Big rig would have been over $5000. Of course you could argue that it cost us the price of the little rig, too, but we loved the freedom of taking the little one and not towing a car.

To each his own. We saw lots of big rigs, but probably more truck campers than anything.

Dale

Our 5er has been to Alaska 3 times. Never considered getting a truck camper then taking a loss on it afterward. Did not want to give up the comfort of the 5er for 4 months either.

Make sure the 5er is up to the trip. Northern roads are no worse than anywhere else but we do tend to carry more stuff, including routine spares that might not be readily available if needed.

Hook the Big Fiver on one of these:



And haul a camper in the truck...

wa la...

Depends like others said, how far off the beaten path you want to get. Your 5ver will go down any highway but if you're adventurous in your route at all, the TC is where it's at (not just for AK but well suited there). You already have a big truck so $10-15k will buy you a nice used TC with little to no depreciation.
I can't think of a single place we camped in AK that would have been suitable for a big trailer, except in Denali. Soooo many beautiful out of the way places you can get to with a TC up there that you couldn't with a big 5ver.
It's whether you want to give up the luxury of the 5ver or not.
Another idea, as RVs in general are more expensive in AK and good TCs are particularly in demand, is buy one do ALL your sightseeing on the way up and near the end of your trip post it for sale up there on Craigslist and Alaskas List. Sell it, count your cash, which will be almost certainly more than you paid for it if you bought wisely, and haul butt home. Take the ferry down to WA.
Plus if you're planning on many/any ferry trips, they will cost 3x as much with the 5ver as with just a TC.
Jmo

We are full timers and we took our 37 ft 5th wheel to Alaska in 2014 and plan to do the same in 2017. We did not make any reservations except for Denali, dry camped some of the time, and had a blast. We were not so fortunate as other because we had a gravel truck lose some cargo and hit our windshield. We were on good paved road just about 30 miles into the Alasdka highway. We had it replaced once we returned to the lower 48 and about 3 months later, a car on the interstate kicked up a rock and broke the windshield again so that sort of thing can happen anywhere. We did have some road rash on the side of our steps but we did not think anything about that. We repaint our steps almost every year anyway. Just drive sensibly. You get used to looking for the wavy center lines so you know where the frost heaves are. We used the Milepost mainly for turnout locations. We were much slower than most traffic and took advantage of the turnouts to get out of the way. We were happy to have our home with us. We could survive in a truck camper if we had to (nothing against truck campers) for a short period of time but we were very comfortable in our rolling home. We love Alaska and want to move there!

"A few axles by the road"? Really? [emoticon] We've never seen or heard of anything like that. This is 2016 not 1960. [emoticon]

Well in September 2011 on the Alaska Highway, I have seen a few axles by the road, and ON the road ....

Mile 1052 Alaska Highway :


Mile 690 Alaska Highway :


For an old truck like mine to successfully haul a heavy enough camper that is suitable to last on many trips in Canada, the main factor I stress out to travellers in order to not bend, break or stress out axles and suspension is to simply SLOW DOWN thru the rough and frost heave sections whether a large rig or a cabover camper, travel trailer, etc.

The Burwash Landing to the Alaska Border stretch (roughly 140 miles) in my camper rig tends to cover that in 7 to 8 hours....my road logs will show me average moving time in the 19 mph to 24 mph range, as overall average is more like 22 mph....I take my time and do not want to tear up my rig.

I usually will overnight in White River, as the northbound journey between Destruction Bay and White River will generally take me 3 hours and 20 minutes to over 4 hours of non stop driving just to cover 80 miles depending on the road surfaces of course.

I have had road crews mad at me while escorted thru a construction zone as I let everyone pass and just mope along at 10 to 15 mph as conditions allow for my rig, as the ground crews are rotating their arms signaling me to hurry up and catch up to the rest of the pack as I ignore it....I will not tear up my rig at their working convenience.


Like all posters say, bring either one that will suit your needs.