RE: [A/S] Airstream to Alaska

["Perry Joe Scudder" <perryjoe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Trapper,
I took the WBCCI Caravan to Alaska in 2001, which travels all the Alcan
Highway. First of all you are in for a wonderful experience!!!!!!! The
road has stretches that are under construction or repair that has a
surface of "Chip and oil" or something like that. It means there are
loose gravel on top of the road surface in these areas, which is a very
small percentage of the total road. I did not put any kind of protection
on the lower front of my 1998 34' Limited, and did get some very small
dings or places where the clear coat surface was nicked on the front of
the trailer. Out of the 25 trailers or motor homes on the caravan there
were all kinds of "contraptions" built on the front of them. I think the
easiest fix I saw was the use of the "bubble wrap" stuff people use to
wrap things for shipping. The people that had it said they got it at one
of those mailing stations that will prep and ship packages for you. I
think they said they got enough to cover the lower part of the front of
their trailer for $5. They just taped it around the lower half of the
front end of the trailer. The only watch out is what kind of tape to
use. I taped some of the bubble wrap on the rock guard over the front
window on my unit, and the "masking tape" left noticeable imprints in
the clear coat surface. The imprint was almost like it had been etched
or scuffed enough to be able to see where the tape had been placed by
the end of the trip. I don't know what kind of tape would be best, but
this is a very effective and cheep method of protecting the front of
your trailer. The members of the caravan did get several broken
windshields, a couple of head lights, a couple of cracked window stone
guards on the front of their trailers, and one guy kicked up a rock
himself that broke the big leveler tube on the front of his trailer, and
bounced into the back window of his cap on his pickup truck and broke it
out. The biggest threat comes from the big trucks that travel the
highway. They are making a living, which means they are traveling at the
max speed they can maintain and stay in the seat of their truck. I just
learned to get as for over on the other side of the road as I could and
hope for the best. I don't think any of the minor damage I got came from
other peoples vehicles, but from my own rear wheels. I had the big mud
flaps that fit over your square receiver so they can be removed when you
aren't towing, but I had cut them about an inch to short when I cut them
off to fit my rig. I did not want them to drag the road surface and kick
up rocks themselves, so I cut them short on purpose, but over did it by
about the inch. This allowed some gravel and mud to escape and hit the
trailer up to about the bottom of the stone guard over the front window.
I made a stone guard out of PVC pipe and hardware cloth (coarse screen
wire) for the front of the truck. I mounted it to the tow hooks on the
front of my GMC Pickup with "U" bolts. This worked extremely well, and I
got no dings or paint chips on the front of the truck. The state of
Alaska should have paid me for the number of bugs I killed in their
state on this truck guard. I would have to sweep it off almost every day
to keep it from getting totally clogged with dead bugs. One guy had a
screen door tied on the front of his truck with rope, which did the job
for the entire trip.
You can see from my ramblings that some protection is beneficial, but
the trip can be made with none. The use of some protection also does not
guarantee one they won't get rock damage. I guess some quick and dirty
guarding that does not cause damage by its self is good, but should not
be made into a major project.

Joe Scudder
WBCCI 8624
Heading for two caravans (Nor by Nor'East, and I Love NY) this summer
after the International