Alaska with the 190

I am not much for posting but thought I would do a short report on a recent trip through the Yukon up to Alaska and how the 190 survived the trip. 

The trip up was pretty straightforward up the Alcan Highway but the way home was via Dawson City and the Cassiar Highway after stopping in Whittier and Valdez.

Scenery – Indescribable! I have worked a bunch in Alaska so have seen a lot of the sites there, but the scenery in Northern BC and the Yukon is some of the best I have seen, almost as good as Patagonia.

Wildlife – over 30 bears both Grizzly and Black, hundreds of Bison, Caribou, Dall Sheep, Foxes, Snowshoe Hares, and one Lynx!

Roads – The road reports are always subjective due to people’s experiences and what vehicle they are driving.  The lower part of BC is pretty good, similar to the US.  The upper part of BC through the Yukon and into Tok, AK got progressively worse starting with the standard perma frost roller coaster heaves, moving on to cracked asphalt, on to huge potholes and drop off’s.  There were stretches of road that were gravel or pure dirt/mud and a lot of road construction with long wait times for pilot cars to guide you through.  The Canadian border to Tok, AK was the worse of the whole trip where I didn’t go any faster than 40mph for stretches due to the breakup and undulations.  This stretch did a number on the 190 loosening up everything (see R POD report below), but then we did a stretch of over 70 miles to a small village of Manley Hot Springs that was all gravel washboard that shook the poor 190 to bits.

R POD – Despite the following report it did as well as it could under the conditions.  First of all I was glad I did the Offgrid axle support.  After the first incident of lost camber, a new axle, and adding the support, I have really watched the cargo weight and only ran with a 1/3 full freshwater tank and minimal supplies.  Despite the potholes and major slams encountered, the axle camber held great and the wheels are vertical.  But…

EVERYTHING else rattled and fell apart including:

• the floor is sagging under the slide…I will have to do the extension brackets
• sink P-traps unscrewed themselves
  
• the whole lower vacuum cabinet module separated from the upper cabinet
• water pump filter cap came loose creating an air leak in the line
• the sewer pipe bracket snapped and the pipe drug on the highway
• all the AC bolts backed themselves out and the unit was just sitting there in the housing
• the heater has internal parts rattling (still needs to be inspected)
• step screws fell out

Like I said, despite all this the 190 did well.  I know these POD’s are built light weight and cheaply, probably not meant for these conditions despite the Hood River being sold with “offroad” ground clearance and tires.