After 68 years of hydraulics, Alaskan is announcing electric linear actuators as standard for 2026. This change maintains Alaskan’s iconic hard side pop-up function and aesthetic while taking further advantage of modern tech. And they’re going higher.
One of the most important innovations in recreational vehicle history was brought to market in 1958. In the same year NASA was launched, Don and Irene Hall, the founders of Alaskan Campers, invented a hydraulic lift mechanism that vertically raised the upper shell of a hard-sided pop-up truck camper.
The resulting “telescoping camper” was nothing less than revolutionary and has become one of the longest-running RV products in history. Only Airstream, founded in 1931, predates it.
While discovered in the 1600s (thank you, Pascal), hydraulics were mainstreamed after World War II with applications in farm tractors, cranes, aircraft landing gear, car lifts, dump trucks, and industrial presses. The Hall’s innovation was to bring this powerful technology to the truck camper marketplace and apply it such a simple, durable, and reliable way.
The electric linear actuators inside a slide-in Alaskan with the Klondike interior
All of the above is why Alaskan Camper’s electric linear actuator announcement is such a big deal. In place of the familiar electric pump, fluid reservoir, four steel hydraulic cylinders (rams), control valves, and high-pressure lines, we now find four 12-volt linear actuators, a synchronous controller, heavy-duty brackets, and wiring.
The electric linear actuators inside a flatbed Alaskan with the Sitka interior
Inside an Alaskan Camper, the linear actuators offer a sleeker and more modern presentation. Where the outgoing round-tube hydraulics were never a big distraction inside an Alaskan, the thinner square-tube linear actuators disappear into the interior even better.
We will be following up with Alaskan with a number of questions we’re sure fellow Alaskan enthusiasts are asking. For example, what testing was performed, how is the system controlled, are the actuators faster or slower than the outgoing hydraulics, do they support more or less weight, does the system weigh more or less, what’s the amp draw, and do they require maintenance? Until we get our answers, we be tossing tiny pebbles at their Winlock, Washington windows. Ping… Ping…
We brought out our best 70’s, “Oh man!” when we learned Alaskan hadn’t brought their recently announced composite-walled, hard side Alaskan HS-640 to Overland Expo West. Talking to the Alaskan team, the HS-640 is still being finalized and wasn’t ready for the public. Oh man!
We were assured that the HS-640 will be making its physical debut in the coming months, and that we’ll have the exclusive right here in Truck Camper Magazine.
For more information on Alaskan Campers, visit their website at alaskancampers.com. Click here to request an Alaskan brochure.
