The Drifter - Specs and FAQ

LOL @ that license plate!

 

New plate?

 

Yes.

 

Had no idea they were in Benecia. My brother used to live there. The town was once considered for the location of the state capital. Pretty cool. Hopefully they don't have to move out of state for business purposes.

 

Hope you guys don't mind! I added your name to the location on Google Maps. Best fit I could find for (required) Type was Auto Parts Mfr. I have been looking for a 2nd gen for about 2 years now and partly because of the pull of the Drifter.

 

Got to page 10, but no real good pics of the interior. Are there any?

 

There’s some on their website

https://vagabondoutdoors.com/gallery/

 

Hello! New member here. We have a 1985 Westfalia Vanagon Camper that we love. However, we've hit a glitch in the form of a puppy who is extra heat sensitive and we have used our van 1 time in the past 2 years because it does not have a/c. Retrofitting is problematic for many reasons. So we are considering options (Tacoma+truck camper) and I ran across 'Wedge-falias' which total cracked me up. But of course the concept is awesome - we know! We are looking for a camper option that is reliable, affordable with a/c and good airflow for two pups (the other one has been fine but is getting older). In our current setup, we sleep upstairs and the pups downstairs which is how we envision the drifter working. A few questions:

• It seems the downstairs could get rather hot. How does the fantastic fan option (and other power items) draw power? Would we need an aux. battery?
• Could one run the car cab a/c and move cool air from the cab to the back area reasonably well with a/c and car running, a 12v fan on a aux battery? How big is the window area to the cab?
• With the window options, are there / will there be screens? How big are the windows? Don't want a pup to jump out and chase prey....
• Can you put a roof top box (e.g. Yakima) on it? How much weight can it hold (hopefully as least as much as our 1985 vanagon top which has hydraulic lifts and holds lightweight dirty stuff like a mini weber grill, firewood, fly fishing boots/gear).

This is a fabulous concept! We like the idea of a truck with a camper option built in that doesn't take a huge amount of space. And we love the wedge design of our vanagon, so this seems like a great bet. I'm curious about how people (espcially with dogs) will kit the interior to optimize function. We do like the swiss army knife like function of the vanagon and the built in storage but we can probably create that for ourselves with a drifter. Looking forward to seeing more and seeing one in person!

 

2 months, 12k miles, a flop, and a couple truck swaps and Zero is home.

 

Damn sorry that I missed ya. Busy working on crap at home.

 

We're still here ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

And I’m still working on crap at the house...

 

Wedge-falia! Definitely going to use that one.

I haven’t taken temperature readings, but the lower section is no hotter than a camper shell. The insulated roof, and the bedding below that (in the closed position) helps to keep it a bit cooler. We also have a side insulation option.

Since it’s so easy to deploy and store, raising the roof and opening the upper windows definitely keeps it cooler. Especially with the Fantastic fan on. That’s what I did with our dog and the old Fourwheel camper, and the wedges open so much easier.

The fan draws 1.86 amps on low, and 3 amps on high. An auxiliary battery is recommended, but not necessary with a high quality AGM starting battery. Solar is also a great option.

The fan can’t be used with the vehicle in motion. There are many 12 volt fans that would be great for the interior though.

The slider window opening is approximately 11” x 12”. I’ll take exact measurements tonight. Not sure about plumbing AC from the vehicle. I’ve definitely thought about this though.

We don’t have a side slider option yet and are waiting on specs from the manufacturer. This has been a common request from dog owners and we are researching it.

We offer an L-track roof rail option, but we can mount Yakima, Thule, Rhino, or Frontrunner rails without issue. The roof can definitely support the gear you listed. Heavier struts are available for constant loads.

Although the pass- through of the Westfalia is awesome, moving to a much more reliable platform with a wedge camper seems to be common these days.

Where are you located? We have Drifters heading out around the country and hopefully there is, or will be one near you soon!

 

A few pics of @danneskjold ’s new Drifter.

 

Fuckin schwiiiing. I'm totally stealing that table mount under the overhang idea, if I ever have the chance.

 

Phil said that Vagabond will be offering the Front Runner Table kit! It's heavier, but the mount is better optimized for this than the Alu Cab one (Alu Cab is designed for internal mounting)

 

Sorry, missed this question. There are some on our website and we’ll add more soon.
The interior (and a lot of exterior) pics on our website are of @tacomgee ’s camper. He must know the marketing guy or something...
@stroM-

 

Under tour current setup? It might be too wide @ 30”. If that’s the case, another option is the Fronrunner prep table. 21.7”.

The mount is continuous, compared to the Alucab set up. Not sure yet about the clearance with 2nd gens, but we’re going to try it.

 

Oh yeah, I guess idk, I think my overhang is about 32" then idk if there's enough clearance between the cab roof either.

 

Keep me posted on how this works out, as we were talking I am definitely interested in mounting one of these up to the Camper.