Wedge Campers & Assorted Oddities

You should talk to @OutbackHack, he has a V1 Drifter and IIRC was using it to camp at ski areas.

The Drifter has an optional insulation package, and both it and the OVRLND are going to be much easier to insulate because of the way they are framed.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Happy 4th to all.

I do know about those upstate winters. Spent my early years skiing on the Ice Coast. You're a hardy bunch.

I agree; spoke to Graeme about this when I decided to pull my order. I will be watching closely.

Weight was the reason I am interested in these campers, but it seems like the GFC/Vagabond/OVRLND products are similar in weight, no?

Enjoy it!

Congratulations on the new addition to your family!

I used reflictix on my canopy windows this winter and it made a huge difference. Biggest improvement by far was the Bedrug. Sealed the bed to keep out blowing snow and drafts.

I will be subscribing to your build thread. I appreciate your willingness to field questions.

I have subscribed to his build thread and will keep an eye out for more details on the Vagabond insulation solution as they become available.

 

Read this on my phone real quick as "anyone want to buy a habit?" And I was like, nahh man, I already got one. It's called a Tacoma

 

Great meeting you and your father! After you left, Eric said that you’ve had some really nice projects with a serious attention to detail. I asked him what your screename was and said, “Crap! I know that guy!” Followed your Raven 4wc build on expo. Wish we had more time to chat.

We really enjoyed this event and received some great feedback from the attendees. Insulation was a big concern for many people. Our roof comes standard with skinned 1” thick foam board (EPS), as does the bottom of the cabover. Sandwiched between the exterior aluminum and 3mm composite ceiling.

The side insulation option will be the same foam and paneling. R value of the foam is about 4.


We are considering an insulation panel for the fabric, similar to the Arctic pack used in 4WC’s for years. The panel would be simple, but access to the windows would be tricky.

I’ve always used the campers as ski cabins and have spent many nights in resort parking lots. We definitely had cold weather camping in mind. This was also the reason I got rid of the flippac and went back to a hard roof camper.

As far as snow shedding, lowering the 4WC roof with a heavy layer of “Sierra Cement” on top was no fun. Getting the snow off in the popped up position was also challenging.

So much easier to remove it from the hood, cab roof, and windshield.

 

Well I have one of the first Ovrlnd Campers coming in a couple of weeks, and figured I would go ahead and start a build thread.

I put down my deposit back in June, and started working out the details of the camper. Each Ovrlnd Camper is custom built to the owners desire. I got to choose my fabric from a multitude of colors. I went with tan, as it’ll hide the dirt pretty well. The other things I added are two fold down side table / doors, jerry can mount, propane tank mount, awning mounts, roof tracks, solar wiring access port (for future panels),and full turn signal/brake lights.

Here is the start of the lower frame



The completed lower frame



The frame and roof frame





Link to build thread
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ovrlnd-camper-build.560570/#post-18340374

 

My own, personal, walkaround video. This is not a paid advertisement or endorsed in any way. It’s just a video, made by a dude that loves his truck.

https://youtu.be/xzk0r0YhUVw

 

I wanted to post some lengthy comments on the Wedge Camper options out there. My wife an I recently attended NWOL and had an opportunity to spend a couple of hours with each of the GFC, Vagabond, and A/T Overland crew. (Thanks, @wileydavis, @Overlanerd, and Mario for answering all our questions).

I thought it might be helpful to provide some feedback to those of you who have not seen these campers in person. I am 6 feet tall, and it turns out that my height is an issue with some of these campers. I didn't think that 6 ft is out of the norm, but if you are taller, make sure you check out the campers in person before you buy.

Here are my thoughts regarding each camper:

Summit:
I really liked the insulation in the summit. The unit at NWOL had the full wall insulation as well as tent insulation. Since we want to use our camper as a four-season base camp for outdoor adventure, this caught my eye. However, my 6 ft height was an issue in multiple places. First, the working space. The bed folds up during the day providing more workspace under the tent roof. However, because of the low angle of the roof, I was only able to fully stand up between the tailgate and about 1/3 of the way to the front of the bed (2 feet) before hitting my head. This means that I have a pretty small workspace. Second, the bed seems designed for a much shorter person. My 5-4 wife fit fine, but my head hung over about 6 in when I laid flat on my back, with feet in the pointy end of the wedge. The A/T crew assured me that I could get one that had an extended bed, but if I added 18 inches so that my pillow would fit on the mattress, I wouldn't have much room left to get out of bed. Since our main interest in the Summit was for the ability to get out of bed without removing a panel, this is a deal killer for us.

Drifter:
We really liked the openness of the Drifter. As you can see, the sleeping platform slides under the mattress when not in use. This is a similar design to the Four Wheel Camper. This, along with a steeper roof angle, provides for lots of working space. Our original interest was to buy a camper that would allow us to build out the interior, and the Drifter would fit this purpose well.


So, what was the problem with the Drifter? Well, I was again too tall for the bed. When laying in the bed, my head was over the end about 4 inches. The Vagabond staff assured me that they could extend the bed for me, but adding 18 in to the bed length (for a comfortable pillow placement) would greatly reduce the space that could allow us to get out of bed.



For these reasons, I don't think the Drifter will be the camper for us. It seems that the campers that have open space to get out of bed into the tailgate are designed for average height people. I am simply too tall at 6 feet.

GFC:
As many others have noted on this forum, the GFC is a very well designed and built camper. We liked the translucent and insulated top, the amazing bed-rail mounting, and the ability to truly open the entire side of the topper to get access (the others had windows, but would limit the ability to grab anything from the bed without crawling in. In addition, the my 6 ft frame fit quite nicely on the GFC bed. I could sleep with my feet on the short or tall side of the triangle without any issues.

So, what were the concerns about the GFC? I was quite surprised at how small the space was with the TransformaFloor removed. I have a 6' bed (mid-sized pickup), and I just assumed the opening in the floor of the tent would be about the same size as my bed. This is not the case. It appears that the size of the floor opening is ideally designed for a 5' bed, leaving about 11 inches hidden under an overhang. Bear in mind that I don't own a GFC, so I am estimating dimensions from measuring my truck and comparing it to the published GFC dimensions.

This design is well and good for a 5' bed. It appears that part of the simplicity of the GFC design and manufacturing phiosophy, is that the tent component is the same, regardless of the size of the bed. This means that for a 6' bed, there is now an overhang of about 24 in (based on my rough estimates). This means that I lose 2 feet out of the 6 feet of my bed. In my mind, this would make it much more difficult to build out the bed of the camper, because the relatively small work space.



What will our decision be? Due to my height, I think the Drifter and the Summit are out. If I request a custom bed size (extra 18 in) I won't have much room to climb down off the mattress into the truck bed.

The GFC is looking better and better after coming to the realization that it is one camper that seems to fit my 6 foot frame. True, it will be difficult to build much out in the bed, but perhaps I need to change my perspective to a lighter and faster approach. There are some advantages to the GFC philosophy, even though I still think they are leaving lots of space on the table by using the same tent for every bed size.

I hope this information will be helpful to those still on the fence. I will post our thoughts when we make a decision. I am just excited about all the choices that we now have in the Wedge Camper space. Thanks you, camper manufacturers, for taking the risks to manufacture products in this category.

 

Can you fit comfortably in a queen size bed? I am also 6' tall and decided to go with the Ovrlnd Camper, the whole roof pops up so you gain some more foot space due to the wedge. The Ovrlnd has a 60"x80" sleep area, and also could be custom made to be longer too as they are all custom made.

To me the GFC and Drifter both had a lot of room when opened up and beds put away.

 

That's weird - I'm 6'2 and fit just fine in the Drifter with no bed panel extension. I believe Phil is the same size as well.

 

Im 6 ft. tall and i added a 12” extension to my sleeping platform in my Drifter just to have the extra space for ultimate sleeping comfort. It still leaves me with about 2’ to get in and out while the GF sleeps. Its enough room that i can turn sideways and get dressed standing up without issue.
I feel an 18” extension would be too big and make getting in/out difficult like you said. Might be something worth looking into.

 

I measured 21" on the front, non-movable panel on my 6' bed GFC.

 

With the DCSB, it’s 6’-6” standing at the cab wall with the sleeping platform retracted. About 6’-7” for 3rd gens. 6’ at the cab wall for longbeds since ours retracts to that point.

Since our mattress is hinged (and separates with Velcro at the hinge), we have to stock different mattress sizes. Not ideal for production, but it was part of our design philosophy.

Longbed:





The extension can be slid towards the rear for seating near the large rear window and is removable to make a lower seat.

 

Seems like none of these wedges have enough room to enable standing AND have a set of drawers in the bed. Thats too bad.

 

Depends on what kind of drawers you’re thinking of. A single sided drawer, easy. A full width set of drawers just needs to be short enough and offset from the tailgate enough to facilitate getting in. With a peak standing height of about 8’ there’s definitely enough room.

 

I had a side by side drawer installed in my Vagabond and I wouldn't recommend it. There was plenty of standing room, and the increased height made it easier to climb into the bed platform however the increased height also made it more difficult to climb into the truck bed.

 

@Iggy has one in his bed pictured in my previous post. At the rear of the camper it is 8’-6” high, and his drawer system is about 12” high. Plenty of room to stand.

Not my preference though. I’m a fan of the galley style setup since you can stand in the camper and walk to the back to access what you need. Different strokes for different folks.

Edit: 8’-6” from the bed in a 2nd gen.

 

@MapJunkie I would also look into the Snap Treehouse, and the Ovrland camper. I looked at everything at Overland Expo West and went with the Treehouse because they will do custom stuff, have the raise out of the way bed and the side doors are split which gives me a door and table on 1 side and double doors on the other, along with barn doors on the back.
I will be picking up my Treehouse in a few weeks and will be posting plenty of pics and thoughts.

 

So I got my Snap Treehouse a month or so ago and have been using it and having a good time. I really like the drop door on the sides and they are the perfect size for a small camp stove and the other items to cook with. Like Lance I have one door open up and one open down on each side.


I also took some time and installed a fan. The places I've been so far have been nice and cool at night but just in case I wanted to have the fan to cool me down and at least add some noise when needed.

The roof is a carpet material so I used the large velcro strips to hold the fan in place and smaller ones to route the cord. Some of the strip are riveted into the beams in the roof.


There is an outlet in the back of the Treehouse that I wired directly to from my battery to provide the power for this. I also have a 100w solar panel connected to the 60AH battery. I have never had an issue with having enough power even with two fans going all night and up to four phones charging at the same time. I have really enjoyed this system so far and it has made camping so much easier.

 

The ovrlnd camper got installed today!!

 

@crolison I see you mounted the propane tank on the side. I thought about that but then was scared someone might hit it in tight traffic and decided against it. I assume you live in an area where that isn't a concern?

Anyone else thought about that? I think the back is my best option but I'm open to other ideas as getting rear ended makes that dangerous.