Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Mounted my awning up this past weekend

 

Where would you take a drifter on its maiden voyage. Any ideas. Trying to brainstorm for a 3-6 day trip. Hoping to hit part of the Sierra's, Sequoias and maybe Angeles ?

 

The desert is always a great place to start.

 

North into Washington and Oregon!
If you’re from SoCal, the mountains and desert aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

 

WA/OR have a ton of great places. Be sure to look at the weather. We have 5" of snow in the heart of Seattle right now! A ton more in places you'd probably like to actually take a Drifter.

 

Unfortunately the trip starts from central CA and end near Corona..thought about the desert, but it's been getting some good rain lately.

 

Baja. Just bomb through Tecate (no lines), and get to San Quintin (Pacific) or San Felipe (Gulf) and south. Gives you 3-4 days to soak up mega relaxing camp life in as much solitude as you choose.

 

Plenty of snow in our local mountains (near Corona). Depends on when this trip might be.

 

Anyone gonna be in Baja 2/15-2/22? I'll be bouncin around the Sea of Cortez side.

 

Sorry, just got back about a month ago. DM me if you are looking for any information on current road conditions on MEX 5 after the hurricane in October. I was hoping to drive newly paved asphalt most all the way to Bahia de Los Angeles. But alas, it wasn't so.

 

Appreciate it but I've kept an eye on Baja Nomad. I'll be taking most of the dirt routes (Laguna Diablo, Calamujae, etc) while heading south so I'm happy to avoid as much of the no-longer-existing pavement as possible. From there down to San Francisquito for a couple nights, a quick run out to Mulege, up to San Ignacio for some whale watching then back north on the 5.

 

Has anyone attempted mounting a bike carrier system on the side of their Drifter yet? Looking to keep things lower profile and easier to load/unload. I haven't come across anything on TW so far, but I was thinking that the KB Voodoo mounts (http://www.kbvoodoo.com/shop/bed-rack-outboard-bike-mounts) could be bolted through the side of the shell with a backing plate. Has anyone seen another solution, maybe some L track contraption, or have thoughts on this idea?

Planning to drop my Drifter order this weekend!

 

That would be wide and if I am not mistaken. The handlebars would be outside the legal width of vehicles.

My buddy got pulled over because he had two river kayaks mounted to the side of his rack on his Tacoma. It was over the legal width, he had to remove them and put them on top right there. Cop being a dick? Probably, but there is a reason, when he drove down the road he nearly clipped a lot of things.

 

I would just do a receiver hitch rack. With the factory hitch, my 1up rack clears the tailgate with a bike in the rack (when tilted). Rocky mounts had a swing out version at one point that looked pretty good too.

 

I did come across swing out setups, which might take the cake down the road. That seemed nicer than crawling around the bike to get in and out.

I didn't think of legal vehicle width. That might eliminate my side mounted paddle board idea too... Back to the drawing board!

Thanks y'all

 

I have a rack attach swing out with a 4 tray 1up mounted to it. Kuat has bought the patent on the design and makes a cheaper version, but rack attach allows you to select which side it swings to. Its fantastic for camping bike trips.

I'm also working on a slide out tray in the bed with 2 fork mounts to keep bikes protected if needed.

 

Something came in the mail today


And I got a good spot for it in the Drifter (just have to make some adjustments to make it flush

 

Just a note, you might get some toasty legs, I'd consider a piece of reflectix as a deflector when you're on the can.

 

Subbed.

 

Another vote here for the swing away paired with 1up tray. I have the Kuat version, because I scored it cheap on CL. Has anyone thought about installing turn signal lights up high on the Drifter to improve visibility for other drivers?