Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

This setup did 93 MPH and no more at Bonneville during World of Speed. Got a few laughs for wearing my full face MTB helmet and goggles at the start line.

 

It's easy to insulate the GFC opening panels and the roof is already insulated.

 

The transparent roof is insulated? That’s cool, I did not know.

Drifter roofs are also insulated

 

Allowances or tolerances?

 

The roof is 1" thick honeycomb.

 

1” honeycomb.That’s cute.

 

Having Mr. Clean sitting on the roof is not giving it any justice. Where's the video of him dancing up there!?

Btw @tyfoon11 (bald guy pictured) is actually humungous. He's always reminded me of the guy from Ocean's 11

 

HOLY SHIT I CANT UNSEE THIS

 

That video is for sale only.

 

The construction of our campers is completely different, so the comparison is apples and oranges. Quite a bit has to be assembled before powdercoating, which requires a very large curing oven. The assembly process is different as well, for the powdercoated units, which changes the production flow.

In regards to closing the top, we built in allowances. Latches that are adjustable on the fly when closing. Having owned (2) Fourwheel campers, a Flippac, and the flatbed prototype, it was quite obvious that adjustments, to the latch tension, need to be made when closing. Maybe the tent is cold and stiff, or maybe the bedding wasn’t quite flat enough.

And the latches needed to be exposed so they’re operable in icy conditions. With gloves on. I don’t live where it snows, but my campers have been ski cabins for the last 12 years.

Air escaping the sleeping area was always a concern, which is why we planned for it.

That being said, we do appreciate the other offerings out there, and each have different benefits. Everything is a compromise.

We focused on making camping easier, providing a dry shelter, offering many options (windows, electrical, etc.), and making sure the campers withstand abuse. I sometimes drive like an idiot, and I’d expect no less from our customers

And the full size will be released soon. You fine Tacoma folks are keeping us busy!

 

IMHO as previously stated,

Both companies have some good customer service people at the head. A lot of the decision to go Vagabond (Drifter) or GFC should be based upon needs at the end of the day. Budget is also effects decision I guess. I too recommend getting in both and envisioning yourself in them and put them through their paces ...as much as possible. Get in, get out of it. Stow away the moveable partitions and see where you have to store them and how much room they take up (The space all comes into play when you have your truck fully loaded). Also look at how the partitions are stored while in transport. Look at the fit and finish and attention to detail. The prices may be separated by thousands, but you honestly get what you pay for. It was said by one of the owners of gfc that the gfc is a place to sleep after doing trails. If you look at it in that way, exactly that way you won't be disappointed.

I am not up to date on the GFC company as to what their offerings are as of now and price. When I ordered mine I saw the flagship IG camper and really fell in love with the idea. This was without seeing one in person or being able to put it through its' paces. I ordered mine January-ish with the lighting option, powder coated a cool color, extrusion mounts, a fan. I got the GFC in June/July of last year. Upon my arrival to the company for install I was advised the fan was not going to be a viable option nor was the lighting that was ordered. They related they were looking at other lighting options and would contact all the camper owners once one was settled upon. Even with the issues that were brought to our attention upon our arrival I was still happy we had a place to stay for our upcoming trip.

Me and my wife took it on a 32 day cross country trip 10k miles. Nine of the 32 days we got a hotel and were not sleeping and living out of the camper. This trip included both coasts and everything in between. Temperatures ranged from the high of 120's and dry, 90's with 90% humidity and lows in the 30's with driving rains. The issues I observed were separation of the tent (where it was glued together), Dust penetration (gaps in top and bottom of sleeping platform), no lock able, dust through snaps, drafts through the snaps of the tent, minor strut adjustment issues that caused knocking and rust, water intrusion to the lower portion through the side doors, no place for the compression latches to anchor (probably contributed to the water intrusion). Once we were locked into the camper I kept a pick set available to pop the back open to allow ourself out (not thought out). Also the top bar that locks in to secure the roof to the sleeping platform would regularly get stuck when we were traveling through dirt and desert roads. I'm not sure if these items have been addressed, but upon returning home we realized we needed more. To get the gfc to where we wanted we realized it was going to cost us $ to add lighting, wiring, fans. I spoke to the boss and we made a trip up to see Phil and Iggy. From what we experienced and what we realized we needed the Vagabond blew our list out the water. The attention to detail and overall well thought out product and explanation was refreshing. We sold the gfc ponied up the additional $ and got a Vagabond Drifter.

We took our Vagabond Drifter on its maiden voyage this last week and spent time in the desert, and high desert. Some of the things I noticed that were different and more appealing to my previous experiences with a pop up camper, was the added space allowed me to go down and use the restroom at night without bothering my wife. The 30ish added inches of room makes a HUGE difference. The added features of electronics and a fan helped immensely from charging phones, cameras overnight as well as keeping my fridge up and running. I would also say the galley set up versus the initial platform set up contributed to a better overall experience. I had my drifter outfitted with an awning, but with the added space of the drifter hanging out inside made more sense for us on this trip. Now my issue is finding the right balance of building out the drifter and saving weight. When asked, I don't in anyway ask anyone to take my experiences with the previous pop up/wedge camper as bible. Instead when asked I tell people to look at them both and make a decision accordingly. With the previous camper I experienced the shortcomings, but as an owner of it I felt defensive when issues were talked about as if I needed to stick up for it (probably something human but dumb). Luckily when I saw the light, the camper I had was still a wanted item and that helped me sell it quickly and make the jump. I will tell you this, once you go pop up you won't go back to the RTT life.

 

Not sure anyone else has owned both GFC and Drifter. So thank you for providing your invaluable experience. Really good points

 

What was the out the door price for your Drifter? For an XL Drifter I suspect that price would be easily $10,000+. I can understand that because I'm sure that it takes much more labor to build a Drifter than a GFC. I notice a while back that a non XL Drifter submitted order added up to north of $11,000.

 

How is higher quality misleading? I’ve seen numerous gfc’s and drifters, and the build quality with the drifter is a lot higher. Also visited them in Bozeman to get hands on look at. I was also one of the first ones to drop a deposit on the gfcgfc as I liked what I saw. Then realized afterwards when I started to review pics/etc that i was not happy with the manufacturing of the units and it’s ould not work for me.

Don’t get me wrong I like gfc and think the guys have done a great job, the drifter is just in a different class. Similar to a Toyota and mercedes, both will get you there, one is just a lot better quality. Well maybe the Mercedes was a bad option.

Edit, also I am no fan boy either. I like the drifter and there is room for improvement, which the guys are actively improving on all the time. If there was a better option I would probably go to that, but I won’t be as I need to curtail the spending and starting saving for an acreage I want to buy this year or next.

 

Really dude? He typed out an awesome, well rounded response and opinion on different camper options, but you’re going to get hung up on price? No one is claiming that Drifters are cheaper.

 

Maybe this part of the post is explaining exactly what we're seeing right in front of us

 

For me, an XL Drifter would cost 2X the price of a XL GFC.
I think, as was stated above, that they're two different concepts and one is not better than the other, just different. Price is a factor. 600+ orders for the GFC on the books.

 

Wasn't forgetting you just meant grey powder coated ones, I believe yours is a color matched paint job. Powder is harder to match so we are looking at some shade of medium to dark grey that won't be an attempt to match exactly

Lol, you guys

 

let it grow jay