Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Not worried about it getting it “windy” either!

 

Hawt damn that’s a purty view!

 

Installed a rear awning today and did not account for how it would affect opening/closing of the top. I could have installed it a bit lower I suppose. I was thinking a couple handles on the top would make opening easier. Any tips/tricks I'm missing?

 

I installed a rear awning on Wednesday and know exactly what you're talking about. Just like the latches, I've ordered a few handles and didn't like them.

Actually, we tried about 7 different latches and only two handles... we'll get back to you on that.

In the meantime, you can push it up from the inside. I didn't slide bed extension as far back as usual, and it was fairly easy.

 

No I went with a custom deaver pack. Stage 3 wouldn't have been enough considering full armor and everything else I carry with me (10 gal water tank, additional 1 gal of water for the toilet, camp gear, firewood, fridge, and up to 10 gal of unleaded fuel and 1.5 gal of kerosene for my heater). I'd rather equip my truck to handle all the weight instead of trying to minimize what I carry because my truck can't keep up.

Not at all

I have upgraded gas struts to account for the extra weight on the roof from the solar panels and the emergency prop bar that comes with the Drifter is good for insurance, although I've never had to use it. So I'm not concerned at all about the roof collapsing on me. And the wind noise? Let's just say I have the perfect thing that'll knock me out regardless of noise

 

This is why I went with thr shadow awning! Zero problems opening or closing.

 

It's not watertight like Tupperwear, but it is weatherproof. So anything falling from the sky or from a car wash etc will not enter the drawers. Some small amounts of dust or mist can possibly find its way in there, but unless you back into the lake above the drawers, nothing will get wet.

 

Having had one in my drifter, the drawers were full of dust all the time, I gave up on trying to keep them clean. Seems like your chasing me around to various threads and I keep shooting ya down on the decked system.

Its a good cheap solution for storage, there are a lot better options out there.

 

I'm glad I built my own.

 

Problem I had with building my own is I would never be happy and I would spend more time trying to make it perfect and it would probably cost me triple. Given I rarely have the time to do such a thing, I am looking for a purchased option that'll meet most of my needs, which I found with the front runner setup, couple of mods I needs to make this summer (mainly electrical, and I may redo the top plate I built) and it will meet my needs.

 

Finally got around to bench testing the diesel heater. Just have to source a couple of plumbing adapters and this is going in the Drifter

 

We have a lumber chain down here which will do all the cuts requested. I only had to make sure I had all the pieces measured correctly and then put everything together. Then sand and stain. I can pull it all out if I want. Probably did it for under $300 and my time. Used a couple tools from harbor fright.

 

Just checking are you using kerosene or diesel? Is kerosene just cleaner? Or is there a BTU heat benefit?

 

Kerosene can burn cleaner and have less maintenance issues.

 

^ what he said.

 

I looked into this a while back for when I do not have the mattress pad or bed platform in. (Sometimes on day trips to the mountain I’ll leave the bed out)

There were a couple on Amazon that I didn’t end up using that seemed pretty decent. One was nylon wedding the other was bungee.

You may be better off clipping it to the wiring routing channels rather than the bed platform though. I have used carabiners to do so and it held great. The. You won’t have to modify anything really as long as you aren’t pinching wires.

I’ll see if I can dig up the nets on my history.

I did add a couple little bungee nets inside the bed platform channel for phones etc (old photo but they are little black squares) but don’t use them that often since we have some BROG bags at arms reach.

 

When you are closing up your drifter do you not pull the bed platform back to hold the tent up?

That is what I have been doing for the most part. The mattress is firm enough so far to not sag in the gap it creates at the front of tha cab. Having said that I do recall seeing sone photos where that was not the case. Maybe from @danneskjold ‘s taco?

**guess who didn't read all of the replies stating the same before I posted...

I also didn't think about the fact that the short bed platform is much smaller than the LB.

 

Just so I am clear you are talking a slide out for that center portion?

The slides I used to build by fridge slide are rated at 500#. that being said the holes that are drilled for hardware only accepted 10-32 sized fasteners. the drawer slides themselves im sure would hold up fine it would be more the material used to span the gap. Drawer slides would also raise the floor up a bit.

Back in my old set up for the longest time I used a pieced of plywood with a handle that slid on the stock Tacoma bed easily with a fill cooler.

 

We run fleece sheets in the winter with a faux down comforter and a wool blanket. Our hiking cold bags if really necessary. We will leave the sheets up if we are camping one night in multiple areas in a row. Otherwise, if we are camping in one spot for multiple days we will fold everything up to the front during the day. We stuff the comforter into a compression sack and stow all of it into a big dry duffle that is kept under the bench. Still only takes us a second to throw the blankets and pillows up to sleep but keeps everything contained and out of sight.

Tou can see the bag a little on the right. Accessible from the top or side.

 

Yep, the plan is to have the center portion slide out. Your point about the hardware is definitely one of my main concerns with the slides. It sounds like just adding some HDPE to the bottom of that center portion would allow it to slide really easily on the truck bed. I'm also a big fan of the KISS principle when it comes to camping setups, so I'll avoid the slides for now.