Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Same. Wats the go to for running a Dometic, fan some nights, and a charging port?

 

$165 Renogy 100 Watt 12 Volt Portable Solar Panel with Waterproof 20A Charger Controller Foldable 100W Solar Suitcase with Adjustable Kickstand for Power Station, 100W Panel-20A Controller, Black

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B079JVBVL3/

 

i had that and ended up disassembling it and hard mounting it to my roof. Nothing wrong with the set up but I wished i would have gotten the 100a panel kit from the get.

 

Roger that, thank you! The 100W 12V one looks perfect size wise

 

Yeah I got that thing too and I used it once. Just gonna put it on the shed to maintain my batteries instead unless someone wants to buy it. lol.

 

I've made a few improvements since the last build update.

First, I put in a water pump connected to a jerry can and pull out hose sprayer. It ended up being super simple and the whole system was around $80.




Second, an even simpler addition is a holder for the camp table. It was always a pain in the ass to move stuff to get to the table. Now it just slides into place.


Next, I wanted to improve my cooking setup. Setting up the table and pulling stuff out of bins wasn't that bad but requires a bit of shuffling. I wanted a flexible setup that was "freestanding" but could also be useful in other ways. I settled on a plywood "chuckbox" that can hang off the back of the truck or be carried to a picnic table and opened up. It can even be setup in the truck for inside cooking but I don't foresee doing that often. The box "transforms" into cook mode with the stove in place and additional wings for prep space. It holds all my cookware as well as plates, cups, etc. Although, fully loaded, its a bit unwieldy.



It's a bit hard to visualize but there is a cleat on the back of the box that hooks onto my pullout drawer, then another cleat that rests on the tailgate. That way, the tailgate supports the weight of the box. Takes less than a minute to setup.

Anyway, a few more pictures from a good summer and fall.

 

@alldownhill well done!

Is that a carbon monoxide sensor next to the water pump?

 

It's a CO/smoke detector; there is a diesel heater under there.

 

@alldownhill that's a killer setup! Do you have some more information about your diesel heater setup? I'm still undecided on the tank and plumbing for mine.

 

More details are in post #2069:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ildout-and-mods.540940/page-104#post-20729328

It's a webasto heater and a diesel truck so I put in an auxiliary tap into the fuel tank.

 

For those of you Drifter folk that are looking for a shark fin solution:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-“bullet”-cover-shark-fin-delete.625966/

I now have second gen covers completed.

https://totallyradproducts.com/

 

@alldownhill I want more pics of this so called cleat.

 

Thank you! Yeah, being a diesel truck makes all the difference. I wish I could justify the swap right now!

 

The cleat part is this:

$11 AP Products (013-164922 30.25" Table Support, Silver

https://www.amazon.com/AP-Products-013-164922-30-25-Support/dp/B00G44IZEO

I've seen this style of cleat used for an external rv table support. It's pretty cool, has to be rotated in/out to lock so it's really solid.

https://imgur.com/0dvA3sG
I'm not sure if this movie link works but it shows the support. All of the weight of the box is supported by the lower plywood strip sitting on the tailgate. The pullout fridge slide only sees pullout force and with the box in place, it's really solid. Also, pay no attention to the clamp. That was before I put in a pin for setting the pullout table position.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkFUoKVVygw

Was watching this recently. I think I could justify leaving Tacoma for Colorado/Canyon long before I could justify buying a brand new Tacoma & then adding $26K to make it Diesel like this guy. That blows my mind!!!

 

Awesome! This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.

 

If I'm running a buddy heater in the Drifter, is it Carbon Monoxide that I need to worry about? If so what kind of detectors are you all running? I'm really trying to avoid waking up dead, as I feel like that would be a real bummer on a trip.

 

Yes, CO - carbon MONOxide. Not CO2.

Keep in mind that a CO detector should be placed down LOW in the bed as CO is heavier than atmospheric air. Smoke detectors should be placed up high as smoke rises.

I have a combo CO/Smoke detector that I prioritize mounting low for CO since I feel the chance of fire is lower since I usually don't have any open flames when I'm sleeping.

 

We keep one in our bag/tent all the time; it's just a normal household model. Just keep it low, as that's where Carbon Monoxide lives.

EDIT: @JasonLee beat me to it

 

Doesn't hurt to state it twice to keep people safe!