Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Changed the orientation of the drivers 2 AAL's this morning. Man I am getting good at this, under an hour I was done.

Now I am getting 40 7/8" from ground to fender on both sides of the rear wheels. Flipping the 2 AAL's solved the problem!!

I am not sure if anyone knows this, but when adding just one AAL I do not think its critical what orientation you install it in. When adding 2 AAL's there is definitely a specific orientation to install the two AAL's in, if not when the vehicles sits under its own weight it will hit the rear shackle..

 

So I've been calling around trying to find some marine grade baltic birch for a base plate. I've noticed that it only comes in 4'x8' sheets, it's impossible to find 5'x5' sheets in the marine grade. I have found "normal" or what some of the supplies are calling interior grade baltic birch in 5'x5'. The width of the 3rd gen's are 53" so that means I'd have 5" at least from the wheel wells towards the back of the bed that wouldn't be covered if I went with marine grade. So I guess my question is...

Is it preferred to use marine grade? Or should I just go the 5'x5' interior baltic birch?

 

I would think standard is just fine as long as it’s coated.

 

I used 5x5 interior/furniture grade baltic birch which worked great, but I also coated it in bedliner to help protect from moisture.

 

Thanks. Yes, I agree on the hazard... I wore a pro-grade respirator. I was hoping to keep the weight low by using the foam, but the luxury vinyl planks are heavy. So, that's where the weight is... about 45 lbs. worth (figuring 27 sq ft). With the rest of the materials I calculated a total of approximately 63 lbs.

 

Gosh this looks really nice. Now I'm contemplating my decision to buy baltic birch and build a base plate vs this. I guess one downside to this route is that you kinda have to know your exact layout and how you are going to mount everything in order to place the tie downs correctly. Are you going to be building out any type of cabinets or mainly just strapping stuff down?

 

You need to ask for marine grade baltic birch plywood. Standard size is 5x5. Any lumberyard should have it.

 

Thanks. Actually, my intention with the double-row L-track down both sides is to allow for pretty much any mounting configuration, so it will be adjustable and allow me to change things if I need to. If you imagine 80/20 or T-slot extrusions fastened perpendicular to the L-track, they can slide along the base to any dimension from front to back. I do plan to build cabinets and storage; I have been working on modeling it in 3D, which is really helpful for revealing problem spots where things need to be adjusted or moved. (I'm using Google SketchUp online.)

 

Sorry, I totally missed this.

I think it boils down to the Finished look on the interior as well as it’s ability to stay cooler in the hot sun. When I purchased my Drifter(sold to @d.shaw) there was no powdercoat option. If there had been, I would have had that from the get go. I had mine wrapped in vinyl about a month or so after ownership. Don’t get me wrong, it looks totally boss on a silver Tacoma, but I think it looked “unfinished” on my white Tacoma.

 

That makes a lot of sense with the extruded aluminum. I’m excited to see how it turns out.

Would you imagine that setup being an issue with the Tacoma composite bed?

 

hows the rivnut tool worked out for you? Ive been striking out on PoS brands. Was debating this one but it was the pricier of the bunch. Also was recommended the Rough Country one but it seems to b the same POS that other Amazon sellers have.

 

Keys aren’t specific to manufacturer. Zooming in on your pic you need a J332 key. Any J332 key will work. I’ve purchased them online in the past after getting a used camper shell with no keys. (This also applies to roof racks, bike racks, and anything else with this style lock and key).

 

$83 Astro Pneumatic Tool ADN14 Rivet Nut Drill Adapter Kit

https://www.amazon.com/Astro-Pneuma...ocphy=1014257&hvtargid=pla-491952191226&psc=1

I've been using this one for a few years and have been very pleased with it.

 

oh thats interesting. adapter for a drill.

 

I think the composite would be substantial enough to hold a plus-nut / rivnut fastener in place and keep the L-track in place. With a mild load and moderate dirt road driving it would probably be fine, but I wonder if more severe duty conditions (heavy build + rough driving) could create cracking issues. I'm guessing someone has tried it by now, no?

 

It worked pretty well and is fast. I bought it specifically for this project and set 30 nuts with it; of those, I had to fix the threads on 4 of them using a tap. I don't know for sure if it was the tool or the SS screws that caused the problems. One thing I found with this tool was that I could use a cordless drill with a hex bit to zip out the threaded stud from the fastener once it was set. That made it really fast.

 

If you haven't already check out frame designer. It's an old application that isn't really being updated ( unfortunately ) but it's pretty bad ass for modeling these aluminum extrusions

https://www.framexpert.com/products/framedesigner/download/

 

well that's cool..... Just found another way to get distracted "at work".

 

or not. it appears to be Windows only... boo

 

Definitely save often because certain actions can it to crash but it's pretty cool. It even has a cost calculator for 80/20 and it can print out a bill of materials. I'm sure the cost is off because it hasn't been updated so I'm not entirely sure how helpful it is for that, but cool none the less. See attached PDF for an example of the build out from the screen shot above