The Drifter - Specs and FAQ

Lack of imagination, need to see it and pick peoples' brains- paint/no paint, which color, lights, light weight build outs, awnings, etc. Even the name of a trusted well rounded 4x4 shop.

 

Great! I will post here when I get my Drifter and I will reach out to you after. For some reason I forgot, feel free to PM me. Estimating about 3 weeks

 

There is a guy with a Drifter in Cayucos right now. He's parked in the dirt lot at the end of studio dr. (north side). It's deployed and he is just chilling at the beach. Might be worth driving up and seeing if you can catch him.

 

Caught him just as he was leaving. Stock Drifter. Thank you so much.
Training wheels are still on. How do I PM someone? Thanks for the patience.

 

Yeah, no worries, you're welcome. To PM someone just click on their username and click "start a conversation".

 

Based on this timeline they were receiving about 13 orders per month. Anyone have an idea of how many they could build a week before the lock down?

 

I had heard they were producing five a month before covid. I am #134 order date 05/16/2019. Still looking at 2 more months.

 

parttimedirtbag put together a Google Sheet to track rollouts. See below. It's as up to date as it can be based on people remembering to add/update their info or send updates to parttimedirtbag. Last "known delivery date" on that sheet was 7/3/20.

Also, VO is on Instagram and posts rollout videos if the buyer is open to that. Last rollout video was Aug 8. See below. (BTW, that doesn't mean it was the last rollout, just the last rollout that was filmed.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDqG8pMABN-/

So... what does this tell us? Not much. Except that, to your question, no, rollouts have not continued with the usual frequency in the Covid era. They have been delayed for various reasons for a considerable length of time.

Lacking any hard numbers from VO, and based on the sheet above, looks like my build #157 may be delivered as late as December or January. Order date was 7/28/19. So that's 17-18 months. But even this is pure speculation because we don't know what all the factors are that are driving the delays.

Bottom line, I believe everyone at VO is trying to push this boxcar up the hill, for all the usual reasons... it's their business, they want the money, don't want dissatisfied customers, etc. So I'm hoping they resolve sourcing and production issues and move production ahead more rapidly. We'll see.

 

I created that sheet and made it public so anyone can update when they order or pickup. Since VO is notoriously quiet and nonresponsive (not a dig, I know they’re working their asses off and that means that communication gets put on the back burner), I figured it was an easy way for all of us to kind of keep track of lead times so we can track it ourselves rather than bugging them with unnecessary emails/phone calls they’re likely not going to respond to anyway.

I sent an email in early July adding some things to our order (201, 1/6/20) and have yet to hear a response. Again, not a complaint, I don’t actually need a response until I get my final build email confirming they got those things added.

It’s as up to date as people want it to be. If people post about orders or pickups here I update it and I’m checking these forums daily. Unless someone updates it themselves and beats me to it. It’s obviously not completely accurate because it only reflects what people are sharing here on TW and there are plenty of orders that are made/completed that we only hear of once they roll out on VO’s insta. In a perfect world VO would add that info into that or their own spreadsheet themselves so we could see every order number and date as well as pickup daye once it happens but something tells me that won’t happen

 

Right. I edited my post for clarity about your sheet. And thanks for the effort BTW.

 

Thats me in the video.

When I was in Benicia picking up

Thats me in the video. I picked up my Drifter July 10. When I was at VB there were no other Drifters there. I guess I was the last to pick up or get made in the batch.

When I talked to Phil about order numbers. He said you cannot really tell by order number of when you will get it, sometimes they jump around. Not sure how, but that was his comment on the subject.

 

I heard the same thing about order numbers. What batch you are in along with options-windows or not, powder coating versus bare, insulation, wiring, extra options that need to be added all affect the actual deliverable date more than your order number.

 

That’s true, but since you hypothetically get zero information or correspondence between order confirmation and build confirmation 6ish weeks before pickup, the rollout tracker at least gives you a basic idea of when you might expect to pick yours up. I know it’s not a science

 

I wish it was a science so my engineer brain could calm down! The wait will be worth it...the wait will be worth it...

 

It’ll be very very worth it

 

Can anyone tell me the type of 12v connector they install on the drifter? I've got #4 cable running from my aux battery, behind the rear passenger seat, to the little compartment beside the 120v A/C plug. The way deliveries are going, I probably have a year to get all this sorted, but I'd like to put plug at the termination ASAP. There is something about having hot leads back there, which doesn't feel right. Thanks

 

This is what I bought. on Amazon. Molex 6 pin connector . Female is on drifter. I built a male connector to use on aux battery and The left factory installed engine connector in case/ when I remove aux.

 

+1. VO should be able to give you a connector + leave a pigtail for you to wire up yourself.

 

What's to stop one of us from making a fan "controller" that just reverses polarity on the DC motor to run it in reverse? *hint hint*

 

I talked to Phil a couple weeks ago. We finalized the options I wanted and he answered all of my questions. They're workin' hard to get these campers rolling out. The pandemic really screwed things up for businesses, especially in California. He said my Drifter will be ready for pick up in October. I'm #133