Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Does anyone have experience with the relion low temp lithium battery? I know there has been a ton of discussion on charging batteries in low temps. The battle born look nice but integrating how to determine if the internal heater has the battery above freezing is unknown unless you add accessories to accomplish that.

the relion looks like it does that for you before charging so you can use any charger. Though it’s a bit pricey I think buy once cry once.

https://relionbattery.com/products/lithium/rb100-lt

 

The main problem is that the charger doesnt know that your battery is heated. Even if you get the battery warm the charger will read the ambient temp as below 32F and wont apply the charge. Somehow you gotta get both to work together.

 

yeah I know from previous post redarc changed theirs to work down to -25f? Where as the older versions were 32f. Or is that still an issue? Couldn’t really tell. Maybe I’ll email redarc.

I wonder if there is a charger that will charge regardless of ambient temp?

also found another battery similar to the relion is life blue and seems a little better (BT integrated). And is cheaper.

 

Q?: How high, from the 5' 3rd Gen Bed Floor to the bottom of the bed slide (w/o interference), can cabinetry be installed/built? (sorry cwhet10 for highjacking your photo). Thank you.

 

Is a 3/8" baltic birch baseplate a bad idea? Everyone seems to use 1/2" and I'm curious what I'd be risking with 3/8"

 

I don't think 3/8 would be structurally strong enough if you plan on bolting cabinets to it.

 

I used 3/8" plywood for my baseplate. The goal was to keep weight on my build to a minimum, so in every decision I factored weight in. One moderate-use season in, no problems. Not as durable as 1/2" I'm sure, but I'm happy with my decision so far. I bolted my homemade 80/20 cabinets and fridge slide to it and do a fair bit of high-country 4x4 driving.

 

I started having the same problem. I was thinking it was coming from the load support bar since it's more inboard and I really try to make sure the tent is tucked in as much as possible. I pulled the load bar out from it's home position, so we'll see going forward if the area sees more deterioration.
Edit for pic:

 

but wouldn’t that be rubbing the inside of the fabric?

 

that pic of mine is of the inside

 

Mind sharing a pic por favor? Thanks for the info

 

Copied @Iggy propex setup for my AT Atlas.

 

That's interesting on the tent fabric wear. I do have the slight oil stain on the outer tent fabric, but have no physical damage to speak of after almost two years of regular use.

 

Thanks for the feedback on the scratches guys. If you close the camper where is that area located relative to everything else? My quick guess is that it may be getting caught between the shock body and the lower edge of the camper where the fabric is attached.

All the tents have little loops on the inside, I would suggest adding some bungee cords there to help closing the tent fabric if you need it.

 

Not as pro as some builds, not as basic as others... I was going for "light/simple/removable". Quite happy with the results in the real world.

 

You going to start dialing in insulated window covers for the drifter or still having too much fun using it to bother? lol

 

What material does goose gear slide into their 80/20? I thought it was something like 1/4" HDPE but I can't tell.

 

Haha!

Honest answer: The pandemic is crushing us, but not in the ways one might expect. After an initial scary dead period, both of our businesses (both outdoor related) absolutely blew up... and we haven't been able to keep up since. It's partially high demand and partially COVID employee scheduling - we're scheduling seven days a week in the shop and everyone is working from home as much as possible, trying to minimize crossover between employees.

For now we're focusing on bringing our lead time down and building inventory back up so that not everyone has to HAVE a lead time. Once we get to a good place in those regards, we'll refocus on new products, including Drifter stuff. But so far, it looks like 2021 is going to be very similar to 2020 - that is, nuts.

 

It looks like ABS to me, and I'd assume 1/4".

On my homemade cabinets, I used 1/8" ABS on the outside, and 1/8" coroplast on the inside. Lighter, plenty strong, and hidden benefit: Coroplast is white, so the interior of the cabinets is nice and light, easy to find what you're looking for.

 

Do you have a picture by chance? I just need to replace the 1/8" birch that is slid in with something else. Tired of the carpet holding in smell and its too dark inside for my taste.