Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

when i brought mine it was wrapped white, much to @Anderson shock we ripped it off before installing (it was possibly too easy) but at the time i thought i would rewrap it black, but i have since come to like the random solid white rear 'window', black frontrunner doors and the pinstripped aluminium, so im in the similar idea of 'its all good'

 

I wish I had a solid rear window... I think I might try to find a big piece of aluminum to cut to shape and bond over the glass or something. Or, anyone got a better idea?

 

just take out the glass and replace it with aluminum cut the same .... might need a glass guy to help !

 

Total chaos stiffeners and Bed rug ? over or under ?

 

this is the way

 

Next time you're in a bigger city, stop by a sign shop and have them cut you a "sign" from the same material used on the roof insulation, lower insulation package, and under the bed... aluminum composite "E-Panel" https://3acompositesusa.com/products/dibond/e-panel/

Both. I just have the BedRug sitting over/on top of the bed stiffeners and it helps seal up the tailgate interface and keep dust from going in the bed. It doesn't look the most clean, but I never think about it.

 

That ACM is cool stuff, but... ahem... I'd prefer the rear hatch to match the rest of my dusty, oxidized Drifter if I'm going to change it out. That's not the reason - I'm looking to prevent the ability for smash-n-grab of contents - but if I'm gonna do it, it may as well all look similar.

 

Sanded down and re-cleared my countertop today. I was going to just do a buy a new one, but I’m redesigning my interior on SketchUp right now and this will work for the summer. Next winter I’ll rebuild the interior with a new layout.



Morning update picture:



Oh and my 2019 is pinstriped to hell too, and so is the camper. But I like matchy matchy and black is sleek.

 

Does this mudd splatter make her butt look big?



I like that mine matches the truck, but honestly my truck isn't clean very often. I still think it looks better than a dirty raw Drifter on a dirty black Tacoma though.

 

This is what it looks like 99% of the time. And I just polished it a week ago. I don’t mind at all but just wanted to share so you know what it looks like.

 

I have both , just haven't installed either yet . Waiting for warmer days so bed rug can relax ... But my question actually was mount the stifefners first and cut the carpet to fit or carpet first and clamp down under stiffeners ... and I've got a ESI ultimate Tailgate seal kit to go on too , so I'm not gonna worry about a little dust , mine will have enough old dog hair in it anyways !

 

oh damn yeah mine doesn't look like that, i think that would get to me too..... you are wrapping it i think you said?

 

If it was me, I definitely wouldn't put the bedrug under the stiffeners, cause that's gonna reduce their effectiveness. Even if only a tiny bit...
Not to mention, you'd have to remove them completely if you ever wanted to take the bedrug out to clean it or whatever.

 

Kinda what I was thinking , sharp carpet knife and a little extra velcro ...

 

The full bedrug (not the bottom-only portion) includes a flap that goes over the tailgate and gets sandwiched in between the tailgate cap. I have found that the carpet overlapping the gap between the tailgate and bed keeps all dust, dirt, water out from inside the bed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKvMzRe2WTE

I would look at the MSDS of the soap you're using or the car wash uses that you go through. Mine doesn't do that either with spotting. I have seen streaks from one certain "automatic" car wash I went through a while ago to see if I fit (which I did). You want to look for chemicals that affect raw 6061 aluminum... Cue some materials engineer to tell us what those are.

 

Here’s my stiffeners with rug

 

Ya'll should use sharkhide to coat your aluminum. AT does that for their campers.

 

Going to give this a shot

 

What little mods have you guys done in the camper that you really enjoy? I'm talking $50 and under, less than an hour install time.

 

Does this setup allow you to open your tailgate without having to use the swing out? (Assuming no bikes on it)