Haven Overland's 3rd Gen Tacoma Vagabond Drifter Build

Well I suppose the time has come to start my own build thread. I've had my 2016 DCLB for over a year and a half now and I've finally got enough time away from building vans (check out havenoverland.co to see some of my work) that I can start my interior buildout on the Vagabond Drifter.

A little history on the truck: I purchased the truck out in New Jersey in December of 2020 and drove it all the way back home to Washington state. Why did I go so far to buy a Tacoma? Well the price was right and the truck was already built out more or less how I would have planned to build a stock tacoma. Here's a photo from the day that I picked the truck up:



As you can see it was quite built from the get go. Some of the highlights include:

35 inch Cooper Discoverer ST Max
SCS F5 wheels
Regeared to 5.29 with front and rear ARB air lockers
ARB single compressor in engine bay
Icon suspension in front, Bilstein in back
Front and rear CBI bumpers
Mobtown rock sliders
Skid plates
And probably more... lol

The truck being what it was didn't really need a whole lot more in my eyes aside from some paint protection and, of course, the camper. We'll get there.

First off was paint protection. I buffed out any existing pinstripes and wrapped the truck in Avery Gunmetal Matte Metallic. Here's the results after wrapping the truck along with my buddy's f350 that we also wrapped. Doesn't the little taco look so tiny!? lol



And here's a few more shots of the wrap in progress:



After wrapping the truck I decided to sell the leer canopy that came with it. Those canopies have a tendency to rub near the bedcap which will destroy your wrap. At this point I was already on order for a Vagabond Drifter but I'll save that story for the next post!

 

Continuing the story. I purchased a spot in line for a Vagabond Drifter and the wait ensued. As many know the wait time for these campers is insane so I actually paid extra to buy a spot in line from a customer who wanted out of their spot (order number 156 for those interested).

My buddy Josh from Dark Defense and I had been planning a trip to Baja for months and the deadline for getting the camper installed was fast approaching. I was finally able to get in touch with Phil from Vagabond and because I had one of the longest standing orders I think he felt sorry enough that he told me he had a loaner I could use for the trip until mine was ready (thanks to Jay from Vagabond!).

Here's a couple photos from the day we got the camper installed:



We drove to Benicia with all our gear for a 6 week trip under a tarp. Here's a photo after picking up the camper and getting our gear a little more organized for the trip:



And a few of the great times we had in Mexico. As you can see, many beaches were had.



I haven't had much time to devote to my own projects since returning from Baja in April until now - the buildout has officially begun. I'm usually not great with sharing as I'm building things, but I'm going to do my best with this project. I've learned so much from people that are willing to share their build processes online so this is my feeble attempt to give back, I hope you're able to learn something and if not I hope you're at least entertained.

 

First step of the interior buildout is the Bedrug. My friend Brian (@MapJunkie) has a Bedrug in his drifter buildout and I decided its a nice way to finish out the bed and give it a softer, friendlier look and feel. I'm also building bench seats on either side of the bed and the bed rug will have a nice way of padding out the interior of these benches so gear is not sliding/banging around.



Through my business of building van interiors I've gotten quite a bit of experience with tig welding aluminum so this was a natural choice for me. I personally don't like the bolt together aluminum extrusion buildouts such as goose gear. Even if you're designing and building that type of setup yourself it ends up being more expensive than a welded framework since you're having to invest in a lot of hardware that can be fairly pricey, not to mention the aluminum in the first place. Here's a screenshot of the design I decided on:



In my buildouts (vans included) symmetry is very important to me so as you can see I've kept it symmetrical. We have a pretty large fridge/freezer (Iceco VL60) and it takes up to much room to put it against either of the side walls so it will live against the back wall of the bed. This should work fine for us as we usually like to do most of our cooking inside the drifter with the window/hatches open. Also it leaves the fridge/freezer sides accessible through the driver/passenger side respectively. I also wanted a little extra breathing room towards the rear while maintaining a good amount of storage in the bench seat so I angled the ends of the bench seats to provide a little extra width. This also allows you to not feel to crowded when crawling up on the tailgate to enter the camper.

So earlier this week welding commenced and I've made it as far as finishing off the two frames:



The plan is to sheet the outside of the frames with Dibond which should give it a nice clean look. I'll keep you all updated on the bench seat build along with the other aspects of the build that I will be facing soon including plumbing and electrical. I'm hoping to have it together enough to test out when we take our trip to Overland Expo PNW so I've got lots to do in a little time!

 

I like your plans of the welded aluminum frame over 80/20 and all the specialized and expensive hardware that may rattle loose off road.

Are you just going to bolt it to the cargo rails on the side and let gravity hold it down?

 

Sort of. The primary points are the rails, but the bench seats will also be bolted to each other via a short connecting wall that spans in front of the fridge. Also, I’m planning to tie into one of the bottom bolts on my bed stiffener you can see here. Still need to weld the bracket on for it.



I’m hoping this will maintain some relative ease of removal if I ever need to in the future.

 

I like it and wondering what the bracket design idea is. It seems that things twist and move in unexpected ways and flat stock being and end cap to share that bolt may break down the road... Ignore the sheet metal screw, the concept is the same holding the rear Drifter panel (tailgate replacement) to the bed:

 

I sure hope this means you have your personal camper now and not the loaner!

 

Im planning to weld an aluminum angle bracket on. It’s not a main point of support for the bench so I don’t really see it going through much stress and even if it does break I’d probably just do without.

 

Unfortunately not. Still waiting…

 

Love your build man! Do you have an IG?

 

My personal page is @leightonsjoren and my business page is @havenoverland although neither of them are very up to date haha.

 

Great idea and build out so far!

 

thanks!

 

I finally got around to ordering and installing my auxiliary battery system on Friday. I decided to go with an Enduro Power 100 ah LifePO4 battery paired with a Victron 30 amp charger. During our Baja trip I borrowed a 105 ah battery out of one of my van builds and used it with the same charger and for the most part it suited my needs fairly well without solar. I plan to assess my needs when I get my personal drifter installed and make a decision on what solar I need at that point.

As always, space is at a premium in builds like these so I'm always looking for unique ways to keep the larger utilities out of the way. I decided to install the battery and charger behind the rear passenger seat on the passenger side of the truck. Here's a photo of the install:



I did the anytime 400 watt modification on the truck's inverter and ran a small length of extension cord back from the inverter to the area behind the seat for the charger to plug into. Mathematically speaking the 400 watt inverter should be able to power a 33 amp charger, but in practice it doesn't. I've found that this charger typically charges at about 20 amps while plugged into the truck when driving. This is suitable for me for now, but I may consider a DC to DC charger (probably either Victron or Redarc) at a later time.

From there the setup is fairly straight forward. I ran cables from the battery to the midline of the truck where there's a passthrough in the floor pan. These cables then pass through a hole in the front passenger corner of the bed where I mounted my Blue Seas Systems fuse block.



From here I'll connect all my circuits in the drifter including lights, fan, fridge, heater, etc. For now I have no plans to install a larger inverter for auxiliary AC power as we just don't use AC power that much while on the road, but if our application changes I may consider installing an inverter behind the driver side rear passenger seat.

As you can see in the first photo I also installed the Victron smart battery monitor behind the rear seat. This is a huge upgrade over the setup I used in Baja as I like to monitor my power very closely and the smart bmv makes that very easy. For now I just have it's display tucked behind the seat, but when I get my personal drifter I'll run the cable back and install it in one of the rear pillars.

For those of you wondering I'd estimate the cost of this power setup to be around $1200 to $1300 before tax.

 

I made a mad rush last week to prep the truck and buildout far enough that I could give it a proper shakedown while camping for Overland Expo PNW weekend in Bend. Here's were the build ended up as we packed up and left Thursday afternoon:

After I finished welding the two bench seat frames I tackled the top lids and the ACM panel sheeting. Both of these processes were a little different that I was used to so I had to take my time to get it right, but I do love experimenting with new construction methods.

For the sides I cut the ACM panel to size on my table saw and ran a v-notch router on the back side to allow the sheet to make the bend around the two back corners. Then I contoured the back part to fit the contour of the tail end of the truck and attached both panels temporarily using painters tape.





After ensuring these fit as I wanted them to I tackled the tops. These are made of 1/2 baltic birch plywood and I plan to cover them with high pressure laminate. I cut the shape I wanted out of the tops for the lids and used the router to cut a rabbet around the edges. This will allow the lids to sit flush much like how Goose Gear does their lids. Here's one of the tops while in process.



And here's the buildout all put together for the shakedown trip to Overland Expo.



I added some temporary tabs to the lids as at that point I was thinking that I would add latches to the lids similar, also, to Goose Gear but after this trip I don't see them being necessary as I never once had a lid displace itself over a bumpy road.

To answer @JasonLee 's question earlier I did end up adding an aluminum bracket to the frame so that the frame could share a bolt with the bed stiffener and I think its worked out quite well. Here's a couple photos of how I welded it on and were it sits. The main purpose of attaching the bench to the stiffener bolt is mainly to keep the bottom of the bench from kicking out. Everything seems quite solid when things are bolted down this way.



I've already torn the whole build back out of the truck since I've been back from Expo. The frames are currently at my powder coater getting coated and I've already laminated the high pressure laminate on the tops of the lids, but I'll save this progress for another post.

 

Rad

 

Any updates? I finally got my camper and since I don't weld, am using 8020 t-slot aluminum. I finished the Luna fridge/freezer base and am starting on the "seating" next. The seat will have a 15 gallon water tank and pump under it. After that, I'll build the sink and drawer module.

 

Sweet! Do you have a build thread? Would love to see some photos of what you're doing. The buildout has been done for a little while here, but I haven't posted the final walk around. I'm about to head to Benicia to pick up my drifter and return the loaner. Once I have my own drifter on the truck and everything is organized after the trip I'll go ahead and post some final walk around photos. Oh and I'm also planning on adding my bed lift system to the truck as well so I'll be posting about that too.

 

Where's the final walk around pictures, please? Post it on Youtube?

 

Finally got my drifter installed and the loaner returned. I’m hoping to get out and take some photos soon. Been super gloomy here lately.