Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Yeah they provide the Exped Megamat standard with each camper since many people seemed to swap out stock mattresses from other brands campers for the Exped. I love mine, once you figure out the right air pressure it's as nice as my full size mattress at home. SP is a Hest dealer now too so they might offer their mattresses as an option at some point in the future too.

Vagabond was the camper I was interested a few years back but had a long lead time as did GFC. I jumped on an SP shortly after they started up. Missed the $7k but got in for not much more and have been pretty happy. And definitely happy to not have to pay $14k for it : )

Awesome to see BAMF pick up the pieces once again and not only make these campers but help out the customers who were left hanging by previous owner.

 

My Vagabond, along with some others from the last batch Phil was a part of, came with the ExPeds due to a “mattress shortage”.

I loved it for sleeping, probably the best mattress I had in all of my campers, but was a pain in the bitch with the two piece sliding platform…another reason that a bed on gas struts should be considered IMO.

 

If the ExPeds are a better option I'll be looking into those as well. I'm all about comfort when it comes to camping it's the only time I can sleep in past 5am.

 

Idk if they are the best option, some people are still gonna prefer the memory foam style version better, but I haven’t seen many negative reviews and would be perfect for a bed that is on gas struts as they fit the previous bed width damn near perfect.

They also don’t harden up when it’s cold out like some of the more popular memory foam style ones. I haven’t experienced Hest, due to their ridiculous price tag, but they are also super popular

 

Funny, when I picked up my sliders at BAMF almost 6 years ago, I decided to drive around Benicia and check it out since I hadn’t been there since I was a kid, maybe a field trip to the old capital? and I saw one of the early pre-production Drifters on a white Taco parked by the side of the road. A few years later I saw one up close here in Santa Cruz at Strawfoot, when Garrett was making some window covers. I really liked what I saw but it wasn’t really what I needed. If the quality and service is anything like what I got with my one BAMF purchase, I hope to see a lot more Drifters with happy owners on the roads soon.

 

Hmm. SP has a similar two piece sliding platform. I just let a bit of air out of the Exped, slide the platform forward and then bend the Exped over in the middle and jam it into the wedge. Stuff pillows on top and it doesn't move. Of course you can't hang out on the overhang like MJ mentioned but it never seemed difficult to me to get it out of the way.

 

Yeah, my ExPed on the drifter was a bit more finicky….either way just imagine instead of doing all of the letting air out and bending mattress bullshit you could just push the bed up and out of the way


All sassy-ness aside, I totally understand the functionality of having the overhang area to hang out in. When I had my FWC I had it basically permanently half out. I’m just lobbying for it to be at least an option since it was literally the only feature that my Treehouse has that vagabond was missing lol

 

I have three mattresses:

• stock (sucks and lives in the basement)
• Exped Megamat duo Lw+ - good for all temps and super cold. A bit too wide for the current C shaped channel it sits in with sheets to easily fold up, but is doable
• Hest - great down to about 20 deg. I don’t have a heater in my drifter and at and below these temps, I feel the cold coming through the mattress. I also just have a sheet on top and a backpacking 20* sleeping bag, so I could probably fix this. The heat is easy to fold over and no worries about puncturing it like the Exped

 

Rain gutters would be nice to have.

I use an ex-ped inflatable and loved it until it leaked air 1 week into a 2.5 week trip. Luckily the next couple days landed us in Grand Junction and I went to REI to swap out. If I did it again I may lean towards hest...

 

I’ve had air leak issues with both my expeds. The original one Phil gave me out of his drifter, and the replacement. I like it, but yea agree it’s a bit too wide for the drifter. Using a hest now and there are pros and cons. Easier to setup and the little pockets are nice, but I cant store bedding up there. I’ve added an anti-condensation mat which doesn’t help that problem, but I feel it’s necessary with that foam. Condensation occurs on the overhang quite often from what I’ve noticed. I run a diesel heater now and I still wake up with condensation (sometimes frozen on the overhang section). Normally requires flipping the mattress and running the heater for a little dry it out.

 

That's one big plus to the inflatables, I have everything up there since I use a Milwaukee mini blower to inflate and deflate. What condensation mat are you using?

 

How do these gutters work for you? I’ve been planing a similar project.

@JLee any awning brackets in the parts pile? I made my own but the official ones are way nicer. I’ll definitely pimp the new logo too!

 

Here’s a link to the sketch up file that @Haven Overland shared with me on a different thread for the lift up bed system he made.
https://app.sketchup.com/share/tc/n...VVgaNmnWk88BHmkR7LRWt5xQ33dmPNadsV&source=web

 

Sounds like I’m one of the few who had no problem with the original mattress. Go figure

 

Do you have a picture? I'm sure they just bought some off the shelf brackets. I don't remember cutting any for them in the past.

 

Just having the insulation will be important for me. Insulation on the roof/ sides/ overhang was one of the things that set the Drifter apart from the zillion other wedges available now. It sounds like the new iteration might not have it, which I really hope Jerry reconsiders.

I will echo having an option for awning mounts would be clutch ( I asked for em on mine... VO never responded at that point). Same with L track option for the side. Both would be a pain to install after the fact ourselves and be awesome to have.

As for bed-raising struts... I dunno, man. I'm for simplicity and less things to break.

 

Insulation will be an option we don't have costs for that yet and I didn't like the way VB did theirs so were starting from scratch on that aspect. When I do have a insulation option it will be available to all not just new orders.

Awning mounts I could whip up very quickly. But really you would be drilling holes in the top to attach them so why not just drill four holes and mount the awning right to the side of the camper?

 

https://www.tochta.com/product/hypur-flo-moisture-protection/

Had them cut it to the size of the hest mattress. I think it ran me about $130…After living in the drifter for the past 9 months on the daily, inflating the exped got old real quick.

 

To clarify, I simply meant the insulation that was attached to Drifter itself (on the roof and sides), but future options for tent insulation will be amazing too. Not sure which you were thinking of updating.

-- Re: awning brackets, I believe the ones VO used were Smart Touring Systems (STS) Quick-release brackets, mounted to the side/overhang. Being able to remove when just daily driving and/or if the awning is damaged is appealing to me. I'd only really be mounting a wee 6' awning in all likelyhood.