Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

So what is your plan for that extrusion as far as mounting your awning?

 

Awning is going on the left side.

I plan to mount my waterport for a shower to the extrusion, but I'd like to also be able to remove it and not sorry about holes as well as have some flexibility in the future.

 

(V1 Drifter prototype here - not the same as current production model)

I’m a bit behind with this project. Literally should have been one of the first things I did to the truck but hey...suspension, tires, roof rack, regear, misc. shit, near full-time adventuring, and of course V1 came along!!!

So here it is...camper completely wired for multiple 12v, high-power usb, AGM battery, sPod Bantam and solar! It’s capable of running the Dometic fridge 24/7 and all other electronics while the solar panel trickle charges the battery. I’ll be adding a water pump later as well.

sPod Touchscreen capability for those times I’m perched in the popup and want to have my exterior lighting on in an instant! This was a big consideration in choosing components (aka sacrificing beer money).


Finish work on all of the paneling is up next.


The charge controller is soon to have a permanent home mounted in the camper buildout.


I opted out of a dual battery system for a few reasons:
1. Cheaper than buying two batteries ($380 each!)
2. 1 x AGM was plenty to meet my power needs
3. Auxiliary jump box will take care of the need for a backup house battery
4. Added 40 lbs of weight to the front end vs. 120 lbs.
5. Saved $$ in parts, wiring, labor, etc.
6. Less crap to deal with/less chance to malfunction





Added an easy quick disconnect should anything go awry or the need to separate the camper from the truck come up.
Totally unintentional but a good reminder from @danneskjold


I have a couple of things to wrap up with the electrical before I can really start building the bed storage framing. It’s taking a lot longer than I ever thought I’d need but I’m learning quickly that doing it once and doing it right are essential in this build.

 

What's the advantage of the sPod Bantam over normal sPod SE?

 

I believe footprint is the only difference as sPod just updated their firmware. They are on the cusp of having updating capabilities for both SE and Bantam alike.

 

Being able to control it from the camper sounds pretty cool. Not being able to do that is why I will have my lights wired in to switches in the camper.

 

Oh and I think you can add something like up to 4 Bantams (32 ports) where SE (8 ports) is it.
With that many Bantams you could take over the world!

 

Just FYI
You have been able to daisy chain the SE for a few years.
SE also supports upto 4 units for a total of 32 circuits



Can't really go wrong with either one.

 

@danneskjold we there ya go then...I suppose just smaller footprint now that they have updated the app for SE users too.

 

Been busy the last couple days.

Got my ARB awning mounted up yesterday.

Finally got the Maxtrax mounted on the side...sorta. The stock Maxtrax mounting pins have a ridiculously long bolt that I had cut down, but not enough. Also - one of the nuts somehow got seized up already and I can't get it tightened or off.Are people using the stock Maxtrax pins or something else? These things are garbage.
The Maxtrax are also impacting the door handles so will probably have to redo the whole thing.

I'm considering moving my light to the right side of the windoor so it's not blocked by the Maxtrax.

Took @OutbackHack suggestion about Onlinemetals.com and also bought some 3 inch rounded aluminum and mounted it to the extrusion to mount my waterport. A normal tie down strap wasn't strong enough so I have a ratchet straps up there now - any ideas on something better? I wish they made pipe clamps big enough.

 

Please contact us (ussales@maxtrax.com.au)
Include as many details as you can on the issue. We'll take a look and figure out what went wrong with your mounting pins.

MAXTRAX
https://us.maxtrax.com.au

 

Have you seen hose clamps large enough? Probably need 24 inches.

 

24”’s? Are you sure about that?

 

Cast your net wider my friend...

https://m.uline.com/h5/r/www.uline....-Ties-and-Tools/Stainless-Steel-Cable-Ties-27

 

Well, 4x6...

It's a bit under 24 but I need a bit of excess tail.

I ended up finding a "make a clamp" kit on Amazon I'm going to try.

 

If you are having clearance issues for your maxtrax mounts you could also do a couple clean bends on the alu flat bar to position it further away from the shell.

 

I didn't order the windoor, there was a mix-up with my order and my side got cut for one accidentally so I ended up with a free windoor. Original order had only the windoor on the driver side.

 

Dammit Jason! It was my fault. We have the process down now and stuff like this won’t happen again...

 

Making some progress on the interior.





Don't mind the duct tape - just test fitting...