Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

We haven’t done it yet. Everyone usually comes with them installed. I’ll let @Overlanerd chime in about logistics and price if we do it.

 

Just to be clear....are you saying that you would recommend removing the plastic bed caps on a second gen due to their thickness?

 

The thickness is not an issue. The plastic bed caps are not solid underneath. Because of this, it makes it very difficult to seal the bottom up. It’s not required at all, but if you are looking to seal your bed completely, one of the weakest links for dust and water intrusion are the plastic bed camps.

This has nothing do do with the camper, but the Tacoma beds are notorious for allowing water and dust in.

 

Has anyone built a system that can be easily removed if they need full access to the bed of the truck? I really like the look of the goose gear system, but I'm not sure it is designed to uninstalled and reinstalled.

 

For reference. I've now done 2 weeks of heavy-ass rain (In one case high winds and 2 inches of rain in a day) with the drifter on a 3rd gen long bed with stock caps and no cap sealing underneath. After a brief repositioning of the drifter and re-tighten, i've had no water intrusion from the bed cap/drifter connection. Other spots are a different issue.

 

What other spots?
I haven’t had any water and very minute dust intrusion after long multi-day dusty runs. Maybe we can help?

 

I would also like to know which other spots. My primary interest and main deciding factor for leaving GFC is water intrusion...

 

“But...but.....water inside a camper is no big deal and doesn’t bother me”
-every gfc owner

 

I dunno, as much as I hope my Drifter is water tight, I'm anticipating the eventuality that it, or other parts of my truck bed, might not be 1000% waterproof 15 years down the road, and the level of effort or expense to remedy is more than I might want to address. A false floor design in the truck bed is simple and inexpensive insurance against not having to worry too much about this, and that is the route I am considering in my planning.

But yeah, I was turned off by the GFC's "whole thing opens up" design, which to me just screams water intrusion all the way around.

 

Yes. I couldn’t agree more.

As for the truck bed and rails, it really not that bad to get things well sealed. Some time with sealant, aluminum tape and some well placed butyl makes a huge difference. I put sealed off the cubbies and sealed them which made a huge difference with dust. Also a bottom tailgate seal made a world of difference.
Similar to this

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KLQBHFW/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_i_797gCb5JFM4CH

Just a couple ideas that helped for me.

 

#LOLBED

 

I’m going to drop my order in soon but have a couple questions.

What mods do I need to do BEFORE installing my Drifter?

Suspension upgrade in rear or front/rear both?

What has been the consensus for 3rd gen bed caps. Replace them with a fabricated metal cover (KB VooDoo style) or seal them with something?

I have a stock 2018 double cab long bed and I’m building it out to be a camping vehicle for short trips 5-7 days with some longer ones mixed in (weeks at a time). I never plan on getting armor, lifting my truck, or getting bigger tires. What I plan to do most likely won’t necessitate all of those mods. I understand that plans may change in the future, but for now I’m not planning on any of those mods.

My biggest concern is adjusting the suspension to handle the Drifter + camping gear weight. And sealing it to get water resistance. Please recommend any other mods that were helpful before install of your Drifter.

Edit: I will have bed stiffeners installed prior to Drifter install as well.

 

No off the shelf options that we've seen. Most people seem to create their own. Seems like a potential product that would be useful across several types of wedge campers. Light, removable, and modular (long plank along one side turns into a table outdoors?) would be super cool.

 

Did you have a gfc?

 

are you going to be desert bombing?

 

OR4x4,

Welcome to the Vagabond family! We will be picking ours up soon and have (1) put in bed stiffeners, (2) put on kb voodoo rail caps on our 2nd gen - not sure what 3rd gen folks are doing re: this, (3) added an auxiliary battery (4) changed out tires to all terrain, winter rated heavier tires and (5) have our suspension scheduled (OME kit with Hilux leaf springs).

I think we are in the minority using OME and Hilux. Most seem to use Deavers. We are going this route because the cost is less, the Hilux leaf springs can hold up to 1200 lbs (ample for us), it is what our overland shop recommended, and we spent our $$ on other items including the frontrunner windoors and an alucab awning.

 

For suspension, I just added some Sumo Springs soon after install of the Drifter as a temporary measure. Though I'm planning to do Deavers and full suspension when I have a little better sense of my final configuration weight. For the use you're describing, and depending on how much you're looking to spend, you could probably get away with just Sumos or Superbumps or whatever, if you wanted.


Sealing-wise, mine is sitting on stock caps, and my sealing efforts have worked out pretty well so far. As far as I remember -

I removed my bed caps and liberally applied silicone underneath, towards the interior edge of the rails. You also have to make sure you look up from underneath the rails while inside the bed, as there are several spots under there that need to be sealed. Towards the back of the bed, there are some larger holes under the rail that I taped up, and then filled inside the hole with silicone where possible.

Then I removed the tube at the front of the bed that levels up with the rails, ran a bead along the underside where it mates up with the bed, and bolted it back in.

Next are the giant gaps between that tube and the bedrails in the front corners. I just used some painter's tape to close in those gaps underneath/front/back and filled it in completely with silicone. I made a point to try and taper the top of the silicone a bit to give a smooth transition from the slightly higher level of the tube down to the rails. Gave it a few days to harden before removing the painter's tape since the silicone is so thick there.

There's a small gap between the composite bed and the metal structure at the rear corners (where you bolt in bed stiffeners). I ran a bead of silicone down that gap from top to bottom, and then towards the tailgate. Hard to describe, but you should see what I mean if you look.

Lastly with the silicone, I sealed up all the little drain holes in the bed.

I used this tailgate seal, as I just didn't want one that spanned the gap between tailgate and bed, but I hear good things about those too.

$28 ESI Ultimate Tailgate Seal with Taper Seal 10ft for use with Truck Caps and Tonneau Covers

https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Tai...&qid=1546495448&sr=8-4&keywords=tailgate+seal

Finally, I just pulled the cubbies out and taped up the holes where possible. I have a couple ideas of how to make better use of the cubby spaces in the future, so I didn't go crazy there.

 

I had one, I sold the reservation. Excited to be joining the Vagabond family soon.

 

Thanks for the detailed reply! It sounds like the bed caps work great for the 3rd gen. I’ll be looking on sealing those. I wish KB VooDoo or SOMEONE made bed caps for a third gen LONG bed. I haven’t found a single option. I like the flat metal look better.