Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Made a little more progress on the heater install. Got the heater mounted using an L bracket also insulated the cubby and made two thruholes for the exhaust and intake tubes. Plan tomorrow is to mock up the exhaust line and install the muffler. Progress is slow as i can only put in a couple of hours after work each day.

 

Wait a minute... do you not have a front window?

 

I feel like I should put some insulation down for under my heater but I’m being lazy lol. Where are you running the exhaust and intake out?

 

I made two holes in the cubby on the left. Haven't figured out where to mount the muffler yet.The insulation is also there to reduce noise as i used a sound deadning material that is rated for hot spaces like under the hood.

 

No window, special order!

 

Will copy your insulation idea! I am mounting my muffler off the rear frame, but I’m running mine out the rear bed cubby!

 

I wonder if an exhaust shop could spot weld an exhaust hanger off the muffler and an extra one onto your frame and you can connect with a rubber isolator...

 

I'm not sure how much of an issue it will turn out to be since galvanic corrosion is an electrochemical process, but you may want to remove that handle and insert nylon washers in between the stainless steel handle and the uncoated 5052 Aluminum top. You'll likely see this start forming when moisture/rain collects at the bottom of the handle that acts as the electrolyte.

On the front of the Drifter, the stainless steel hinges are isolated from the aluminum sheet with some type of VHB tape or gasket to avoid this.

 

Probably, but I can just self tap it or use an existing hole for free. Did that window piece get to your house?

 

It did, thank you! Sorry, I forgot to let you know. #11 is just like a brand new Drifter now.

For others wondering what we're talking about, #11 initially came with a different rear window flap/seal interface which worked great on my 1st gen, but not as good on my 2nd gen. I now have the updated piece that fits better on the 2nd gen. The original was going to prevent me from installing my KBVoodoo tailgate reinforcement piece.

This is one of the very few items that Vagabond has changed since the first production model, because they did their R&D before releasing the product to customers.

 

What bike is that?

 

IBIS Ripmo2

 

Made some more progress today on the heater install. The exhaust line was tricky as hell being wrapped in fiberglass, my face is itching bad and glass dust is everywhere.



Here is what the tubes look like running to the cubby:



The muffler was mounted to the frame and the exhaust line goes out to the back:

 

Almost done with the project! Decided to leave the power on for tomorrow while I have not blown anything up. The tank is installed, got plumbing done, the pump is in, thermostat is installed, air duct is done, and the wiring is routed.

 

Well the Espar heater started up on first try and been going for about 2 hours. So far everything seems to be working and the air coming out of the vent is hot enough where you cant keep your hand in front of it very long. The exhaust pipe i bought had oils on it, probably from manufacturing so the pipe has been outgassing pretty heavily. Also I read that the fiberglass wrap outgasses while it cures when hot. So I have been running the heater full blast and running a shop fan to evacuate the fumes.

Edit: I ended up running the heater for 6 hours yesterday and the outgassing was pretty much gone. Today I will do another startup to see if the exhast tube smokes. Since I have a trip planned next weekend I want burn this thing in through the week so that i can use it while camping. In 6 hours the tank was pretty low so running full blast the heater will use 1.5gal in 7 hours. It will be interesting to see how much fuel it uses during normal operation.

 

Did a double take for a second. The shadow made it look like your exhaust was kinked.

 

This pipe is very robust, Im kind of unhappy with it because of how hard it was to route. Also the oil burn off is ongoing, fired it up for two hours yesterday and it didnt smoke but I could still smell it, today will be day 3 of burn in.

 

i mean your heater is used to heat the air inside the truck, how're exhaust gasses outside the truck a concern?

 

I am not talking about the exhaust gas, the concern is with offgassing from the pipe itself which runs inside for about 4ft before exiting through a feedthru.

 

That kind of stuff drives me nuts as well. Very much not a fan of vapors, chemical smells, or what have you. Although for some reason I kind of like the smell of my '72 Chevy idling in the driveway...