The Drifter - Specs and FAQ

Done with cabinets. I’ll redo the side panels, covers, counter, and more stuff later on...gives me something to look forward to!

Oh and that blue... Maybe solid a darker solid blue on ABS, but I’ll never do that again.

Don’t mind the trim tape and on the cabinet doors. Temporary setup as I’m building something else to hide the boxes completely.

The top picture is what it looks like - Took these at night

 

Does anyone know if VO HQ is open on Saturdays?
Got my hands on a used Drifter and been waiting for a reply to see if they can help transfer it to my truck next Saturday, but no email response all week. Saturday is the only day that works for the seller so REALLY hoping to make this work.

 

If you can't get a hold of Vagabond, you can do the transfer pretty easily with 5 or 6 people. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to replace the bulb seal. You could always get it transferred to your truck and then find a time that Vagabond is available to bring it back in.

 

Also you can go to a camper shell place and have them swap it. I used 2x 4x4s for mine. $50 or something. New bulb seal when it’s in the air, and make sure you seal up your whole bed

 

Great beta thanks guys!

 

@socalexpeditions Lookin' good!

 

1. The limiting factor, Nomad or no, off road will be your rear suspension up travel. How fast you want to go tells you how much you need to spend to avoid things like bending the frame I ran my '19 totally stock with the Nomad installed for ~6k miles. On the road the truck barely noticed the camper but off road the truck bottomed out pretty quickly and had some bad wheel hop (common on F-150s with stock springs). In the rear I currently run Deaver HD3, 2nd gen Raptor stock rear shocks and SVC air bump kit w/ Fox 2.0 IFPs. Overall the setup works well. The key to that being the safety net the SVC air bump kit provides.
2. Nope, at some point I'll measure
3. I told my partner I was effectively asked if I knew the MPG of the truck at 65mph, she responded by laughing and saying I'd have no way of knowing that. I truly no idea what the truck gets at 65mph over any distance. Only time I go below 85 is when I'm towing a trailer. The truck gets 10mpg anywhere past 85, regardless of E85 or 91/93, flooring it going over a 10k' pass, flat at sea level. I can tell you the truck lost .5mpg at 100mph over 100 miles distance after the lift and 35s. The truck in its current configuration, full weight, is perfectly happy to sit on the speed limiter at 106mph while getting 10mpg in Mexico on a closed course.
4. Will measure when I grab the overall height
5. We are still working that out. So far we've done ~20 nights with just putting a piece of plywood on top of home depot packers for my sons sleeping platform and it's worked more than well enough. I am going full heigh cabinets on the passenger side for storing allofthethings, driver side will be half height with a sleeping platform top and storage below.
6. Yup. First Drifter only had one door. Quite happy with having two.
7. Another work in progress. Ultimately it will have a house battery in the front passenger side of the bed connected to the solar setup (Nomad is wired currently) etc.

Overall I've been really happy with the F-150 and how well the Nomad works with it. I loved my supercharged 2nd gen Taco but with my lady, 2 kids, a 75lb pit (sometimes) and me trying to spend 5+ nights out, the extra interior and camper space as well as load and fuel capacity go a long way. I wouldn't be surprised if more TWers step up in size to them as their families grow.

 

Bent frame you say?....

 

Shoulda gone with blown up rear axle...

 

Well my wait is complete.

Let me know if anybody needs measurements. I was surprised the roof is 114”x54” now I know why the L track looks short. Most L track maxes out at 8’ with a few special order options to 100”

I have the Martyn off-road roof rack.
Here is the trimming that I did.

 

@SaphiraTaco

What did your roof gutters look on the double cab when you removed the rubber strip? I am trying to figure out how to install a rack on my 2nd gen Access Cab. This is what I see when I remove the rubber strip. I don’t see any bosses to screw the rack into. Some say they don’t exist on the Access Cab

 

There is tape over the holes. Then the tape is painted over. I can see the first boss about 1/2" behind the plastic clip at the bottom of your photo. As for the rest on the access cab, I'm not sure.

 

welcome to the gray drifter club

also, i just enabled signatures for TW and was reminded of my quote in your signature lol

 

For anyone still in the decision process on a Drifter - or folks interested in a minimalist buildout - I made a little camper rundown video you might enjoy. I also have a Tacoma build video if you're curious about my rig. Here's the Drifter video, you can find other vids on my YouTube channel.

 

Here is the only install pic. I chose to not remove all the tape. I think I just used an X-Acto blade to open the area where the bolt drop in. FYI I needed to get a shorter bolt for two of my mounting locations.

 

Some times I’m on TW late at night with beer and just need to laugh. What more funny is my snorkel is still in a box. Mod speed

 

Awesome! I love seeing Drifter videos! Just subscribed to you

 

They don't exist on the access cab since there's no factory option for a roof rack for the tacoma in this configuration. You have to drill and install your own nutserts.

 

Not sure what rack you are trying to install but the Sherpa rack(Animas model) I installed only uses those front set of holes. I have a DCSB so the camper overhang is probably different but just some food for thought.