Improve Your Drifter's Bed Slide

I am really happy with my Vagabond Outdoors Drifter. @Iggy @Overlanerd and @tyfoon11 are producing a top notch product but anything can be modified/improved/personalized for each individuals needs.

For me, sliding the bed platform forward was always a pain. I'm not a young man anymore and using the strap to raise the forward end of the platform to lift it up onto the cabover platform so it could be slid forward bothered my arthritic shoulder.

An easy fix was to add some wedges so that the platform could slide up and onto the cabover without lifting it. My wedges are about 3-1/2" long and 1-1/4" high. They are made of some UHMW polyethylene that I had in my scap bin. The length isn't critical, anything from 2-4" would probably work fine. The material could be plastic or even wood.

There is a black plastic material that the platform slides on and some of that needs to be trimmed for the wedges. I cut it back the same length as my wedges are long. I removed the leftover adhesive and cleaned the aluminum surface. Then I used some construction adhesive to glue the wedges in place.

Now I can simply push the platform forward and it slides right up on top of the cabover portion. No more lifting! I actually removed the strap because it isn't needed anymore. This might seem trivial, but if you are collapsing the bed every day on a week or longer trip, this just makes it that much easier.

A few pics, with the bed collapsed, zooming in on a wedge:






Another little thing I did to help the platform slide easier was to replace the panhead screws in the cabover area with flathead countersunk screws. When the platform slid over the panhead screws it would catch on every one. Not a big deal, but it is much smoother this way.

Factory screw:


Replacement screw:

 

Nice mod, that's a great idea!

 

Which screws did you use Jerry?

 

I used the same size and length in a flathead sheet metal screw. Stainless steel, of course!

Sorry I don't remember the size, maybe #6 x 3/4"L. Maybe #8. ?

 

Awesome! Great work.

 

Great idea.

Does the overall length of the wedge now mean there's a gap between the bed platform section of a corresponding size? Or does the moving section of platform have a cut edge to accommodate the wedge taking up space in the channel?

 

Yes, there is now a gap the same length as the wedge.

I'm 6'1" tall and with the bed pushed up tight(pre-wedge), when sleeping on my back my toes would touch the roof. I have always pulled the platform and mattress back 4-6" to give the foot end a little extra height. The gap isn't even noticeable when lying in bed. There's no sag as your hips are still supported by the platform. It's just my upper thighs that are over the gap.

 

I borrowed your idea and made a few modifications. I couldn’t find any screws that would countersink within the existing screw holes. Instead, I reused the existing screws some scrap plywood to allow countersinking. I also tacked on a "track" of sorts to keep the platform in line and also keep the tube ends from getting caught on the aluminum angle and pulling the plastic plugs out. This works really well and makes it a bit easier to pull back down into the extended position without worrying about dropping it out of the upper track.

I'm not a huge fan of the platform design with the open tube ends covered with plugs.