The Drifter - Specs and FAQ

What color is it?

 

It looks a la natural.

 

Hey Guys,

Question - When you get to wherever your going (the destination) in your drifter - What do you do ? make food ? practice photography ? go for hikes ? take in the big big sky ?

It must certainly help with setting up a short-term base camp for doing other activities, but what do you end up doing ? and what has it enabled you to do which you couldn't accomplish without it ?

 

I hike. I also read until the sunsets sometimes. Depending on the location, I swim. Sometimes I geek out on bugs. In general, I just try and enjoy what Mother Nature dishes out.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6ZfAfjFfek/?igshid=1i80kny1hmyqj

 

Great to meet you guys, welcome to the family!

 

To use your words. The main things I can accomplish is getting to camp later or having a shelter in bad weather. On long road trips, that means I don't have to worry about getting to camp late because my bed is ready in under a minute. On stormy days backcountry skiing, that means I can pop the wedge and have a dry and warm place to enjoy a beer and snack at before driving home. The biggest advantage to me though is that it encourages us to go camping when the weather is iffy because we know we have a nice shelter. In my experience, the most beautiful days in the wilderness occur when the weather is iffy.

 

I'm always lurking in this thread as a Drifter is something we really really want, figured I'd post up because there's a lot of talk about swing out rear bumpers, particular those that swing from the driver side and latch on the passenger and who makes them.

We recently received or rear bumper from C4 Fabrication with a driver side swing specifically because we wanted the awning on the passenger side and not have to walk around the swing when it is open. Caleb at C4 told me it's the only one he's made with the swing on the driver side. However it is an option on the site, nothing custom. It does swing out to 90° and also has an additional stop just beyond that as well. Forgive the exhaust length and a few other small details, I'm not quite finished with the full install.

 

I'll chime in on the swing-out and awning chatter. We are trying to keep things light-ish and somewhat modular, so we went with a RigD swing. No, it's not a full bumper and yes, it's more expensive than the RackAttach or Wilco, but it gives us the option to add our 1Up bike rack and also carry a spare (not necessary for our 33") , FR table and rotopax. Plus, we can remove it when we don't need it. We're trying to avoid the extra weight of front and rear bumpers.

That leads us to awning(s). I'm a big fan of some of the cheaper 180 degree awnings. I've setup our old ARB-style 6' awning about 20-30 times and had it dialed in, but my wife never felt confident deploying it on her own. We owned a big Fiamma F45 on our van and it was pretty sketchy deploying it in anything more than a gentle breeze. It was a waste of money. About to get our Drifter (family of 4) and looking at a 270 degree awning on the driver-side (to work with the passenger swing-out), but are torn with whether or not to run a 180 degree awning with two sets of the Smart Touring System quick release awning brackets. Run one awning on one side and have the ability to switch sides or just run an Alu-Cab 270 awning off the driver side?

 

I have spoken with Phil about it (rack). He's thinking we can work it out using L-track but won't be able to put the little covers on the mounts when not in use. Not a deal breaker for me. Yup Yakima bars do have a bit of height, especially with the box.
Thanks for the response.

 

IMO if you're trying to keep things "light-ish" you don't need an awning. If the weather gets bad, you go inside the camper. If it's hot and sunny, hang out on the shady side of the truck.

We had an ARB on our van and my buddy had an Alu-Cab on his truck. He would deploy that awning all the time because it only took 15 seconds to setup and break down. I would only ever deploy the ARB when we were staying in one place for a while and it was really sunny or rainy. We sold the ARB with the van and decided it was an Alu-Cab or nothing, though the small ARB off the back does also seem appealing now.

 

Thanks for your input. I agree if we do end up adding the weight of an awning it'll be either 270 or just one small ARB awning off the rear. I like that the ARB awning bags are square on the ends and not just a pinched seam like the Front Runners.

 

Interesting to hear from someone with your expertise!

 

Ha, yes I'm a bit particular when it comes to sewn goods.

For those of you who have mounted Alu-Cab 270 awnings or an ARB for that matter. Do you need specific awning brackets from the awning manufacturer or is that something that VO can supply?

 

I think VO has specific brackets for the 270 dance.

 

Can confirm.

 

Does anybody know if folks have been successful in mounting a Kinsmen Hardware 270 awning on a VO?

 

I was also interested in the Kinsmen. Matthew at Kinsmen said that they have not made an awning bracket specifically for the Drifter, but he thought VO might already have something in the works. I'd check with Phil.

 

For the traditional bag awning off the back or side, no special hardware is needed. For my awning off the back, I drilled four holes and bolted the awning directly to the camper (I did use an aluminum backing plate although I don’t know if it is necessary).

 

Thanks. I had already emailed the owner and will let everyone know his response if anything has changed.