The Drifter - Specs and FAQ

Uncanny

 

Exactly. I am The Local Pestcontrol Guy...

 

Need a cape


The Exterminator



in my best Arnie impersonation

 

Does anyone know if VO been able to operate their business? I saw on IG that GooseGear has stopped production.

 

I've been waiting on a "8-12 week" DeMello bumper for 17 weeks. Looks like that might not happen for a long while yet, now. Not sure about VO, but as I understand it California companies must be classified as "essential" in order to stay in operation. Don't know whether VO, DeMello, or other manufacturing companies in the recreational space are classified as essential.

 

This.

I don’t think I can handle anymore delays. I’m over 1 year already and no confirmation on pick up.

 

They're essential for our sanity, especially now!

 

I guess the VO guys or Anderson can answer. But I would say auto repair shops can remain open. A local off road supplier shop local to me in SoCal is using this "exemption" to remain open.

 

All the offroad shops are still operational around me in Highland, Redlands, Yucaipa. I'm sure Vo is still going strong.

 

I work in medical lab testing. I'm heavily involved in COVID-19 testing and interact with ER staff and public health experts on a daily basis...

In my opinion, no auto shop should be open to the public right now. I could understand having minimal staff to handle broken down cars, but anything "elective" is unnecessary and irresponsible.

Now the VO guys are a bit different since the bulk of their work is just 5(?) guys in a shop with plenty of room to spread out. Deliveries are less than ideal though. The actual install could probably be done without too much risk, but the bigger issue to me is the distances some people have to drive to get their drifter. The risk of carrying the virus to other parts of the country, especially small towns, is not worth it.

Not trying to tell anyone what they should do or not do, just spreading some information as someone directly involved in handling this pandemic.

 

And not to mention, if their suppliers start closing up shop, then there is little the VO guys can do, as sad as that realization is. It just trickles down.

 

I can wait as long as this shit takes to get my camper as long as it means my friends are healthy and safe.
That’s the only thing that really matters in times like this.

Does it suck that our campers may be delayed? Yes.
But it would definitely suck more to see one of the VO crew, who are all good friends of mine, get sick and have to deal with what many people are out there dealing with right now

Stay safe people.

 

This.

 

I second This ^^^

I live in very close proximity to VO HQ but I haven’t been in over a week. I am sheltering in place when I am not out working( my company provides an “Essential Service”) and I have my customers notified that I will only be responding to emergencies or prearranged appointments that were scheduled before this all came crashing down on our heads.

I can say that I am making forward progress with the design process for the 3rd gen antenna cover.

 

We are still open, but operating at about 80% capacity. While we fall under "essential" some of our suppliers do not and also some are just choosing to be safe and stay home. We can't fault them for that but it's put a huge kink in our already strained supply system. We are fulfilling orders daily and catching up on everything we can. Little things that normally wouldn't slow us down right now are but we are pushing forward as best we can. I don't recognize your name in our system but shoot me an e-mail jason@demello-offroad.com and I can get you a better answer.

I know right now the major held up products are aluminum, we just got a shipment of aluminum products and it's not all that we had hope to get on this one but we are doing our best to full fill what we have.

 

Hey Jason, didn't mean to sound snarky at all - I completely understand that this COVID-19 situation is unprecedented and I fully expect things to be abnormal for a long, long time. (I literally just finished emailing all my current customers with pending orders with an update since we got shut down as a non-essential business this morning by the state government.) I was just giving my analogous situation to perhaps shed light on the situation for VO's pending customers. Happily I already have my Drifter and I'm just spending the time tinkering in the garage, building it out - and putting in a big garden in the back yard.

I already emailed Heidi, but I'll email you as well - maybe she's not working with all this happening.

 

We are making progress, in a limited capacity. We are all carefully monitoring the rapidly changing circumstances, following guidelines from the CDC, county and state mandates, and health authorities.

Visits are currently not allowed, and we are unsure about pickups until the state and county orders are lifted.

For the past few months we managed to stock up on critical long- lead items, prior to the state order, so we are poised to handle any supplier delays. Once the order is lifted, we’ll be working at full capacity.

We have to balance the safety of our customers and employees, the growth of the business, and our responsibility to society. We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding in this situation our world is facing right now. We’ll come out of this stronger.

 

Hey Phil, I emailed the shop but you might be able to answer my question here. Are you guys selling the relentless bedside caps for short bed second gens?

 

No worries, she is here but on a more limited schedule. She's been trying to update everyone but everytime she gets done with a group, we find someone else that's not been updated yet.

 

Thank you. It is extremely upsetting that people originating from shelter-in-place counties / states are still traveling. (I would argue that the entire country should have been on shelter-in-place weeks ago, but that's another discussion entirely) Even if you use hand sanitizer at the gas pump and bring your own food, who knows if you have a blow-out and need to work with a local shop, or decide to stop in and get a sandwich from Subway. It's incredibly selfish and dangerous. Stay at home people, this is serious.

I got my Nomad about 3 days before my state was put on shelter-in-place. Believe me, I am itching to take it out on its maiden voyage, but I don't want to spread this virus if I have it. I have friends who are going on weekend camping trips, and there are floods of tourists ignoring their shelter-in-place order to come up to the "safety" of my tiny little resort town, originating from the mega Covid hot-spot that is the California bay area. It's insane how selfish these people are. When this thing hits the exponential growth part of the curve, I think the locals are going to start torching the lexuses and teslas.