The Drifter - Specs and FAQ

Is that a cabana I see?

 

The Frontrunner window is no joke. It looks like belongs on an armored car. Super nice like all FR stuff, and totally in line with the build quality of Drifters.

Legit brick shit house. 10/10

 

Agreed!

 

So just spent the last 5 nights in the drifter and think i can give a good solid review on it todate and areas it needs to be improved.

Drifter setup
-taco longbed
-electrical panels with 12v/usb’s. They built Me the wring panel and are sending meThis.
-two front runner doors
-insulation kit
-fan
-ltrack On the roof (in hind site i’d go without).

Pro’s

• First time i’ve been comfy camping in a long time
• Frontrunner doors are amazing just get them
• Mattress is comfy and waterproof. Damn pup decided i wasnt moving fast enough and christened the drifter with her pee on night one. I was literally putting on my pants. Oh well it cleaned up real easy
• Extremely well built, zero leaks unlike the competitior who appears to be having issues with leaks, rust and latches breaking.
• Fairly light weight (about the same as a fibre glass canopy and tepui tent)
• Bulletproof ran into a few low hanging branches on the south portion of the WABDR
• Easy of use, just like my shadow awning setup of camp is easy, simple and will have me Wanting to go out more
• Fit and finish. Perfection? Nah there is a few things. Like the corners showed be beveled, some are sharp. I’ll fix that
• Tent fabric is a heavy tarpaulin material. Looks to be similar to what is used in truck tarps. Meaning beefy stuff that will not fail. Stitching is only a single pass though. Phil assured me this is done by a sailing shop that specializes in boat fabrics and sewing. So i’ll take his word on it. I’m use to seeing dbl/triple stitched.
• Insulated, not so sure this is going to help in the great white north, think their needs to be more for it to be affective. I’ll be adding in reflectix on the front and rear windows.
• Shadow awning mounts. Look to be very well done. I wasnt able to test it out but it looks to be more then adequate to support the awning.
• Decked storage system worked very well in the drifter. Offered a seat besides my fridge which to out shoes on/etc. Or a ledge to climb up into. (Phil tip, get a collapsible stool from campers world)

Cons

• Needs to come with the extended platform for sleeping . The advertised 84” mattress is true but you can really only use 72” or your feet are jammed Into the end by the hinges. I’m 72” tall or 6feet. I had to sleep on an angle. Extension is going to be ordered as soon as I get home, this should be included.
• the front corners of the tent near the hinge the material is not connected to the frame/keder rope?. Leaves about a 1.5” gap, doesnt leak, but does allow a bit of a draft and probably some mesquito’s in the summer time.
• Material corners are not beveled/sharp, should be knocked down so they are not sharp. Easy fix this, and can be addressed with a deburring tool to knock it down.
• Lack of an external awning over the back window. Same with the gfc, this should be a mandatory system. Makes using the back window in the pnw almost useless as it rains a lot.
• Fantastic fan is not quiet at all. I doubt i will even use it if its that loud. Will need to talk with phil about it, there suppose to be fairly quiet, I recall the ones we had on our campers being whisper quiet. That being said it moves a lot of air
• Insulation, the side and the roof are all that is insulated. Its a great job and looks fantastic. Be nice for some sort of insulation to attach to the tent walls. In heavy winds tou can feel the warmth coming out of the tent. Now i used a buddy heater in the bottom of the tent. It was beyond toasty down there. Upper was cool, but comfy. A small fan would move the heat around. Using the ceiling fan caused the buddy heater to flicker and sputter. I’m working on a heat solution for it anyways, but something for others to note, leaning towards eother an espar or a propex, will see.

Overall, I am extremely happy with the drifter, I have a very detailed oriented mind and pick up on minute things others probably would skip over. Its the curse of being an engineer.

Having seen the original drifter and how they have progressed since the first one, they are improving on each batch, i cannot wait to see the drifters in a a few
Months to see how they have evolved!!

Having been around a few GFC’s and now owning a drifter, i am extremely happy with my choice and setup on the drifter. Personnally its the better product and time will show/tell the truth to everyone I believe.

Time To get back on the road gotta make the border tomorrow, then its hotels/couch aurf for a cpl days at a friends before heading back to work. for

CplPics below showing the drifter. If anyone wants to see one in Canada. I’ll be passing through kelowna, Kamloops, edmonton and back to Grande Prairie. No
Issues in stopping so one can see it.

 

Thanks for the honest feedback! We have been working on a few things you mentioned and we will take everything into consideration. Welcome to the fam!

 

I think the look of the Drifter on your truck is my favorite so far. The aluminum and the black of the Front Runners on your BBP with some black and "chrome" mixed in... Looks really good.

While not all of your points apply to me, I would generally agree with your pros and cons.
One con I would add is having different keys for the side and rear doors. I understand it's not necessarily within Vagabond's control ...but it's still annoying.

Personally, I would just say that the cons could obviously be improved upon, but for me they don't carry a whole lot of weight. I'd love to see them addressed, but they're definitely not going to annoy me to the point of any real frustration with the product.

 

Similar issue with the GFC. I turned a thermacell on and never had any more mosquitos coming in, seems pretty effective in the small enclosed space these campers provide.

Your truck with the Drifter looks badass, nice contrast of colors.

 

Be really careful using a thermacell inside the camper. The instructions say not to user them indoors, probably due to CO2.

The way I use mine is leave my tailgate down and rear window closed. I place the thermacell on the edge of tail gate and it provides a “blanket” to keep bugs out. Once it’s closed up, I haven’t had a problem with bugs in that tent.

 

I guess I never realized that the FR doors have different keys. Just thought I’d point out that the regular windoors are keyed alike to the rear window (probably sourced from the same vendor).

 

I made a bug screen with a magnetic enclosure to help with this originally. But I soon realized that the curtains I made for the back with a zippered enclosure do just as good. That with a thermacell and you'd be cooovered

 

Mine are keyed the same. Nevermind tou meant btw the side and hatchs.

 

Oh and appaently to become part of the drifter fam, I need to have kings snd deaver leafs. Right now im like the red header step child. Screw tetirement!!!

 

To elaborate, I actually have normal windoors on both sides. Those two are keyed alike, but different from the rear hatch. Maybe just luck of the draw based on what they receive from the vendor, or just bad timing, as I think I was one of the first couple with the windoors.

 

HUM HUM...Barn doors or hatch please

 

And SCS wheels!

I'm a lowly peasant with Icons and OME Dakars but going to switch those out soon.

 

What size Fuse on the fan/tail light/light combo? Also is the yellow wire the power for the tail light?

Finally got fuse box in the bed.

 

Haha, yeah I know its like a cult thing in cali. I oncw got bitched out because my light bar was on my roof. Wish I didnt live in an area that had mud and covers all your lights in slop.

 

Helps not having a white hood too..

 

Yup it just setting them up properly. Now its is better to have em belwo your line of site as it won’t wash out terrain features. But christ I’m not driving my truck like its the baja 500! Heck even the taco’s jnt here are not even close to stock.

 

hahaha I am not on the kings band wagon either, luckily the Drifter still works without them