The Drifter - Specs and FAQ

Shake and Bake!

 

We tried that but every time they printed my face on it the plates shattered

 

What about the width of the back window at the top?

 

I'll measure tomorrow and let you know

 

About 39 inches

 

Picking up our Drifter in a few weeks and hightailing it back to the Olympics via Tahoe to snowboard, any winter camping tips from you Drifter owners?

Insulating it in the Homeless Despot parking lot with pink foam, and carpet on the bed. and bought a Lil' Buddy heater. 15 degree bag, a dog and a wife shoud be warm enough, but what about dealing with condensation or snow buildup? Would it be worth adding insulation like refelectix underneith the cabover or mattress?

I'd love to hear any tips or tricks you've found

 

The cab over has 1” of insulation under it already. The Mr Buddy is what’s going to give the most of conensation if everything is closed off, having a window cracked is important for good air in and help minimize the condensation.

Where are you headed?

 

1" extra under the matress? daaaang, thats good thinkin'. My camping pad seems to keep me warmer than my sleeping bag when backpacking.

I was planning on opening the front slider and cracking the tent and fan a bit to get airflow, especially when the heater is running.

We're skiing Tahoe for a few days (Kirkwood, Sierra at Tahoe, Homewood, but I'm open to suggestions) then to SLC resorts or North Idaho to splitboard depending on snowpack. Stoked to have a little cabin, but I think our stealth camping days in the ski area parking lot are behind us...

 

Kirkwood is King of the three you mentioned. Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows are nice midweek as is Heavenly. Sounds like a good trip.

 

Any camping around the SLC cottonwood resorts is gonna be tough. Neither canyon allows overnight parking in the winter so you gotta be stealthy about it. That means popping the drifter in the resort lots is gonna draw attention. I think you can get away with that kinda thing around Snowbasin and Powder Mountain, but I'm not sure...

 

we my advice, crack the roof fan, do not turn it on it will freeze solid in the cold with condensate. Open the side tent doors at the top a cpl inches to het some
Air flow. I’ve been down to minus 30 a few times with the drifter and will be doing another trip here shortly. Still waiting in my dieseL Heater.

Buddy heater, well i donated mine as it caused more problems then it solved in the cold (condensation galore, wouldn’t start or stay lit half the time), just fo with a good bag, althoufh I’m not going to lie a warm tent to get dressed in will do a lot for the misses.

Also, when you get home get the tent opened asap to get the moisture out. The first windy and non rainy day(esiaer said then done in the PNW) get it open to let fresh air in and to dry it out. Or put a dehumidifier in it witb the tent pitched if its rained out. It will help and run a fan.

 

Yeah, seems like winter camping in SLC is slim pickins. All but one campgrounds are closed that I know of, and the resorts don't allow camping (I asked). Any suggestions would be great. There's always Walmart...

We are gonna hit Powder mtn a couple days and most likely Solitude and Snowbasin the other days. Freecampsites.net and iOverlander don't show mush of anything...

 

I'm pretty sure you can't even camp in the Walmarts around SLC. The skiing around SLC is stellar but you're gonna have a tough time finding dispersed camping. I could recommend some spots if you wanna try to stealth camp, or I'd recommend checking out southern Utah or Idaho or Wyoming if you're thinking about touring. The LaSals outside Moab actually have some fantastic ski touring.

 

diesel heater..?

 

It’s a forced air heater like a propex but is not impacted by cold weather. takes a bit more aph. And no diesel doesn’t gel, well it does, but its all treated with additives by the fuel companies. Well at least here in Canada. Used all over marine, construction equipment/etc

Here a heat source is pretty much mandatory, well not mandatory you still bring the sleeping kit o maksure your good but it makes things a hell of a lot more comfortable in sub freezing temps.

 

Drifter fest or wedgie fest, as I suppose we cannot exclude other wedge campers. Hmm perhaps I should get some t shirts made up with some bloke getting a massive wedgie, haha is shaping up.

So far I am linking some of the More popular trails together, that is close to the US border and the. South portion of the mainland. Easily accessible and good fun trails with some fantastic scenery. There are loads more trails in the area and this is by no means final, just putting together trails I know that are good.

Molybedenite trail, with a fsr route to cabin lake, then whipsaw trail, looking for a good trail to do to towards Kelowna, maybe the slocan valley or around Big white ski hill, they do a winter rally race.

Figuringon a week at most spent in the some fanatic areas. Granted bear country. I may have to put together an equipment list (beer, steaks, etc) so people know what to bring. . It I’ll forbid Coors light, those that bring it will be asked to leave it at the trail head, or dump it on the ground as it is basically moose piss! . I’ll have the Mounties there to enforce this as well. They look like This for my American brethern.




All kidding a side, below is what I have talked with guys I know and linked together so far. I plan on hitting up all these areas prior to figuring out a time frame this summer as I am a 10 hr drive from most of it and can check it out on a long weekends to ensure it is doable. Mainly the links btw the trails to ensure they are doable.

Trails so far

-molybedenite, nothing crazy, shelf road,but amazing views, believe elev is 800 feet give to take at the top, nice lil lake to camp at , griz country,

- cabin lake, easy trail, fantastic mountan lake to camp at, great hiking and views,

-whipsaw trail, a making views, lakes, and awesome off-roading, generally muddy.difficult sections, but there is usually areas you can by pass making it as hard/difficult as one wants.
- looking for another trail to do in the Kelowna area, open for suggestions.

I will probably plot out all the micro breweries/etc so that people will know where these are to pick up some good beverages. I recomend whistler brewing, dead frog, my beagle, tree brewing and Granville island(although, they are more mainstream brew, but still good), will make all this downloadable/share the link to my Gaia database for this as well. They can also be picked up at local beer stores in various spots. All are tasty, jus avoid ipa’s In BC unless you like your hops.

No idea if people are interested in this or not, I have had a few guys send me some pm’s which is enticing, I am just looking to go out and have some fun with some like minded people and tired of having to do it all on my own, sadly I start a normal job here soon and will be stuck working 40-69 hr weeks behind a desk, not sure what I am going to do with the extra 40+ hrs a week I will be gaining from my old job. Anyways , all I am doing is putting together a trail system to link to get her for a few days. Keep inf mind, I like to drive and it is not uncommon for me to do 1800kms in a day of driving, or 1200miles for you Americans, I do Mohave trail in 5 hours when most spend days in the park, I can make San Francisco from Grande prairie in two days, sadly the dog has slowed me down a bit though, probably 2.5 days now. Her and her small bladder and need to get out and she needs to exercise, pfft.

Areas below are what I am looking at

 

I think the one in park city allows it (or at least you can get away with it), but that’s not much help for skiing in the Cottonwoods.

 

Hmm, I believe there is an app, that tells you if certain Walmart’s allow overnight camping, will need to go through my info to see if I can remember which one it is.

 

iOverlander is great