The Drifter - Specs and FAQ

Is there anyone who has a Drifter in the central CA area that would like to trade a 6 pack of beer for letting me check out their Drifter? I live in Hanford, near Fresno, so anything between SF and LA is doable for me. Haven't tried coordinating with the Vagabond guys to stop by the shop yet, so I figure I'd ask you fine folk.

 

If you dont find anyone sooner, I’ll be in modesto next month. Wasn’t planning on taking the truck, but will take it if you're willing to drive up.

 

There’s a possibility I will be driving through the Fresno area on Friday (Feb 15th) right after I pick up my Drifter next Thursday (sometime in the morning). Headed from Benecia to Barstow area.

 

@jberry813 said he could close the Drifter with a broken back. I believe him.

I tried to challenge myself in a different way...

 

One day when we can get a drifter, I will install a wood stove. Best way to get safe, dry heat, with an added bonus cook top!

https://cubicminiwoodstoves.com/collections/all/products/cb-1008-br-cubic-mini-wood-stove

 

Hmm, that is not as easy to do here in cold weather land. The struts freeze and ar super stiff, bedding doesn’t compress as easy in the cold, either. I cannot wait until summer!!! I’ll even settle for early spring instead of this cold snap we are in here in northern Alberta.

On a side note how is the barn door conversion coming along?

 

You can get one made for boats that would work extremely well. My buddy has one in a RV, runs it off those starter logs. He buys in bulk at spring time and scores them for 25-50 cents a log. It’s nice!

 

I'm sure @lowpass89 could get anywhere really quickly from Hanford

 

sounds like you need a heater or something.

 

I don't want to inconvenience you, and I'm supposed to be in El Centro for a few weeks next month anyway. Thanks though!

That would be awesome. I'll message you.

Unfortunately I'd be stuck with the gas bill in that case!

 

Oh I have a heater, it’s just broke and not all the pieces arrived with it. Lovely Chinese diesel heater.

Buddy heater sucks, and don’t put out enough heat, well the metal just acts as a giant heat sync anyways, it’s insukated. Granted i’m Using this in a lot colder temps then most others will likely camp in. Last night I camped in it was -25degrees Celsius, without the wind. This morning it was -37 and -47 celsius with the wind, I am barely able to open the swing outs due to the struts on those being stiff. It’s been like this all freaking week, dog and I are going stir crazy, we normally do 10-12kms of walking together a day. Summer time is ball/frisbee time.

Hoping to get out agin this week after the apt hunt in Edmonton, finally moving south, well south compared to where I am for a new job. Hoping to start working remotely and living back in bc here in the next 6-12 months. Want to put in sometime first at the office/projects to get squared away before I request that. Then the heater will barely be needed.

 

It is cold and snowy outside. A perfect day for electrical system design while I wait.

Does anyone know the distance from the front of the roof back to the Fantastic Fan? This is for a 2nd gen, although all the roof sizes may be the same.

I am trying to figure out if I could mount a 300w Renogy panel up there (65x39.25”).

Thanks.

 

Should, hmm I think you should be able to. There is quite a bit of room. I wanna say in front of the fan there is at least 60”, probably closer to 70”.

 

It's a little over 78".
I've got 3 100w Renogy panels up there with room to spare, so you'll have no problem.

Edit - For reference, those are the "compact design" ones.

 

Holy crap that is a lot of solar power, how many amps can you bring in at any given time?

figure I will install a 100aph battery probably a lithium and 1 maybe 2 100w panels and that will be more then sufficient to run the fridge and top up the batteries if I am not running the truck. With a 135amp alternator, there is quite A bit of charging power coming off the truck already, so if your driving 3-4 hours and solar your topping up the batteries quite quickly, and if your stopped, your bringing in power to minimum run the fridge, hopefully.

love seeing what people do with the drifters!

 

Yeah, probably overkill for most (and maybe even me right now), but I've also got some power considerations that most others probably don't have.
Though, one important thing to keep in mind as far as the alternator goes is that it's a variable voltage system (in the 3rd gens, at least). So depending on how exactly you're charging your house battery, you're probably not getting nearly as much charge out of it as you might think.


If I remember right, the best I've seen from the panels after just random glances at my monitor is ~240 watts. At 14.6v (stage 2 of charging out of my

$539 BCDC1240D REDARC 40A in-Vehicle DC to DC Charger with MPPT — Dual Input for Solar & Alternator Charging, Green Power Priority - 12 or 24V Battery Charger Suitable with AGM, Gel, Lithium LiFePO4 Batteries

BCDC1240D), that would be 16.4A.

The main thing for me is that I have the ability to work remotely a certain percentage of the time, and I want to bring new meaning to "remotely" in that phrase. So I have to be able to run my (inefficient) laptop with the brightness maxed out for potentially 12+ hours, keep my phone charged while using it as a hotspot, sometimes run the cell signal booster all day too, and I might as well throw a couple movies on the tablet while I work, haha. And most importantly, I've got to be able to do that reliably for it to work for me, including when the weather doesn't cooperate.
Then I've got the usual dual-zone fridge, fan, lights, water pump. I've also got one of those little 12v ovens that's nice to use if I can afford the power, and wanted to keep my options open for a water heater in the future.

Tl;dr, I'm trying to setup my system to support living/working out of the camper so that I can be camping at the same time ...if that makes sense, haha.

 

I’m not a metallurgist or anything but would it be possible to shine a drifter up like an airstream with some aluminum polish and an adequate buffing wheel? Kinda silly, just a thought.

 

You can! We haven’t tried it yet, but we talked to someone local that does this on airstreams, planes and boats. He said it’s entirely possible! I think he charges something like $150 a square foot to bring it to a mirror finish.

 

Hmm, this sounds like something I should try this summer

 

Just saw a Drifter coming into Bishop. Grey 2nd Gen with FR doors and a rear awning.