Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Hello all,

I am digging through this thread, but haven't stumbled upon the info yet, so perhaps someone might be able to help me out.

I'm getting ready to wire up my kenwood VHF radio antenna and would like to mount it on the roof of the drifter. I'm hoping to drill through the exterior skin, and snake the co-axial cable between the exterior skin and interior ceiling panel to the front corner of the ceiling panel.

I have located a hole in the front most corners of the frame work that the ceiling panel is glued to, but I don't think that hole passes all the way through to the internal "space" that's created by the ceiling panel/skin/frame.

I know some drifters come pre-wired for fans, so I would imagine that there is a clear run for wiring, but want to be sure before I start poking holes.

Does anyone have any insight? I have future plans for a solar panel on the front half of the camper as well.

 

Foregoing a baseplate for weight reason. How should I go about anchoring the 80/20 cabinets I'm making? Bolts, brackets, sealing it, etc... Not sure how to do it with the metal ridges in the 1st gen bed.

 

Baseplates are super light brother, all depends what you make it out of.

Mine weighs maybe 10lbs.

 

Ohh? Made of? I just keep reading posts about them and people are talking about weight

 

Birch with foam.

I believe 1/2”!

 

I have to agree. It's certainly not impossible to avoid one, but trying to bolt things to that composite bed floor and sealing it really sounds like way more work than you want to get into. Plus if you determine you don't like your layout down the road, then you can't start over or change things as easily as popping new holes in the base plate. A 1/2", 4x8 sheet of birch is 50 lbs on average, & your going to use a 5x5 sheet normally w/ the wheel wells cut outs, I have always estimated mine at around 35 lbs or so.

 

I skipped the baseplate on my first build and just ran a metal bracket over to the OEM bed bolts. It worked fine, but was kinda janky looking. I'm re-building my interior right now and doing a baseplate this time. It's just the better way to do it IMO...

 

With the metal 1st gen bed, you could drill and mount down strips of L-Track and bolt the cabinets down to that.
Put some butyl tape between the L-track and bed then bolt it down and you won't have any leaks.

Or just drill through the bed and bolt (and make sure you use large fender washers or sheet metal stock underneath to support to prevent it pulling through). That's how the BedSlide was installed on my 1st gen when I got it.

 

I'm glad to see people having concerns about weight, if you can your truck lighter, the benefits are huge. This was the cargo area, or base plate build I did in my 2007 4runner. When I built this one, I used 3/4 inch high ply birch. My reason being that if I'm taking the time to actually build a proper way of securing gear or cargo, it better do it's job at holding things, and not just holding things while I cruise to the local mall parking lot.

I just went out and weighed a 180 square inch piece of that material and it was right around 3 pounds. The google machine says 1/2 inch will be closer to 1.5 pounds per square foot.

Let's do some quick/rough math, numbers don't lie.

A short bed measures about 20 square feet, and then you subtract the wheel wells, so lets say we can call it 15 square feet for the sake of easy numbers. Even with 1/2 birch (which I think it too thin on its own for my uses) would come in at 22.5 pounds. Obviously a 6 foot bed will weigh more. That's JUST the wood, no hardware, no tie down points, no coatings, or ANYTHING and that stuff adds up fast.

With that being said in my 4runner I faced the backside with two layers of fiberglass (for strength and securing the hardware for my tie down rails) and applied a truck bed liner coating, so the setup wasn't light, but it was very strong and effective. With my rear seat delete, I still think I ended up losing weight overall.

Sure the benefits of a dedicated floor panel are awesome, but as the saying goes, there is no free lunch. I think if more people took the time to weigh things, or their rigs, they would be shocked. 20 pounds here, 50 pounds here, 100 pounds here.....it all adds up.

Composites are a whole different ball game, and I think could be a great solution for base plates, but $$$$.

 

My plan when I eventually get to any type of interior build out is to put down a THIN piece of plywood in the center hallway/walkway and leave the bed exposed underneath the cabinets. I'll likely just run some metal strips across using the stock bed bolts to which I will secure the plywood and cabinetry.

 

I made up for the thinness of my baseplate by adding an anti-fatigue mat and carpet over wherever I stand. Helps just in case you drop anything too. I couldn't think of why not to have a baseplate - you can add insulation, a non-grooved standing surface, easy bolt-down for cabinets, etc.

Best way to lose weight is off yourself, and compensate by having an extra 20lbs for a baseplate (;

Also you can attach using 6x sheetmetal screws and just drilling directly into the bed, or reusing OEM bed bolt hardware to save weight!

 

I called Deaver and was advised to get the Stage 2 for my Alucab which is 450 lbs. I was told they can add a spring if the weight is more than expected with the build.

 

HA!! Did you ever end up weighing your truck?

 

^This is what I plan to do. Kitchen counter and fridge on one side and couch/dinette on the other-both open to the bed underneath. For the 20-Inch wide aisle I will throw down some 1/2" marine grade ply with carpet on top. I plan to drill through the extrusions and use Stainless Steel Rivet-Nuts from McMaster to anchor to. Will also probably do bolts with large washers backing them in a few places.

FYI, an M6 Rivet Nut has a worst case pull out strength of 400 lbs so it doesn't take too many to get to a pretty high safety factor with whatever is attached. Make sure you get the M6 McMaster insert tool for $35. The cheap ones on Amazon won't collapse these stainless steel bad boys.

 

I've weighed mine at a landscape place....6100 lbs

That's with my standard camping gear(Drifter, Alu-cab 270* awning, GG campkitchen w/ Luna 52L fridge & Cook Partner 18 stove) a full gas tank and me. No extra water or fuel cans mounted during the weigh but I do have front and rear bumpers, sliders, ARB dual compressor, 9K winch and an AGM battery.

So as it has been stated...it all adds up fast!!

 

Anyone done a National Luna battery box for solar/fridge? Basically trying to decide what my simplest option will be to power a 55qt fridge, the fan, and some USB ports.

Anyone have numbers on what the fan pulls?

 

Depending on the cost and capacity of the battery you plan on putting in there, it may be less expensive and more modular to just buy a GoalZero or similar.

 

I measured my MaxxFan draw and posted some additional details back in March.

Level 4 - 3.0 Ah
Level 3 - 1.5 Ah
Level 2 - .65 Ah
Level 1 - .23 Ah

I have found that the fan and Phones take very little power.

 

Did you measure the peak current drawn when the fan goes from fully off (not spinning) to on at each level? I think my fridge spikes at something like 7A max when it first turns on, but stabilizes quickly and draws quite low.

 

yah if that’s all your running makes sense they quoted me a custom leaf pack basically stg III on steroids