Wedge Campers & Assorted Oddities

My point exactly. The poster I QUOTED, said the Drifter was more of a “full camping unit” i did not, nor do i think that what so ever. I was curious as to why Dannesk thought that? To me at least the view from 500ft is they are nearly identical.

And yes i realize everyone is going to cusomtize these to their own needs/ liking. It was a follow up question to the vagabond being more of a “full camping unit” seems that would imply something besides a shell and tent. Which I’m not seeing. Curious is all....

These two seem very cool and i can’t wait to see production units roll out.


Looking at the pictures isn’t the vagabond on a double cab short bed? And the GFC on a long bed access cab? Seems pretty obvious that it’s going to be over the cab farther by maybe, the foot missing from the bed? Not trying to get into an internet brawl over this but 2 Tacoma’s with 5’ beds with different campers are going to have awful similar interior space.... 60” bed is a 60” bed...

 

I think we can't actually make a comparison of cab overhand until we see versions of both camper in either 5' or 6' bed. So far we've only seen 6' in the GFC and 5' in the Drifter.

 

You're right - I forgot the GFC used a long bed

 

That makes more sense. My fault there. I agree and I personally like the Drifter better than the GFC visually. I’ve seen the Drifter in person and know the quality of it. Which I’m sure GFC has great quality as well but I can only truly speak on what I’ve seen. I think both provide a great base for someone who uses this type of system every week. I wish I had more time to camp (and a truck) to utilize this style.

 

At least on a Shortbed the Drifter sits in front of the front doors.

https://instagram.com/p/BgYOwulBalo/

 

Very cool picture. I’d imagine in the next few days @wileydavis will have some pics of his first production shortbed model to compare. He posted on IG a day or two ago the frame work getting ready to be welded... or he was napping, or posing as a pin-up girl, haha. If you saw the picture you’ll understand.

 

FYI they've said that the prototype was more angled than the production models will be, especially the short bed models.

 

here's the actual post

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/hondo-garages-new-thing.516490/page-56#post-17162835

 

Willing to share?

 

I've seen some pretty mean CONEX builds in my search for easy housing in "getaway" destinations. sounds like you and I have a similar mindset.

Some you can't even tell are CONEX builds until you realize all dimensions are divisible by 8 feet.

 

This is wrong. The Drifter top section is longer than the GFC platform, quite clearly. It is also the reason there is standing room with the sleeping platform fully setup. Both Access Cab trucks and DCSB trucks have the same wheel base, so the front doors are the same position relative to the rear wheel/ tailgate/ front wheel. All of these campers (flippac, habitat, drifter, gfc platform) have a uniform "sleeping" top section with a modular bottom to fit the 5' or 6' bed. The Drifter extends beyond the front door as this images show below, while the GFC Platform stops short a few more inches behind the front door, in addition to the rake of the rear (which is getting smaller from what is shown in the pre-production model). Until we get actual dimensions, its just eye-ballin'. Though it may be small, its enough to allow standing room in the Drifter with the bed setup. On a double cab long bed, the forward most point of any of these campers will sit 1' further back when compared to on an access cab (access cab and DCLB share them same 6' bed).

 

In regard to the Drifter, I will compare it to my previous campers.

The 4WC on the Scout sat on the rails like a camper shell. It was also much wider and the sleeping configuration was East to west. While this was great for interior space, it was very difficult to navigate on tight trails. Nice for wide open spaces though.

DV in 2008.





The Flippac offered the most interior space of all the campers I’ve owned, but it was the most difficult to deploy. And it leaked. Even with a seam sealed and treated rain fly. If we stayed dry at camp, water from the gigantic wet tent and would start dripping into the living space when packed. You would open it up at the next spot to find the bedding and interior soaked. Although my interior buildout made it more like an ultra compact RV, the soft roof gave it the feeling of a tent. And everything had to be removed from the rack or roof to setup.

Rough prototype interior that I just kept using.



Did “Fins and Things”, rode Slickrock, and got soaked at Sand Flat campground. Moab, 2015.



The 4wc on the Tacoma was great and got me back to a hard roof. Definitely didn’t feel like a tent. It was a rare “Falcon” model that is 11” shorter than the “Finch”. While this allowed for the use of a standard swingout carrier, it also meant the space was extremely limited with the bed platform deployed. And the height over the bed was about 12” lower than the Flippac. Wheeling it was challenging on technical trails, due to the upper width, and it was heavy. Interior storage was limited due to the lost space between the wheelwells and lower section.

Slickrock Trail in 2016.



My V1 was a flatbed model, so it’s hard to compare. But the goals were the same with the V2. 4 season camping, quick deployment, the feeling of a mini RV instead of a tent, lower weight, clearance on the trail, versatility, and a reasonable price (although the cost of our V1’s wasn’t that reasonable).



The height above the mattress is taller than the 4WC, and the useable space, with the sleeping platform deployed, is large enough for two people to sit side by side. My kids will sleep on a platform below, so being able to look down and check on them was important. And getting out of bed to pee at night is a requirement for my wife.

While we will offer interior options in the near future, the layout is up to the owner. For our camper and the other offerings. Some want the full bed for daily use and others just want storage and a place to stand. People like me want a dedicated functional interior that I can just walk into at camp. With the shell- type popups, you have options.

There are compromises with every setup. We tried to find the balance between all of them. Incorporating the advantages while minimizing the compromises.













Not even going to mention the 2012 setup...

 

Can you squash the guessing game and give us some dimensions on the Drifter?

My math from the above would suggest that the overall interior length from tailgate to front of camper inside would be 110", but its not super clear. That would be 20" longer than a GFC (without any bed folding)

 

Awesome thanks! And yes the rear is way different than the prototype much less of an angle than the long bed shows. Thanks for sharing!!!

 

Hey all, I'm Graeme MacPherson from GFC. I worked with @wileydavis to develop the camper. Seems like it might help to answer a couple questions, and explain some of the reasoning behind our design.

The sleeping/modular bed area on the GFC is 90" on the interior. The exterior dimensions of the frame (to the front of the (billet machined and anodized) hinges, is about 96". The drifter is absolutely longer, sounds like the interior space is 6'8"+30" or so, bringing it to 110". So about 20" longer inside.

We designed the floor to be trivially easy to rearrange. The floor panel and mattress assembly for the small squares are about 3# each and simply lift to move. Having a solid continuous floor while sleeping also helps keep your bedding and pillows from falling down into the truck bed if sleeping with your head towards the high point (think sleeping on a bed without a headboard).

If you are traveling alone, you can always leave a 25"x50" opening when you run the camper in bunk mode. This leaves you with a 7'6" bed and continuous standing room in that 25"x50" space.

The reason it is comfortable to sleep with your head towards the small end in our camper is because the mattress is really really long. So you wont hit your head if you sit up in bed. The giant back window also helps it not feel claustrophobic, as does the translucent roof panel, which is a game changer. If you have ever been in a trailer with a translucent roof, or a box truck, you know the difference it makes. In addition, it appears that our lift angle is steeper than the vagabond unit, giving more overhead room in the point of the wedge, plus our pivot point is actually in front of the tent by a significant amount.

The upside to sleeping with your head towards the hinge-point (in both the vagabond and the GFC) is that you don't have to spin 180 (or pull your legs underneath you) to get out of bed.

I also have quite a bit of experience building large aluminum mobile camping spaces, and there is a reason we came to the conclusion we did in terms of both space, and construction method. I am fully confident that unless you have already seen our camper in person, you will be pleasantly surprised at the build quality. Nothing comes close.

The GFC camper is the strongest offroad camper ever built. Full stop. Nothing will hold up to the abuse that our camper can take.

Should have the first production unit completed next week, with a walkaround video to follow soon after, plus lots of content mixed in of course.

And for a little bit of background... My family has been going fast for a while now.

 

Boom, welcome to the thread Graeme! Can’t wait to see the prototypes. There’s really no denying the beefiness of those hinges... “Baja-engineering”

 

this thread really took off. Nice.

It may already have been discussed but these wedge models seem to have just enough space over the cab to mount a solar panel.

It would be cool to have a host of electrical accessories available on some of these platforms.

 

GFC had mentioned solar as an option on theirs at some point. Of course any of these that don’t flip 180 degrees would be a pretty good candidate for solar since you will always have the roof facing up...

 

I mounted a Renogy 100W panel to my Alu-Cab with VHB tape. Works well.

 

I think the 2012 setup might the winner

We've been so busy setting up shop we haven't had time to get all the details out, but we will this week. We'd like everyone to work on a level playing field and not assume what we are doing with The Drifter. Part of the reason we wanted to save the details for last is so you know exactly what we doing and not work off details from our previous prototypes, even though a lot of things are very similar.

To answer your questions about the bed here are some details. We developed the bed back with V1, you can see the info here on my build thread. It's a modular bed that allows different configurations depending on what you want to do. It's one of the features incorporated into our patent.

The total roof dimensions of The Drifter are 114" long by 54" wide, and the bed is 80" x 52" (Same as V1). What changed from V1 to V2 is the roof is 5" shorter but the bed extension after the cab-over-hang is the same. I had 5" extra inches after the mattress and that was removed. This gives you about 30" of standing room with the bed fully deployed. You can then stack the bed extension to give you full access to the bed, and it can be moved back to have two separate "areas" to hang out and still have a space in the middle.

Here are some pics from the link above:

Netflix and Chill Mode


Work Mode


Lounge Mode


I hope this helps answer some questions! We'll get a dedicated thread for The Drifter up ASAP so you all have more facts. We are beyond excited to see this all come to fruition!