Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Yes that is the only powder we offer.

 

Take a look at the middle photo on Page 330.

 

The white powdercoat on my Drifter is a smooth clearcoat like gloss ontop of it. Not sure how that is possible with powder coating but if Jerry can do the same that would be awesome. Sometimes I feel my Drifter was painted traditionally like a car and not powdercoated which I like.. Seems super high quality.

The powdercoat is probably my top 2 options I am glad I have. 1st being the big windoors.

 

They were all powder coated. and we are not offering anything but our standard black Thermoplastic on the campers we make.

 

I'm jealous. That was exactly what I wanted - cooler temps with the white color and easy to just hose off for cleaning, since it's smooth.

It sounds like I might need to take delivery mine in plain aluminum and see if I can find someone to vinyl wrap it white for me. Wish I hadn't pre-paid out the ying-yang for the powdercoat option. Thanks Phil.

 

Our powder is so much easier to clean then standard powder coating. Not even stickers will stick to it.

 

My white powdercoat from whatever company VB used has a super durable finish as well. The gloss or 'clear coat' makes it easy to wash and keep clean. I actually like the gloss now and never knew powdercoat can have a clear coat type finish. Matches the white Toyota paint pretty good too.

 

Powder coat is really just a heat cured paint without the VOC's so yes you can get 100% gloss levels on a single stage powder without clear coat.

 

Just saw this thread was opened back up. Thank you BAMF, it is very generous of you to help those who were ripped off by VB. Glad to see you are keeping the Drifter/Nomad alive. I ordered my Drifter, to fit a 2005 Tundra double cab Wish the Nomad was available), in Sep 2018 and took delivery in the Spring of 2019.

Rear door: VB built a rear lift hatch for my camper. It didn't function very well. I removed the hatch and added barn doors that are great.
Bed: Added a hinge to the bulkhead and platform, added struts to lift.
Windows: Front slider window leaked and the glass rattled. Solid windoor leaked. Poor quality from the manufacture
Lid: Wish it was 1" - 2" taller to accommodate a thicker mattress & bedding
Condensation: The overhang, celling and tent walls (no insulation pkg) are problem areas for me. The Alu-cab roof conversions seem to fair better as heaters dry the entire space from underneath w/o an overhang. I had this issue w/ slide in campers too.
Gutter: This would be great

Having an 8' bed option would be nice

 

Hey guys if you know anyone looking we have the last Drifter that was assembled at VB here and available. It's a 3rd gen Long bed with no windows. none of the current customers have a no window camper so it's up for grabs. PM for details.

 

If it has no windoors cant you just cut openings for the windoors?

 

You can, we will not be cutting anything into the completed campers.

 

I am in the interesting position of having a truck that has Pelfreybilt armor and a Vagabond Drifter. I live in San Diego so Pelfreybilt was an easy option, and I almost escaped their demise but a mate of mine was leaving for Patagonia and had his IFS skid plate still on order (he somehow had the mid skid) so I had given him mine - then they went belly up. As I had their mid and transfer case skids, now kinda useless, I scrambled and brought a "Mobtown" IFS skid.....it arrived before they went under (good grief - sorry...) it was different and before I started to figure out how to make it fit another mate had 'only' the Pelfreybilt IFS skid - so he swapped me (I had spent weeks searching to find him a truck and drove him up to Monterey to buy it, so we were good)
After BAMF came in and helped everyone I was able to pick up some Pelfreybilt sliders

Then I brought a Drifter 2nd hand - close to the start of covid from @Anderson - and spent a very loooong day driving up from SD to Vagabond in Benicia and had Phil and @Anderson (and the wife and I) install it and then we drove home....



I love the Drifter - I think it's a well thought out camper, and it's very much changed the way we camp, for the better. There isn't much I would change, although I understand why people might like the lifting bed platform, or rain gutters, insulation etc etc. We have a converted by Vagabond solid rear window which I like -and I enjoy its mismass of color (it was wrapped white when we brought it, which we tore off before the install....)



We do run BAMF Rear shackle hangers and shackles with a cross member - which has for sure changed the way the truck handles (highly recommend). We also have a GFC V1.7 on my wife's Tacoma - and the difference is night and day between the two campers, although at this point we are keeping the GFC as we know it and its strengths (have done quite a bit to it to change /add things) and weaknesses - Im happy that BAMF is taking on the Drifter (and Nomad) and I can feel confident in telling people how great these campers are and that they should buy one

 

CLAIMED

Got an extra one of these corner panels that can fit 3 rocker switches and 2 cig outlets

Free 99 to whoever wants. Just pay for shipping.

You’ll need this plate for the rocker switches.

$12 Blue Sea Systems 8259 MOUNTING Panel CONTURA 3 POS

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Sys...MIz8K69dmwhQMVmAGtBh3HowsPEAQYBCABEgIhjPD_BwE

 

Anyone have any ideas of a simple type of rack I can build on top of my drifter? I already have L track running the length of the sides, and essentially towards the tail end of the lid. I want to bridge that with something that will give me a handful of tie down points and a place to strap some miscellaneous stuff like bundles of wood, garbage box, etc..

I was thinking about just bolting two other lengths of L track across with some sheet metal or abs plastic sandwiched between, but figured someone else might have a better solution.

You can see the real estate I'm working with in this pic

 

You could probably get a Yakima/Thule roof basket and attach it unless you need a more solid platform without spaced tubing of those baskets.

what about buying one of the Harbor Freight aluminum hitch cargo carriers and just reusing the platform/basket for that?

 

I have the little riser brackets that VB sold with the frontrunner bars. They bolt right to the L track.

 

Ooh, when you have a minute can you show me what those are?

And please let me know how to get a fancy new BAMF decal!

 

Here they are

 

I'm one of the poor souls that Jerry is saving with his kindness (and what I would call excellent business sense for building brand loyalty) and am looking forward to my Nomad. I've lost count at this point but I think I'm pushing 3+ years from my original order (wife and I have had 3 kids since we first considered getting a drifter, lol)?

Curious to hear more about the insulation considerations as we live up north so the option for insulation was huge in choosing a Vagabond camper over the other options on the market at the time. If it is something that I can relatively easily do myself, I'm no stranger to DIY projects (and if it gives me a little bit of time to figure out how I'd want to run any wiring, then great), but did also want to voice that it is a critical component.

Separately, how's the color on the black powder coat impact heat absorption/retention? I had been planning to do a colormatched tan to my truck, but with the decision between black and raw aluminum there is less of a clear winner. Also makes the option for doing a more elaborate wrap in the future a bit more of a possibility.