Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Bam! Well, maybe that's the ticket then. I will look into this, thank you.

 

just be careful with your phone and wallet!

 

This is so amazing. Do you have the measurements or a screenshot of the 80/20 order details that you could share?

I’d love to try and build the same for my longbed! Thanks

 

I am also interested in the order specifications, very well done work.

 

Realized last night that the heater helps dry up condensation. I haven’t had any condensation problems like I used to have the dry heat is awesome.

Ran Mojave Road (again for the 627283 time) and the camper was great in the snow!

 

Thank you! The stuff I have is not easily decipherable. I'll send you PMs.

 

I tested my propane fireplace and stove out at higher altitude to get some data. I also got the fan wired up on the fireplace, so was able to run that, too. Here's what I came up with:

Appliances:
Dickinson Newport P9000 propane "fireplace" heater (the smaller of two models they offer)
Dometic built-in HOB stove model HB-1320 (European spec, I believe. Purchased second-hand from eBay)

Newport P9000 specs per Dickinson: 3200 BTUs (low) 4500 BTUs (high); Runtime per lb. of propane, 7 hours (low) 5 hours (high)
Dometic HB-1320 specs per mfg: 7506 BTUs

Test location: Santa Catalina mountains, Tucson, AZ. Elevation 8,400 ft.
Weather conditions: Dry, overcast, 30F upon arrival (7:30 pm) overnight low 20F.

I ran the fireplace heater on HIGH setting for approximately 13 hours. I'm guessing run time for the stove on intermittent and mixed but mostly high, or near high setting for 15 minutes overall time during my stay.

Propane consumed: 2.8 lbs (0.357 gal.) This is pretty much right in line with the manufacturer's listed rate.

As far as heating performance, I could tell the output wasn't as much as it was when we were using at 3,000 ft. last weekend. Especially considering that last weekend I didn't have the fan hooked up and it was strictly radiant heat. This time, even with the fan on high the temp inside the drifter stayed in the mid-50s while outside it was 20F-30F. But the fireplace fired up with no issues, and ran consistently with no issues, so the elevation + propane was no problem at all. It's just the de-rate of performance with less oxygen to burn, so a little less BTU output. The Dometic single-burner stove worked great, too. No issues. It's worth noting these results are with a 6-ft bed model, insulation package from Vagabond, no insulation on the two side doors, no insulation on the front and back glass. I do have 1" rigid insulation on the floor and wrapping around the bedsides and front wall of the bed. No insulation on the tailgate. And of course, no insulation on the tent walls. Overall, I'm very happy with it. With additional insulation on all the bald spots and some insulation panels for the tent, I think this would be snow-camp worthy for sure. Personally, I'm fine with it being 55 inside while 20F outside... I lounged in my chair with a light down bag draped over my legs, feet by the fireplace. I slept well.


In this last pic, you can see it's 59.9F in the Drifter and 26F outside.

In the morning while making coffee and breakfast, I did learn the CO detector works. The stove set it off as I didn't have enough openings to ventilate the CO fast enough.



This is the detector I'm using:

Travel CO DETECTOR by FORENSICS | Carbon Monoxide Low-Level 9ppm Alarm | Super Small Size & Stylish | iPhone White Color | Easy One-button operation |

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FYVBB92/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00

 

Love it. Looking so good!

 

Great post on the Dickenson. Plus one for the Forensics CO detector. We have one and it works great for small spaces. It was designed for airplanes, so it measures low levels of CO and only sets off the audio alarm if the level gets too high. We set ours off this weekend (46 ppm) on our snow camping trip. Had a Mr Buddy going on low, two burners on the Cook Partner, and a small camping stove. We had the fan in low. After turning the fan on high and opening the back a few inches the level went back down to 0.

For those who don’t have their Drifter yet, this camper is really a four season model. By simply buying a $120 Mr Buddy heater, you can be warm up at the ski area after a day in the slopes. Sure, you get some condensation, but that just comes with a 1 layer tent. I suspect the forthcoming insulation package will solve this problem.

 

Be careful setting your laptop down on it lol. Or an external hard drive!

 

Recent trip had us almost in Mexico. Just thought id share some cool drifter photos!

 

Awesome photos!!

 

Here's some pics!

 

Does anyone have specs of the Tacoma bed bolts? I noticed the rear most bed bolts are not that long and I am using those to hold down my baseplate.

I want to purchase a longer bolt.

If anyone has specs of these bolts please let me know!

 

This is what I used. Hard to find these guys at a hardware store or industrial supply company!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-M12-1-25...de-8-8-12mm-x-140mm-Fine-Thread-/172286200973

 

Thank you!!!

 

Here's another source:
https://www.fastenal.com/products/details/11113278

 

Do you notice more condensation with or without the Mr. Heater on? I know the heater puts out more moisture... but of course it also warms the tent walls and makes them less cooling of your respiration byproducts upon contact.

I was thinking about the Propex but just couldn't justify the price. I would never sleep with heat on, so in the cold I have a ton of condensation anyway. In your experience, in that scenario, does the Mr. Heater actually help dry things out after a cold night (due to warming the air and walls), or does it actively make things worse?

 

Could you link the hardware used for the hatch? Hinges, gas strut and magnetics?

 

We have found that Mr Buddy does add more condensation to the Drifter. However, the amount seems trivial compared to the condensation from two humans. Let me explain my experience. An adult male expires about 2 cups of water vapor per day. That means that overnight you could expire 1/2 cup, 1 cup for two people. This water will all condense on the wall of a single-walled tent (Drifter) unless you can keep the wall temperature above the dew point. In the summer, no problem. The dew point is low and the air temps are high. In the winter, the dew point is very close to the air temp.

Take my trip to the Blue Mountains of Oregon last weekend. Temps in the day were 35 and night was 29. The dew point was 32 (which I found in my IOS weather app). I don’t have a Propex to run all night, so the tent walls dropped below 32 deg overnight, resulting in condensation on all the single-walled parts of the tent. Only the side windows (see below) didn’t have condensation, because they are double-walled (due to the clear plastic window). So, we had a cup of condensation on the tent in the morning.

We fired up Mr Buddy to get warm in the morning, which generated more water vapor. However, to keep our CO detector from going off, we have to open the rear window 1/2” and the vent 1”(Propex instructions say 9sq in vent at floor and another 9 for ceiling). This partially vents the moisture generated from the Propex before it can condense on the walls. Also, since the walls quickly rose above our 32 deg dew point, no new condensation forms in the walls. It only forms on the aluminum c- channel, where the temp stays below 32.

So, our experience has been that the condensation forms at night and very little is added by Mr Buddy. However, I can’t wait to install the Propex because I don’t have to keep the window open when I run it. I think it will keep it lots warmer and will be able to keep the walls from dropping below the dew point at night. This will hopefully greatly reduce condensation.