Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

STS brackets are not a great idea for 270 awnings, the rear most mounting point bears a lot of force when the awning is open. Also, 270's are side specific so it's not like you can switch sides on the fly anyway.
I'm in agreement with most... personally I prefer the 4' hard mounted on the rear and 6-8' side awning on STS quick release brackets so it's switchable from driver to passenger sides

 

I ordered the Alu-Cab 270 from Vagabond. Do you know of them breaking in high wind? I know they have a single support rod and guy points.

 

The issue w/ 270s is the increased surface area, plus the support structure is built into the vehicle. They're simply a wind sail. The Alu-Cab Shadow Awning has "storm kit" available to give you three additional guy points in high wind scenarios and also to keep the canvas taught to prevent rain and snow from pooling. My take is that if you're deploying the awning in high wind, you're f'd. If you're taking it down in high wind, you might get f'd.

The easiest solution is to not deploy in high wind.

The awning itself is fine and for the most part reliable and if anything breaks, there're always spare parts.

 

I think my use-case is different than many here since I live in Utah and the awning is mostly for shade. I have a OVS 270 and love it! We also use it a lot more than we did the ARB awnings we've had in the past due to ease of setup/break-down. I've set ours up while holding my newborn daughter.

As far as wind, the OVS comes with support poles and guy lines but I break ours down as soon as I notice any wind. I absolutely would expect something to break in the wind (awning, brackets, or camper) since the thing is a sail! In fact, I believe the brackets that AT makes for their 270s are intentionally designed to break so that nothing more expensive fails.

 

Thank you.
The attachment point is an aluminum tie down anchor with an L-track profile. Vagabond installed it (and the awning) when my Drifter was built. It uses two phillips head screws and has a gasket or sealant. Lately they can only be found in the black color. The aluminum silver color is hard to come by.

 

To clarify: The Alu-Cab Shadow Awn 270 comes with three guy-lines and one pole that is mounted to the end of the corner arm at the middle span of the awning. So, you can anchor all three outside corners. The wall kit comes with two additional poles so that all three arms have poles attached. I assume you could purchase the extra poles from Alu-Cab if you wanted them for some reason.

 

I was just browsing around some FAQ stuff on Redarc's site (pointlessly hoping for something about modifying charge profiles) and found the below, FYI.
I imagine it wouldn't change anything for you two, but I bought my 1240D direct from Australia in early 2018, before they came to the US, so supposedly I don't have the 32* Lithium charging cutoff.
I'm actually glad, because I'd much rather just let the BMS worry about that. I wonder if the base 14* cutoff would still be there though...


Detailing updates to REDARC's dual input BCDC range

As of December 2019, there are two features that have been added into the BCDC Dual Input range.

The BCDC will not attempt to charge a Lithium (LiFePO4) battery if the ambient temperature is below 0°C/32°F (note LiFePO4 charging profile only). This feature is designed to help protect your Lithium battery and maximize its service life.

Lithium batteries have an internal management system, often referred to as a BMS. This is one of the great features about Lithium batteries as they can protect themselves in certain situations. One of the common issues REDARC technical support deal with is Lithium batteries turning themselves “OFF” to protect themselves from excessive discharge. This feature is ideal for protecting the battery but can be inconvenient as you need to “jump start” the battery to bring it back to life.

A new feature of the BCDC Dual Input range is that it will send voltage to the Lithium battery to “wake it back up” so to speak. Therefore, if the Lithium batteries internal BMS turns the battery “OFF”, all you will need to do is start the vehicle or introduce a solar input to turn the battery back “ON” and then allow the battery to charge and recover.

REDARC do not recommend draining any battery below a safe threshold, but we also realise that it can occur. So, if you do get yourself into this situation, you will be able to use your REDARC BCDC to recover the battery providing the auxiliary batteries voltage is greater than 0.1V (previous limit >4V) and the ambient temperature is >0°C.

Please also ensure ALL loads are disconnected from the auxiliary battery when attempting to recover. As always, if attempting to charge / recover the auxiliary battery using the vehicle's alternator the vehicle input voltage must exceed 13.2v (12.0V with ignition connected).

 

Hmmm, interesting. Good to know, and good you have the older one! I ended up just wiring a switch into my system so I can easily swap from AGM to Li profiles... I just have to remember to switch back after the battery heats up. Haven't actually needed to use it yet.

 

i had the alucab out during a ripping wind storm in valley of the gods not long ago and it did very well. i put it away after a while since we couldn't do anything outside really from the blowing wind and was pointless to subject it to the winds when not needed... i had all three guy lines down and the pole out. the weak point in that scenario would have been where the lines attach to the canvas. they stood their grounds, but i hope to not find the breaking point of the awning since they aren't cheap! but i'd say those winds were gusting around 50mph that day. bottom line, it's a strong ass awning and will withstand a lot of winds we'd normally see, but if shit gets nasty, just put it away, it only takes a minute.

 

Did someone say hard mounted on the rear? Cuz I’m here

 

I'm looking to diy mount a 270 as well. This is the option I'm leaning towards but with a pin down the middle linking the 2 c channels together. It would be quick detach by removing the pin. I wouldn't do the 80/20 though. Just straight c channel sections to the drifter.

 

As is, I think that's going to be pretty "flexy" on the back corner. When freestanding, there can be a lot of load on that back corner. You could potentially do two of the brackets as you show and then the back corner rotated 90* so you have better resistance to the bending.

 

Here is my 55” CVT hybrid awning with walls (excuse the driveway pics - gotta practice in suburbia before doing this in the dirt )

 

Can you take a photo with it all closed up and zipped up in the storage bag? I'd like to get a visual on where I'd have to relocate my latches, etc... Bonus points for holding up a tape measure or ruler on the vertical and showing depth...
Website states closed dimensions are 61" (W) x 7" (H) x 5" (D) but photos are worth a lot more than text.

 

This looks like exactly what I was thinking of doing!

 

While not a CVT, it is a 55in awning:


Latches are in the original location from Vagabond.

 

Looks like a handle on the lid would still clear as well.

 

Yeah, I just open from the inside and never bothered with putting a handle. Now, I'm switching to a 270* awning so will have to move my latches. Seems like you're in CO so you're welcome to check it out while I still have it mounted.

 

I still open the lid from the outside. A little awkward of an angle, but nothing too serious - been doing it this way 3+ yrs

 

dont have the 55 but the handle on the roof clears with the smaller arb