Hodakaguy's Vagabond Camper/Truck Build - Yes Again!

[Hodakaguy]

@Hodakaguy can you tell me what the camper weighs? I searched their website and can't seem to find that info. Also, how comfortable is the bed?

The camper weighs about 300 lbs, the truck doesn't even know it's there. The bed is very comfy and my father has used it quite a bit now, he's currently roaming AZ in it

Hodakaguy

 

[Hodakaguy]

Curious about your experience with dust intrusion. I think a wedge camper would be a great fit for us, but dealing with dust from a previous pick up with a shell really sucked.

Interested to hear your views on this, it’s the one issue that has us looking at a FWC or a Khaya. Which leads us into payload issues with the Tacoma. Desert people need water capacity.

Yeah dust intrusion is real for sure. It can be addressed with careful plugging of gaps and holes though. While I like the FWC's still I really like the light weight of the Vagaond and wouldn't go back.


Hodakaguy

 

[Hodakaguy]

Heater vent mod time. The outlet of the Propex unit is on a swivel and angles out at about a 45 deg angle, unfortunately the hot air still manages to hit the aux battery box. My dad has been placing something in front of the battery to deflect the heat but it's time to fix it for good and fab up a permanent deflector.

Here you can see the heater outlet in relation to the battery.

First up measuring, cutting and welding. Starting with a scrap piece of metal plate.

One deflector minus mounting tabs.

Next up....cut out some mounting tabs

Tabs rounded, welded in place and the whole assembly painted. We will be installing the deflector onto the heater unit with Rivet Nuts.

Drilling holes and installing the Rivet Nuts into the heater box.

And bolted in place.

I ran the heater for about an hr on wide open to see how much heat transfer made it to the heater box, the deflector itself gets hot but the box itself stayed just warm to the touch around the deflector area. The solar charge controller stayed nice and cool which is what I was concerned about...perfect.

One more thing off the to do list.

Hodakaguy

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Love this build... so very nice.

 

[Hodakaguy]

My father currently roaming around AZ and enjoying the Truck and camper

Hodakaguy

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Your dad... is rad.

That's a great pic!

 

[AeroNautiCal]

The quality of your brackets would get the Bad Obsession Motorsport Project Binky seal of approval!