If you like being in the middle of nowhere with all of the creature comforts of your house you can’t beat the “Adrift” Ford F550. Especially, if by the “middle of nowhere” you really mean it because this rig can go virtually anywhere. After all, it’s an F-550, not F-150. But look at it. Is this a trailer bonked on a truck or is it a camper?

Call it what you will, the owner who only gives his name as Scott on the Expedition Portal designed the entire pop-up flatbed cabin on Solidworks. With the pop-up roof popped there is 6’10” of standing room. With it unpopped the off-grid home comes in at under 10 feet tall.

Adrift is a comfortable but compact off-grid off-roader

Scott’s wife enjoys being really remote when they go camping. They wanted a comfortable but compact off-grid off-roader. It needed to be small enough to be able to go deep into those unexplored spaces. They also needed to accommodate the family including two huge dogs. 

All of the systems on the Adrift are powered by 1,300 watts from the sun, but they all have backups. A rebuilt mini split air conditioner draws about 350 watts. An Espar gas furnace is used as a backup. Two induction cooktops, an electric barbeque, and a dual fuel water heater handle cooking. 

“We’ve never had to turn on the alternator between the batteries and the solar”

“The truck has a huge lithium battery array: 800 ah of Victron’s and an auxiliary alternator and voltage regulator which allows the truck’s engine to act as a generator,” Scott says. “We’ve never had to turn on the alternator between the batteries and the solar, and we can heat and cool nearly indefinitely in most locations.”

Drinking water in Baja, Mexico, where Scott and his family like to roam, can be dicey. So 100 gallons of fresh water and 40 gallons of gray water storage handle that issue. “We can usually last two to three weeks without watching our water consumption much at all,” says Scott. The Adrift also carries 70 gallons of fuel so they can explore more remote regions.

Besides Baja, the truck has been to the higher reaches of Alberta, Canada

Besides Baja, the truck has been to the higher reaches of Alberta, Canada. The adults get the king-size bed, while the kiddies get the kid-size bed made from the convertible dinette. The two dogs still have plenty of room. 

Scott likes the articulating front wall the best. The whole family can get a panoramic view of their surroundings from their beds. It really does sound inviting.

But Scott has learned a few things and wants to design another, better off-grid roamer. So he’s reluctantly offering the Adrift for sale at $225,000. It’s a lot, but you’re getting a one-off flatbed camper that can literally go anywhere. And, again, it’s an F-550, not an F-150.