[roaringsubie]

Our Turtleback Expedition arrived this week! We're still getting settled in and getting our bearings, but so far, we've been blown away with this trailer.

Dry weight: 1850 lbs
Tongue weight with Icon Suspension upgrade: 180lbs
Dimensions: 67"H x 74.25"W x 130"L, but tire size and roof top tent may affect overall height.
Water tank: 42 gallons
Solar ready/battery options
Full kitchen in the back (the real reason we seriously started looking into it) with plumbed propane into a Cook Partner stove.
Hot water heater with shower spigot.
Options for awnings and shower tents, etc.

We got the 23 Zero Walkabout 87, which is their biggest tent, to fit our family comfortably up top, but there are smaller and lighter weight options. Our plan is to store ours in our garage (another huge appeal of this trailer vs other larger trailers), but with the tent, it exceeded our height limits. I built a ramp system to make it easy to take the tent on and off if anyone is interested in that.

So far, it's easy to forget that it's behind us when towing it with the Ascent. It follows nicely right along.

If anyone has questions about it, I'll be happy to answer them here as we gain more experience with it.

 

[gmatt1000]

Looks awesome! I'm custom building my own from the frame up. I'm not that handy so it won't be anything super fancy, but functional. I'd love to see more pictures of the design and layout to get some ideas. Thanks

 

[roaringsubie]

Looks awesome! I'm custom building my own from the frame up. I'm not that handy so it won't be anything super fancy, but functional. I'd love to see more pictures of the design and layout to get some ideas. Thanks

That's impressive. When we first started talking seriously about kitting out the Ascent for Overlanding, we looked into building out something custom, and maybe some day we will (if I get metalwork under my belt). I wish you lots of luck and success on that path.

I will say that I've learned a ton just by seeing the attention to detail on the Turtleback, from gasket-sealed compartments to the use of the Max Coupler for better trailer articulation off road to a safety switch that turns off the propane when the drawers are pulled out or closed, these folks clearly put a lot of off-road experience into their builds.

I'll post more pictures of the trailer, but here's a walkthrough from Turtleback that might answer some questions:

 

[itsdchz]

Love turtleback!

 

[Robert.Mauro]

Looks awesome! I'm custom building my own from the frame up. I'm not that handy so it won't be anything super fancy, but functional. I'd love to see more pictures of the design and layout to get some ideas. Thanks

I have two to three-ish years to do the same. I hope you create a build thread when you start.

 

[gmatt1000]

I have two to three-ish years to do the same. I hope you create a build thread when you start.

Yeah. Good idea. Likely it will be a 2 year process. So I’ll likely wait until near the end haha otherwise it will be too slow to follow.

I have the trailer already. 6’x10’ bed. Steel frame and side rails with 3/4” treated plywood. I’ve caulked and painted the inside. The plan is to have watertight inner. Not caulking or painting undercarriage to allow it to breathe. Added a tongue box for future propane tank, water tank, battery/charger etc. The plan is to add a 2 foot enclosed aluminum section in the front of the bed for a pull out kitchen. I already cut and drilled a tubular steel rack to weld vertical support for a roof top tent.

I have twin 1 year olds and likely will wait until they are 3 for our first official camping outing with them. Here's a few pics of the base with not much done.

 

[roaringsubie]

Yeah. Good idea. Likely it will be a 2 year process. So I’ll likely wait until near the end haha otherwise it will be too slow to follow.

I have the trailer already. 6’x10’ bed. Steel frame and side rails with 3/4” treated plywood. I’ve caulked and painted the inside. The plan is to have watertight inner. Not caulking or painting undercarriage to allow it to breathe. Added a tongue box for future propane tank, water tank, battery/charger etc. The plan is to add a 2 foot enclosed aluminum section in the front of the bed for a pull out kitchen. I already cut and drilled a tubular steel rack to weld vertical support for a roof top tent.

I have twin 1 year olds and likely will wait until they are 3 for our first official camping outing with them. Here's a few pics of the base with not much done.

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That looks awesome! It seems like you’re off to a really great start.

Regarding the water tank, the one in the Turtleback is located over the wheels to keep that weight properly balanced. Water is so heavy, and it’s ultimately what pushed us to look into trailers instead of overloading the Ascent. The nose box on our Turtleback has two batteries, the solar controller, and inverter. The propane sits on the back, possibly balancing out the batteries somewhat.

 

[itsdchz]

I too love Turtleback, but couldn’t spend $28k+.
Started our build this last summer:

 

[roaringsubie]

Great looking trailer, itsdchz!

No lie, we had the same sticker shock when we first looked, which is why I was looking into the DIY option, too, at first. I spent some time looking into options for trailer platforms/base builds to add on to. Did you add on the tent rack supports yourself, or did that trailer come with them?

In the end, we realized we'd been planning for nearly a decade to get an RV, but we never found one that met our family's needs. Once we started comparing the price of the trailer with the RV's we'd been looking at, we realized it was more of an RV purchase than a trailer purchase.

 

[itsdchz]

Great looking trailer, itsdchz!

No lie, we had the same sticker shock when we first looked, which is why I was looking into the DIY option, too, at first. I spent some time looking into options for trailer platforms/base builds to add on to. Did you add on the tent rack supports yourself, or did that trailer come with them?

In the end, we realized we'd been planning for nearly a decade to get an RV, but we never found one that met our family's needs. Once we started comparing the price of the trailer with the RV's we'd been looking at, we realized it was more of an RV purchase than a trailer purchase.

Exactly.
We have both, and each one has its intended purposes.