When I found this 2015 Turtleback Utility model for sale on Expedition Portal, I knew it was the perfect platform for me to build off of. I contacted the seller, negotiated a wonderful deal and drove 36 hours round trip to North Carolina to pick it up. I'm the 3rd owner of the trailer and have big plans for it. This trailer is unique because it's basically a stripped down TB without the water, electrical, etc. giving me the perfect heavy duty platform to build off of. My #1 inspiration for the new layout is the Patriot Camper X1.
This is the trailer right after I picked it up
That night I drove from the middle of North Carolina to Chattanooga TN so I could pick up my new CVT Denali Extended Summit series tent. Dang this thing is HUGE!
All mounted on the trailer and headed home
Finally got it home and decided it was time to set the tent up and see how she looks
The trailer itself has a great set of 285/70r17 KO2s, but the first owner set it up with 8 bolt Nissan wheels so I picked up a set of 4 2016 Toyota Trial take off wheels which are sitting in my garage waiting on a set of hub centric wheel adapters from ezaccessory.com. One bonus is I can get rid of my steel spare rim under my 4R now! Early next year I'll be doing a Icon stage II and 285/75r17 Nitto Ridge Grapplers on my 4runner. Not a perfect match with the KO2s, but close enough.
I've modeled the trailer up in Sketchup and now I'm designing my build. I like the rear kitchen in the turtleback, but I don't like that there is no way to incorporate a fridge into the kitchen's footprint. Therefore I'm using the X1's design and putting the kitchen/pantry/stove on the side and the fridge and sink in the front compartment.
If you've been living under a rock and aren't failure with the X1's kitchen design here it is:
First stop is removing the front side doors and the rear side cargo boxes off the trailer. It looks like the front door is just held on with a silicone style adhesive. I emailed TB and got a VERY polite and fast response, it's 3M 560 Sealant. They said heat isn't effective, Its best to use a guitar string to slip behind the door and cut it. If I can keep the doors and door frames straight and in one piece all the better.
The reason I'm removing the door is to make the front compartment wider. The box on the turtleback is only 4' wide, the patriot camper box is ~6' wide. The additional width will be used for the drivers side pull out kitchen and storage of a composting toilet on the passengers side. Truckbox.com provided a quote to custom fab the 4 boxes exactly like I want. I was going to weld them up, but they would never be as nice and since I got the trailer for a good enough deal I'm going to splurge here and get some CNC cut, bent and tig welded 1/8" aluminum boxes made.
The main kitchen pantry/stove box is 46x23x14" so it should house a 2 burner partner stove perfectly while giving plenty of room for dry storage, plates, utensils, wine, etc.
Here is a mock up of the trailer with the 4 side boxes added.
First issue is the front boxes now lay outside the frame rails.
No worries, add bolt on kick outs. Still working their design, but easy enough to weld up and have powder coated. I'll probably cover the top with bolt on expanded aluminum. This does reduce my ability to jack knife my trailer. I can only turn it ~77* now instead of the factory ~84*. I hope this doesn't prove to be an issue, time will tell.
Factory
If I add the kickouts I may as well go ahead and add a much larger tongue box for storage. This is another one I'll have truckbox.com fabricate. It will house all the utilities like the tankless hot water heater, Propex Heatsource propane forced air heater, Honda 2000w gen set, climateright AC, and most electrical bits except batteries.
The water tank will be stored directly over the axle inside the main compartment, balance of the trailer shouldn't chance as the tank's water level fluctuates. I'll install baffle balls to keep the water from sloshing too much. I'm looking at a couple tank options that are 36x44x6" or 44x25x8", I want something flat that can be laid across the floor and covered with a false floor over it to minimize lost space. I don't want it under the trailer because I'd like to minimize the risk of it freezing on a cold night.
The batteries will be 235-250ah 6v Duracell deep cycle golf cart batteries in series. I'm not sure If I'll do 2 (series only) or 4 (series-parallel) of them. I'd like plenty of storage so I don't have to worry If I go a couple days without a charge. We'll typically camp for 2-3 days then move several hundred miles before stopping again. I'll be upgrading the alternator in my 4R soon, it already has a permanent 100w panel on the roof and I have 2x 100w folding Renogy panels I can hook up to the trailer while parked. This set up will provide about 180 usable amp hours without trashing the batteries, this will last us several days. with 300w of solar and ideal conditions that's about 8 hour to recharge, spread over several days and I bet the solar will keep up.
This pretty much brings me up to date with my design. Please feel free to post with any comments or suggestions. I'm looking forward to the feedback to help design the best trailer possible.
This is the trailer right after I picked it up
That night I drove from the middle of North Carolina to Chattanooga TN so I could pick up my new CVT Denali Extended Summit series tent. Dang this thing is HUGE!
All mounted on the trailer and headed home
Finally got it home and decided it was time to set the tent up and see how she looks
The trailer itself has a great set of 285/70r17 KO2s, but the first owner set it up with 8 bolt Nissan wheels so I picked up a set of 4 2016 Toyota Trial take off wheels which are sitting in my garage waiting on a set of hub centric wheel adapters from ezaccessory.com. One bonus is I can get rid of my steel spare rim under my 4R now! Early next year I'll be doing a Icon stage II and 285/75r17 Nitto Ridge Grapplers on my 4runner. Not a perfect match with the KO2s, but close enough.
I've modeled the trailer up in Sketchup and now I'm designing my build. I like the rear kitchen in the turtleback, but I don't like that there is no way to incorporate a fridge into the kitchen's footprint. Therefore I'm using the X1's design and putting the kitchen/pantry/stove on the side and the fridge and sink in the front compartment.
If you've been living under a rock and aren't failure with the X1's kitchen design here it is:
First stop is removing the front side doors and the rear side cargo boxes off the trailer. It looks like the front door is just held on with a silicone style adhesive. I emailed TB and got a VERY polite and fast response, it's 3M 560 Sealant. They said heat isn't effective, Its best to use a guitar string to slip behind the door and cut it. If I can keep the doors and door frames straight and in one piece all the better.
The reason I'm removing the door is to make the front compartment wider. The box on the turtleback is only 4' wide, the patriot camper box is ~6' wide. The additional width will be used for the drivers side pull out kitchen and storage of a composting toilet on the passengers side. Truckbox.com provided a quote to custom fab the 4 boxes exactly like I want. I was going to weld them up, but they would never be as nice and since I got the trailer for a good enough deal I'm going to splurge here and get some CNC cut, bent and tig welded 1/8" aluminum boxes made.
The main kitchen pantry/stove box is 46x23x14" so it should house a 2 burner partner stove perfectly while giving plenty of room for dry storage, plates, utensils, wine, etc.
Here is a mock up of the trailer with the 4 side boxes added.
First issue is the front boxes now lay outside the frame rails.
No worries, add bolt on kick outs. Still working their design, but easy enough to weld up and have powder coated. I'll probably cover the top with bolt on expanded aluminum. This does reduce my ability to jack knife my trailer. I can only turn it ~77* now instead of the factory ~84*. I hope this doesn't prove to be an issue, time will tell.
Factory
If I add the kickouts I may as well go ahead and add a much larger tongue box for storage. This is another one I'll have truckbox.com fabricate. It will house all the utilities like the tankless hot water heater, Propex Heatsource propane forced air heater, Honda 2000w gen set, climateright AC, and most electrical bits except batteries.
The water tank will be stored directly over the axle inside the main compartment, balance of the trailer shouldn't chance as the tank's water level fluctuates. I'll install baffle balls to keep the water from sloshing too much. I'm looking at a couple tank options that are 36x44x6" or 44x25x8", I want something flat that can be laid across the floor and covered with a false floor over it to minimize lost space. I don't want it under the trailer because I'd like to minimize the risk of it freezing on a cold night.
The batteries will be 235-250ah 6v Duracell deep cycle golf cart batteries in series. I'm not sure If I'll do 2 (series only) or 4 (series-parallel) of them. I'd like plenty of storage so I don't have to worry If I go a couple days without a charge. We'll typically camp for 2-3 days then move several hundred miles before stopping again. I'll be upgrading the alternator in my 4R soon, it already has a permanent 100w panel on the roof and I have 2x 100w folding Renogy panels I can hook up to the trailer while parked. This set up will provide about 180 usable amp hours without trashing the batteries, this will last us several days. with 300w of solar and ideal conditions that's about 8 hour to recharge, spread over several days and I bet the solar will keep up.
This pretty much brings me up to date with my design. Please feel free to post with any comments or suggestions. I'm looking forward to the feedback to help design the best trailer possible.
Last edited:
