Newbie: Suggestions for well-built off-grid campers with a sitting/table area + temperature control? (under $25k)

[TravisLC]

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie here and your sage advice will be appreciated.

We recently bought a 2021 Chevy Colorado Z71, and added a factory lift and tow package. This is my first truck, so I have little experience driving one and no experience pulling a camper, but I'm not worried. We also have extensive experience with multi-week car, canoe, and hike-in camping in rocky mountain's national forests and elsewhere. We are not new to being off-grid.

We bought the Z71 with its off-road capabilities in mind and we want to upgrade from a tent to an off-road/overland capable tow camper for the following critical reasons:

1. We want to extensive do boondocking/overlanding off-grid for at least 1 week at a time (upper midwest, Canada rockies, West Coast, Alaska, Mexico)
2. I need a dinette or something similar that can be converted into or serve as a posture-healthy sitting position so that I can work remotely for hours at a time on a laptop.
3. We need temperature control if needed during winter and summer camping
4. We need a bed that fits two 6'2 people and a dog
5. We need to be able to charge latpops, phones, etc. while being at list a week off grid
6. We ideally need enough height to stand in, if only to stretch (short tear drops won't work unless equipped with a sitting area; )
7. We'd ideally like a decent outdoor or indoor kitchen
8. A timelime to completion by summer.

Lots of other wish list items, but the above are non-negotiable. Any suggestions would be welcomed. I have no tools and I can't customize anything, so I'm looking for something that has what I need already.
Thanks,
Travis

 

[TravisLC]

I should add I've looked and am most interested in the Taxa Cricket, but the cricket is too pricey and I've heard the build is not so great.

 

[Grassland]

TetonX Hybrid maybe?
There is a few guys with them here that could chime in. Not sure on price point.
Mission Overland but would be well past 25k if I'm not mistaken.
Trail Marker "up and out" or even the standard to keep it smaller. Queen bed on a lift. Can have table under, bed lifted up during the day to work.

 

[TravisLC]

TetonX Hybrid maybe?
There is a few guys with them here that could chime in. Not sure on price point.
Mission Overland but would be well past 25k if I'm not mistaken.
Trail Marker "up and out" or even the standard to keep it smaller. Queen bed on a lift. Can have table under, bed lifted up during the day to work.

Will check these out. Hadn't heard of them other than Mission Overland. Thanks for the tips

 

[adamalli]

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie here and your sage advice will be appreciated.

We recently bought a 2021 Chevy Colorado Z71, and added a factory lift and tow package. This is my first truck, so I have little experience driving one and no experience pulling a camper, but I'm not worried. We also have extensive experience with multi-week car, canoe, and hike-in camping in rocky mountain's national forests and elsewhere. We are not new to being off-grid.

We bought the Z71 with its off-road capabilities in mind and we want to upgrade from a tent to an off-road/overland capable tow camper for the following critical reasons:

1. We want to extensive do boondocking/overlanding off-grid for at least 1 week at a time (upper midwest, Canada rockies, West Coast, Alaska, Mexico)
2. I need a dinette or something similar that can be converted into or serve as a posture-healthy sitting position so that I can work remotely for hours at a time on a laptop.
3. We need temperature control if needed during winter and summer camping
4. We need a bed that fits two 6'2 people and a dog
5. We need to be able to charge latpops, phones, etc. while being at list a week off grid
6. We ideally need enough height to stand in, if only to stretch (short tear drops won't work unless equipped with a sitting area; )
7. We'd ideally like a decent outdoor or indoor kitchen
8. A timelime to completion by summer.

Lots of other wish list items, but the above are non-negotiable. Any suggestions would be welcomed. I have no tools and I can't customize anything, so I'm looking for something that has what I need already.
Thanks,
Travis

Not sure if there is a camper out there that meets all of your requirements in the price point you want. Kimberly and Conqueror will meet almost all of your requirements except for cost. TetonX and Mission Overland meet some of your requirements except cost (with what you want probably more like mid 30k). Opus might work for you and depending on options, might come in right at your price point. I can fill you in on some the TetonX Hybrid options as I recently purchased one.

1. Shouldn't be a problem, though I think water may be a limiting factor depending on how much you use. They have an option for a 40gallon tank.
2. It has a small dinette in it, but is part of the bed so you would need to fold the bed back if you want to eat inside. It is also not a very big table, good enough for two people to eat at or one person with a laptop. Might be better off setting up a larger table outside with a good chair
3. It has an excellent heater. We have camped in it down to 16F at night. Over christmas we spent a week in Sedona, (it had to be the coldest week of the year there, average temp of 40F) and only used 10lbs of propane between the heater and water heater. We only turned the heat on when in the camper. We didn't get AC but it is an option. The AC option runs on 12vdc so if you got enough solar and battery storage you could camp off grid with AC.
4. Wife and I are 5'10" and we fit with the standard RV queen that is in there along with two 40lb dogs. It is setup perpendicular to the length of the trailer. They have an option for a queen or king setup parallel to the trailer.
5. I added a 170AH LiFePo4 battery and built my own 200w solar suitcase. With the colder temperatures and running the heater all night we on average use about 15% of the battery per day. So worse case with no sun we could go about 6 days depending on how low I let the battery get. Also I added some high powered 12vdc to USB C 60w USB ports to charge the laptop and phones. This way I don't need to use the inverter to charge the laptop.
6. The top pops up on this unit. It is so nice to be able to stand and get dressed in the morning (with warm clothes too ) Another nice thing we like is that we can just crawl into bed after a long day of travel without popping the top (assuming you keep the inside clear of stuff).
7. The kitchen, along with popping the top, is one of the main reason we picked this unit. The layout and space is great. There is so much room to spread out and cook a really good meal.
8. I heard they are pretty far out at this point. Probably this time next year.

 

[bikelanta]

I sent an inquiry to TetonX yesterday. They are 14-16 months out as of the response I received this morning.

 

[TravisLC]

Not sure if there is a camper out there that meets all of your requirements in the price point you want. Kimberly and Conqueror will meet almost all of your requirements except for cost. TetonX and Mission Overland meet some of your requirements except cost (with what you want probably more like mid 30k). Opus might work for you and depending on options, might come in right at your price point. I can fill you in on some the TetonX Hybrid options as I recently purchased one.

1. Shouldn't be a problem, though I think water may be a limiting factor depending on how much you use. They have an option for a 40gallon tank.
2. It has a small dinette in it, but is part of the bed so you would need to fold the bed back if you want to eat inside. It is also not a very big table, good enough for two people to eat at or one person with a laptop. Might be better off setting up a larger table outside with a good chair
3. It has an excellent heater. We have camped in it down to 16F at night. Over christmas we spent a week in Sedona, (it had to be the coldest week of the year there, average temp of 40F) and only used 10lbs of propane between the heater and water heater. We only turned the heat on when in the camper. We didn't get AC but it is an option. The AC option runs on 12vdc so if you got enough solar and battery storage you could camp off grid with AC.
4. Wife and I are 5'10" and we fit with the standard RV queen that is in there along with two 40lb dogs. It is setup perpendicular to the length of the trailer. They have an option for a queen or king setup parallel to the trailer.
5. I added a 170AH LiFePo4 battery and built my own 200w solar suitcase. With the colder temperatures and running the heater all night we on average use about 15% of the battery per day. So worse case with no sun we could go about 6 days depending on how low I let the battery get. Also I added some high powered 12vdc to USB C 60w USB ports to charge the laptop and phones. This way I don't need to use the inverter to charge the laptop.
6. The top pops up on this unit. It is so nice to be able to stand and get dressed in the morning (with warm clothes too ) Another nice thing we like is that we can just crawl into bed after a long day of travel without popping the top (assuming you keep the inside clear of stuff).
7. The kitchen, along with popping the top, is one of the main reason we picked this unit. The layout and space is great. There is so much room to spread out and cook a really good meal.
8. I heard they are pretty far out at this point. Probably this time next year.

This is reply helpful. Thank you for taking the time to share what you've learned. I hadn't heard of TetonX and these are the kinds of tips I was hoping to get from posting on here.

Any thoughts about Aliners or other aframe or hardside types? I realize they aren't overland material (unless there are some?), but we may get an OVRLND topper for more hardcore overlanding and the Aliner (or similar) to serve as an office for service road camping.

 

[TravisLC]

I sent an inquiry to TetonX yesterday. They are 14-16 months out as of the response I received this morning.

Yeah, that's longer than I'm hoping for, but everywhere seems to be that way so we may have change plans or get lucky and find a used one. I'm mostly just trying to find out what reliable companies are out there that build what I'm talking about in my price range. Def checking out TetonX. Thanks for sharing their timeline!

 

[Wendell-R]

I don't think you going to be able to get close to your preferred cost on the TetonX Hybrid. The base price is right at $22,000. That doesn't include sink, stove, fridge, water system, furnace, batteries or solar. An awning and a tongue box are also pretty handy.

You have some flexibility with how you configure those things (1 battery or 3; 1 solar panel or more; water tank size; fridge model and size; ...), but it's likely to be at least another $10,000 for the bare minimum.

The bed can be configured length wise (fore and aft) to fit a couple of tall people. We're 6 ft and 5ft 9in and opted to do it that direction rather than worry about kicking or leaning against the windows sleeping sideways.

If you do opt for fore and aft orientation, there's a separate folding table that supports the end of the bed. We wrap that (folded) in the blankets/sheets and lean it against the cushion that fits against the back wall in dinette mode. That will help your posture when working at the table, but you'll probably still want to add some pillows to reduce the spacing between the backrest and the table. You can also orient the table lengthwise which puts the edge closer to the back rest. It's not going to be an Aeron by any stretch of the imagination though. I have worked on a laptop for a week or so, but it was summer and I sat outside a bunch of the time.

 

[TravisLC]

I don't think you going to be able to get close to your preferred cost on the TetonX Hybrid. The base price is right at $22,000. That doesn't include sink, stove, fridge, water system, furnace, batteries or solar. An awning and a tongue box are also pretty handy.

You have some flexibility with how you configure those things (1 battery or 3; 1 solar panel or more; water tank size; fridge model and size; ...), but it's likely to be at least another $10,000 for the bare minimum.

The bed can be configured length wise (fore and aft) to fit a couple of tall people. We're 6 ft and 5ft 9in and opted to do it that direction rather than worry about kicking or leaning against the windows sleeping sideways.

If you do opt for fore and aft orientation, there's a separate folding table that supports the end of the bed. We wrap that (folded) in the blankets/sheets and lean it against the cushion that fits against the back wall in dinette mode. That will help your posture when working at the table, but you'll probably still want to add some pillows to reduce the spacing between the backrest and the table. You can also orient the table lengthwise which puts the edge closer to the back rest. It's not going to be an Aeron by any stretch of the imagination though. I have worked on a laptop for a week or so, but it was summer and I sat outside a bunch of the time.

Yeah, I was just looking at it and it looks great. The kind of thing I'm looking for. I basically just need a portable office i can tow into the backcountry for periods of time. Doesn't have to be huge, but does need to what I mentioned. A-frames like Aliners seem like they may be good options for national forest land, so maybe I'll get that.

 

[blacklbzbeauty]

Yeah, I was just looking at it and it looks great. The kind of thing I'm looking for. I basically just need a portable office i can tow into the backcountry for periods of time. Doesn't have to be huge, but does need to what I mentioned. A-frames like Aliners seem like they may be good options for national forest land, so maybe I'll get that.

I have a friend who had an Aliner. Was not at all pleased with the quality. Even after a few mods to make it more forest road capable, he said it basically rattled apart.
Something to keep in mind. YMMV
Have another friend with a Mission trailer and he loves it. No experience or feedback on the TetonX, but it looks interesting for your stated needs.

 

[TravisLC]

I have a friend who had an Aliner. Was not at all pleased with the quality. Even after a few mods to make it more forest road capable, he said it basically rattled apart.
Something to keep in mind. YMMV
Have another friend with a Mission trailer and he loves it. No experience or feedback on the TetonX, but it looks interesting for your stated needs.

Thanks for sharing your friend's experience with the Aliner. This is my fear and since yesterday I've encountered more of the same looking through reviews on the internet, which sucks.

Hard to believe there's not a semi-affordable 12-16 footer out there like a NoBo that is actually built for off-grid. Would love one of the off-road teardrops I'm seeing, but most don't accommodate a comfortable workstation module. I'll keep looking....and I'll keep looking back at this thread too. Thanks ya'll

 

[TravisLC]

Will check these out. Hadn't heard of them other than Mission Overland. Thanks for the tips

Any thoughts on Intech?

 

[AbleGuy]

Years ago, while camped at the Slough Creek in Yellowstone, we saw that a neighbor had come in off of the relatively crappy dirt access road driving a small SUV pulling a heavily modified Casita trailer. My curiosity got the best of me so I wandered over to talk to the guy, after he got set up.

He (rather brilliantly I think) had taken a fully self contained small Casita trailer off of its under frame and re-mounted it on a heavy duty flatbed trailer. The flatbed was a bit bigger than the short Casita, so he’d used the additional space to add extra containers for gas, water, firewood and propane...and a small generator. This whole setup was repainted a matching Mayte finish O.D color, to bring all of the different components visually better together.

The rig looked pretty sharp.

Point is, he told me that the heavy duty flatbed had a much stronger frame and suspension than any stock small camp trailer, and by him adding bigger tires on it and securing the Casita securely on top of it, he felt he could pretty much drag it just about anywhere. Best yet, it was an affordable setup.

Just another idea for you to consider.

 

[mep1811]

I have a Mission Overland and really like it. I've had it less than a year and have over 12k miles on it.

There is a guy selling on on the forum or you can buy them at RV dealers. No waiting. They have a great business model making trailers to sell.