Off Grid Trailers

[firnadlinh75]

Hello all... I am wondering if anyone in here has any experience with the brand Off Grid out of Canada. I have been researching them and considering getting one. Just looking for feedback if anyone in here owns one. How they stack up against other brands like the Boreast XT, Turtleback, Hive, etc.

 

[Graton]

I've been looking at the OG Expedition 2.0 - saw one at Northwest Rally in 2019 - really liked it. The best resource, if you are on Facebook, is Off Grid Trailers Owner group. Very good source of knowledgable owners and potential owners. I've seen a few posts on this forum and OverlandBound, but not a lot of info.

 

[firnadlinh75]

I've been looking at the OG Expedition 2.0 - saw one at Northwest Rally in 2019 - really liked it. The best resource, if you are on Facebook, is Off Grid Trailers Owner group. Very good source of knowledgable owners and potential owners. I've seen a few posts on this forum and OverlandBound, but not a lot of info.

Great! Thanks. I used to have a Turtleback which was an incredible build quality, but now I want something still rugged and more of a hard shell. I'll check out the FB group you suggested. Happy trails.

 

[1Louder]

Great! Thanks. I used to have a Turtleback which was an incredible build quality, but now I want something still rugged and more of a hard shell. I'll check out the FB group you suggested. Happy trails.

You should be able to find all the answers you need in the owners group. If not feel free to ask here. I also owned a Turtleback, a M416, a DIY Turtleback and a trailer similar to what InTech offers. I have a 2019 Off Grid these days. Lots of changes and improvements over the past year and change. Every brand and design has its pros and cons. Ultimately I like sleeping indoors.

 

[4000lbsOfGoat]

It would be great if we could get a proper Off Grid thread going here for those folks who don't use FB! It is difficult to find information and even the company themselves will direct you to the FB group (which was one of the biggest disappointments of dealing with them). So, if anyone comes across this thread and has questions, fire away!

 

[Graton]

It would be great if we could get a proper Off Grid thread going here for those folks who don't use FB! It is difficult to find information and even the company themselves will direct you to the FB group (which was one of the biggest disappointments of dealing with them). So, if anyone comes across this thread and has questions, fire away!

Not a fan of FB, but I have an account that I only use for groups - and there are a lot of good ones on FB that get significantly more activity that Exped. It would be hard to duplicate here, people are unlikely to double post here, when they are already on FB. I keep personal info to a minimum, use fake info for sign-up, no friends, just groups. You might run into a few problems with closed groups that check out if you are legit, but I don't think Off-grid is closed.

I'm on the AT Overland Toppers (Habitat, Summit, and Atlas) and it has far more activity than any forum I'm on.

 

[4000lbsOfGoat]

Not a fan of FB, but I have an account that I only use for groups - and there are a lot of good ones on FB that get significantly more activity that Exped. It would be hard to duplicate here, people are unlikely to double post here, when they are already on FB. I keep personal info to a minimum, use fake info for sign-up, no friends, just groups. You might run into a few problems with closed groups that check out if you are legit, but I don't think Off-grid is closed.

I'm on the AT Overland Toppers (Habitat, Summit, and Atlas) and it has far more activity than any forum I'm on.

Well, I may not be the only one who will not use FB under any circumstances, even if "only for groups", so perhaps someone else will show up here someday!

 

[4000lbsOfGoat]

I'm seeing a lot of likes here...does that mean we've got some other Off Grid Trailer owners out there or just Facebook haters?

 

[DRAX]

Putting in an order for an OGT Pando 2.0 and hope to get it by Spring of next year! The OGT Owner's Group on Facebook has been a great resource. OGT also has a bunch of videos up on their site/YouTube. I've been impressed by their support and dedication thus far and we considered a number of other trailers. Can't wait!

 

[jeepers29]

I'm a FB hater, myself.

 

[4000lbsOfGoat]

Putting in an order for an OGT Pando 2.0 and hope to get it by Spring of next year! The OGT Owner's Group on Facebook has been a great resource. OGT also has a bunch of videos up on their site/YouTube. I've been impressed by their support and dedication thus far and we considered a number of other trailers. Can't wait!

Congrats!

I've had my Expedition 2.0 for just shy of a year now. I've pulled it several thousand miles and have spent more than 50 nights in it. We just started living out of it full-time about 3 weeks ago. It's had some small issues (busted rivets and screws here and there) and we've done some modifications but overall it's holding up nicely.

I'm glad to hear that you've been impressed with them so far! Hopefully that keeps up for you! I am far more impressed with the trailer itself than I was with Off Grid as a company. My buying experience was difficult and I saw very little "support or dedication" from them...That was more than a year ago now so maybe they've gotten some of the kinks worked out. I'd certainly like to see them succeed and stick around for a while!

Let us know when yours comes in!

Cheers.

 

[DRAX]

Congrats!

I've had my Expedition 2.0 for just shy of a year now. I've pulled it several thousand miles and have spent more than 50 nights in it. We just started living out of it full-time about 3 weeks ago. It's had some small issues (busted rivets and screws here and there) and we've done some modifications but overall it's holding up nicely.

I'm glad to hear that you've been impressed with them so far! Hopefully that keeps up for you! I am far more impressed with the trailer itself than I was with Off Grid as a company. My buying experience was difficult and I saw very little "support or dedication" from them...That was more than a year ago now so maybe they've gotten some of the kinks worked out. I'd certainly like to see them succeed and stick around for a while!

Let us know when yours comes in!

Cheers.

Glad you're still liking it. I've been in contact with someone at OGT multiple times per week for the past 2 weeks getting things figured out for the order, OGT has put up a lot of videos on their YouTube channel within the past year, from basic overviews of the various options/features to full walk-throughs of the trailers as well as videos showing how all of the trailers perform off-road (Whipsaw Trail currently, there's a new video coming out soon). They're also pretty active on the FB owner's group.

When looking at other companies/trailers these are all things I would look for. Some other companies had active owner's groups on Facebook, some had some OK content and videos, but OGT not only has the trailer that checks the most boxes for us, they also seem to have the best presence on the internet and most documentation available for owners and potential owners that's easily accessable and well done. Apparently the company changed hands at some point not too long ago? Or the original owner left? Not sure on the details, but OGT is now part of a larger company that also makes the Escape trailers as well as a boat company and a slide-in camper company. One of the other things I was looking for was a company that appears to have staying power. There are some small businesses out there trying their hand at this and the lead times, ability to provide good, timely support, and ability of the company to survive in the long-term gave me pause.

Hearing from OGT owners that were largely very happy with their trailers and the build quality also went a long way. I don't expect perfection, but I expect a product that is at least twice as good and last much longer than the mass-produced products considering it'll be twice the cost.

Fingers crossed they live up to the hype.

 

[4000lbsOfGoat]

I'm really glad to hear that they've gotten the customer experience smoothed out. To be fair, my experience was in the thick of the original pandemic mayhem so I have to give them some grace - no one really had their act fully together in the spring and summer of 2020...

When I ordered mine I pretty much did it on blind faith since there weren't any videos out there and I had never actually seen one in person. Like you said, it just checked all the boxes for us. Luckily it is as solidly built as they make it out to be.

Are they offering a lithium battery option yet? If they are I would recommend going that route if you intend to do longer trips. I'm actually taking mine to the shop in a few weeks to upgrade to lithium batteries. The standard batteries struggle to keep up with the fridge through more than one day of travel in hot weather. Some type of charging-while-driving solution will go a long way too. I'm putting in one of these - it would be great if they offered something like it as an option.

 

[DRAX]

I'm really glad to hear that they've gotten the customer experience smoothed out. To be fair, my experience was in the thick of the original pandemic mayhem so I have to give them some grace - no one really had their act fully together in the spring and summer of 2020...

When I ordered mine I pretty much did it on blind faith since there weren't any videos out there and I had never actually seen one in person. Like you said, it just checked all the boxes for us. Luckily it is as solidly built as they make it out to be.

Are they offering a lithium battery option yet? If they are I would recommend going that route if you intend to do longer trips. I'm actually taking mine to the shop in a few weeks to upgrade to lithium batteries. The standard batteries struggle to keep up with the fridge through more than one day of travel in hot weather. Some type of charging-while-driving solution will go a long way too. I'm putting in one of these - it would be great if they offered something like it as an option.

I did ask about the LiFePO4 upgrade options but there are none yet, just the two 130Ah 12v deep cycle batteries at this time. I also already have a Joolca hot water heater that could easily drop in where their standard water heater is, unfortunately they're not willing to build/ship without the batteries or water heater because they know the systems work with what they provide and don't want to ship incomplete trailers and then have people complain if something doesn't work right or fails when using customer-supplied gear. Not a big deal, would just be nice to skip the hassle of selling things later.

For charging-while-driving, they do have a document on how to connect the trailer batteries to the 12v aux pin on the trailer so your tow vehicle will at least trickle charge the batteries. By default the 12v pin only charges the breakaway battery. The problem with the 12v pin on the 7-pin plug is it's very low amperage. Are you running larger gauge wires from the tow vehicle battery back to the trailer and using Anderson connectors? That's what I'd have to do in order to get sufficient charging to the trailer batteries.

The OGT doc on this is https://support.offgridtrailers.com/7pin

I plan to upgrade to at least a 100Ah LiFePO4 if not a 200Ah and also get at least 300w of portable solar panels to hopefully keep things going while camped.

 

[4000lbsOfGoat]

Yeah, I ran into a similar issues with wheels and tires. They wouldn't use the wheels\tires I wanted (to match the truck) so I ended up just giving away 2 brand new wheels and tires.

If they are still using the same Noco AC-DC charger that they used in mine then you will also need to replace that if you go to lithium. The unit that is in mine does not support lithium.

Are you running larger gauge wires from the tow vehicle battery back to the trailer and using Anderson connectors?

No. The Redarc unit I linked to only draws 12 amps, it is meant to be used with the standard 7-pin plug. It won't charge the bank up quickly but it will at least keep up with the fridge while driving, that is my biggest concern. The Dometic CFX is a great unit, and not especially power hungry *most of the time*. I've found myself sometimes needing to do 2 travel days in a row when it's hot out - 100+ - (with no time to set up the solar panels) and that really eats into the battery. I just need something that will put back what the fridge is using while I'm driving (8 amps, when it's running, which is almost all the time when the ambient temp is above 100). It may not be too much of an issue for sane people who don't travel in the southwest in the middle of summer....

300w of solar should be more than enough for you. I've got 280w and on a sunny day the batteries are always fully charged by early afternoon. I'm putting in a pair of 100ah Battle Born batteries. The size is almost exactly the same as the existing batteries so they *should* swap right in...