Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is a legendary 4x4 vehicle. Our Overlander Camper can seat and sleep up to 4 people, with 2-3 above in the pop up roof top tent, and sleeping for additional 2 in an optional ground tent on 2 single foam mattress’. With the overland essentials such as large fridge/freezer, 2 burner gas stove and air conditioned drivers cabin – the Overlander has been our go-to for California & Mexico getaways for a few years.
What is our favourite overland vehicle?
We often receive the following question from our community: what is your favorite overland vehicle out of all the vehicles you've built and owned? Our overland builds have many common elements, and they all pass a very high bar for off-road performance requirements, but they are all were built out differently.
Our favorite overland vehicle and overlanding equipment selection depends on what we want to do.
To date, we have built 4 overland vehicles. In the process we developed a framework that can help others select their own overland vehicle and gear setup that meets a personalized set of objectives.
We started our equipment selection by carefully considering the type of trips we would want to go on. We challenged ourselves to try to answer this question: “What do we want to get out of this trip?”.
Purpose: Overlanding is predominantly about exploration and adventure. Conquering obstacles or making maps of uncharted territory fall under different categories or rock crawling and expeditions. There is a subtle difference between exploration and adventure that lies in the mindset. Adventure is all about thrill seeking, so pack your foldable canoe and a mountain bike. Exploration is all about gaining new knowledge from venturing to a new place few have been to, so pack your foldable canoe and a mountain bike :)
Duration: a long-weekend camping at a nearest campground with a fire pit and a table is very different from a 7-day trip to remote area, which is also different from a weeks-long journey to Baja, which in-turn is not the same as heading north to Alaska...
Longest leg between re-supply: this will determine the amount of fuel, food, and water to carry. As a consequence, it will also restrict the space and weight for other adventure gear - like kayaks, bikes, or paddle boards. Additionally, this will place a constraint on the type of recovery gear you will need.
Self-reliance: this is a difficult requirement to meet and it will “cost” you in money, space, and weight, especially when coupled with a long time between re-supply points. In reality, the places we go are will be connected by roads. Some roads will be difficult, not maintained, or gravel - but they are still roads and therefore passable. All of our rigs can traverse technically challenging terrain - but they do this in generally stock form.