Meet our home on wheels: TORTUGA!
Why Tortuga? Because we carry our home on our back, and we like to travel slow.
This eye-catching Jeep has had more work done than a Hollywood housewife! Nikk spent countless hours researching what other overlanders use, what to put where, and the best products for our needs. Below is a pretty comprehensive list of what makes Tortuga OUR ultimate overland home. We emphasize the “our” because every overlander will have different wants and different needs.
Step One: Pick the Camper
In 2021, we visited the Overland Expo West in Flagstaff, AZ. Nikk had volunteered at a previous Overland Expo and used that time to get an idea of which camper we might like. This trip was our opportunity to look over various options and figure out what would work best for us. We had narrowed it down to the Alu-Cab Canopy Camper or the Ursa Minor. We liked the idea of the Ursa Minor because if needed, you could pop down from the bed area to the driver’s seat for a quick move. As soon as we saw the AluCab, though, it was pretty much a no-brainer. We loved that even a tall guy like Nikk could fully stand up, that we could both fit in the “living room area”, and that there was a good bit of “indoor” space. If you are thinking about building your own overland vehicle, we can’t emphasize enough how impactful it is to see a version in real life! We knew right away that this was the right choice for us!
Step Two: Pick the Vehicle
Now, it might be counter-intuitive to pick the vehicle second, but some campers are designed to fit on certain vehicles. The one thing we knew for sure is that we wanted to have a Jeep! We love Jeeps and we wanted to be able to go to more remote places, so a quality 4-wheel drive was critical. But which Jeep?? We knew that if we wanted to go with the Ursa Minor, we’d get a Jeep Wrangler (similar to our Chivo we drove to Costa Rica). But once we landed on the AluCab, it was clear that we needed a Jeep Gladiator.
Once again, Nikk and his “master-Googler” skills were put to work. Thanks to his research, we were able to build our brand new Jeep Gladiator and pick it up at Gupton Motors in Springfield, TN. This awesome dealership knows their product and they were great to work with. Best of all, purchasing our Jeep in Tennessee instead of Colorado saved us several thousand dollars – even including the travel costs to go pick it up. Check them out if you’re in the market for your next Jeep!
Step Three and Beyond: Build Out Your Rig
It feels silly to put two-plus years of work into one paragraph, but if we listed out every step of the build, we’d all be here forever, and we’ve got to get back on the road soon! Again, see below for a list of what all is on/in/under the Jeep – and know that very little of it was simple! Nikk did quite a bit of the build-out work himself (Shannon even helped put some bolts on some things!), but the major work was done with the help of our friends at Juniper Overland. Big shout-out to Josh, Jen, Dylan, Nate, and all the folks at Juniper!! We absolutely love the work they do, and the amazing humans that they all are. You can check out this great video of our time camping with them at the Juniper Jamboree in summer of 2023. If you’re in the market for any overlanding vehicle mods, make sure to give them a call!
THE LIST
- 2022 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon
- 3.6 liter gas engine
- Cold Weather Package
- Tow Package
- Aux switch group
- Premium LED Lighting group
- Steel Bumper
- Front Trail Cam
- Suspension
- Fallen Wild Peak 33” M/T
- AEV 3” Dual Sport RT Suspension with High Capacity Coil Springs
- Bilstein 5100 Shocks Front & Rear
- Accessories
- Warn VR EVO 10S winch w/Factor 55 Flatlink
- Warn Low Grille Guard Tube
- SafeJack Starter Kit
- Factor 55 Recovery gear
- Fishbone Hawse Fairlead License Plate Mount
- ARB single compressor with Wayalife firewall mount
- Speedflate 4X System
- Rugged Ridge Snorkel – High Mount
- Rugged Ridge 9” Reflex Antenna
- Tazer JL Mini
- 67 Designs low profile mount
- WeatherTech window visors
- WeahterTech window shades
- Lifesaver 5 Gallon Filtered Water Jug
- Frontrunner Wolf Pack Pro Storage Boxes x2
- Goose-Gear 100% Seat Delete
- National Luna 50L Weekender Fridge/Freezer combo
- Maxtrax MKII Recovery Boards
- GP Factor Maxtrax Mounting Pins – mounted on canopy camper door
- Garmin In-Reach Mini
- Jet Boil Minimo Cooking System
- Sea to Summit Alpha Pot
- Sea to Summit Alpha Pan 8
- Sea to Summit Delta Light Bowl Set
- Outland Living Firecube 805 Propane Firepit
- Camper
- Alu-Cab Canopy Camper
- 100 Watt Solar Panel
- Lion Lithium Ion 1300 UT Battery
- Red Arc Manager 30 DC to DC Energy Management System
- Shore Power Hookup
- Goose Gear Alu-Cab Canopy Camper Jeep Gladiator
- Bed Plate
- Rear Utility 2x
- Front Utility
- Front 2 Drawer System
- Bulkhead Storage
- Bulkhead sleeping platform
- Expedition Essentials EXO Table
- Cook Partners 2 Burner 18” Stove
- GP Factor Canopy Camper Rear Door Molle Panels
- Expedition Essentials Propane Tank Mount
- Alu-Cab 13 Gallon water tank
- Gravity Fed water spigot
- Juniper Overland Water Heater
- Water Pump w/Hose
- Alu-Cab 270° Shadow Awn
- Alu-Cab Shower Cube
- Alu-Cab Mozzie/Midge Nets
- Blue Ridge Overland Gear Tire Bag Storage
- Dickinson P9000 Propane Fireplace with GP Factor Fitment Kit
So that’s Tortuga! We can’t wait to have some videos showing you our rig in the future. Until then, let us know in the comments below what questions you might have or what you decided to go with for your rig!
What do you think?? Drop us a line!