2021 Badlands 2-Dr (New to Me) Camping Build

[mwkeating]

Happy new owner of a 2021 Badlands 2-Door with a 7MT.

After much research, the 2Door Bronco was the only vehicle I could reasonably build out as a camper that would fit in my single parking spot with my motorcycle. I’d started down the path of considering a Maverick (smallest pickup I could find) - but quickly discovered that it would be impossible to fit the bike and truck within the dimensions of a standrard parking spot. Was pleasantly surprised to find the 2Door Bronco was ~2 ft shorter in length - and I could make it work!

Buying used means theres a lot less flexibility in what you have on offer. The most reasonbly priced 2dr 7MT I could find was the Badlands edition with the Lux Package. Had 76K kms (~45k Miles). I have never been offroading, so the Badlands part of the package is likely to be overkill for my needs, but the Luxpackage options were a nice addition. I hated the idea of giving up heated seats for the Canadian winters.

Now the fun begins.

So far I have:
- replaced the factory roof rack with a TrailRax rack with packracks. (New)
- Mounted a Go Overlands Canada Journey Lite RTT (used)
- Installed a Anker Solix Everfresh 58L dual zone Battery / electric cooler (New) on a custom build fridge slide on the driver side (deleted the driver side rear seat) The cooler can run for 30-60 hours on one charge, though I do have a n Anker Solix C1000 (1000WH) back up battery which will be used to recharge the cooler, charge computers and run the Starlink Mini will away from shore power.
- Added a swing gate table (amazon special) to the interior of the swing gate.
- Mounted traction boards (had these sitting around, using them as levelling options, not for actual traction) to the passenger side and a 2G Rotopax water container on the driver side of the rack.

Over the next few months, I plan to:
- build out the passenger side of the rear by adding a removable kitchen slide mounted high enough that I can leave the passenger seat in the vehicle for use when the kitchen slide is not installed.
- add a 270 awning (OVS Nomadic HD LTE is my preferred option right now) on the driver side of the vehicle
- add a solar shower to the passenger side of the vehicle. (I have a used, discontinued one already in hand from Go Overland Canada that is bbasically the same design as the Yakima 7G one, just need to fabricate brackets for it)


Any advice is welcome.

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[HalfmuleFarmer]

Load up and put her on the scales to see how close you are to the GVWR. Beefing up your rear suspension might be your next set of purchases.

 

[SHOCALL]

Nice rig homey.

 

[mwkeating]

Load up and put her on the scales to see how close you are to the GVWR. Beefing up your rear suspension might be your next set of purchases.

Yeah - gonna have to be careful on that one for sure. The RTT is the most compact and lightweight model I could find (~100lbs), but once I have everything mounted in the rear, I will need to sort out whether I am getting too heavy.

Great suggestion.

 

[The Green Flash]

Impressive build out. Looks like you're ready for most anything.


Just my own camping setup - a 50 liter backpack stuffed with a few clothes, hammock setup with bug net and tarp for sleeping, jetboil and water purifier for cooking, couple of nalgene bottles so I'm not pumping water every day, and a pool floaty for the lake I'm camping next to. Oh, and a trowel to dig a cathole and a roll of mountain money - I didn't see if your buildout had provisions for answering the call of nature in there, you might want to add that in. Toss in a cooler full of ice,water and beer, and I'm ready for wherever the open road takes us.

My whole kit fits behind the back seat (or on my back!), weighs in around 40 pounds max, and leaves plenty of room for the Blitz to join me adventuring.

 

[HalfmuleFarmer]

Impressive build out. Looks like you're ready for most anything.


Just my own camping setup - a 50 liter backpack stuffed with a few clothes, hammock setup with bug net and tarp for sleeping, jetboil and water purifier for cooking, couple of nalgene bottles so I'm not pumping water every day, and a pool floaty for the lake I'm camping next to. Oh, and a trowel to dig a cathole and a roll of mountain money - I didn't see if your buildout had provisions for answering the call of nature in there, you might want to add that in. Toss in a cooler full of ice,water and beer, and I'm ready for wherever the open road takes us.

My whole kit fits behind the back seat (or on my back!), weighs in around 40 pounds max, and leaves plenty of room for the Blitz to join me adventuring.

That is one happy dog!

 

[zyglyrox]

Nice, not everyone needs a 4dr and the whole kitchen sink! 2drs rule!

 

[Bugkillah]

Nice! Proper 2 door for off roading and camping, perfect setup with rtt and inside cab area storage. Congrats!

 

[mwkeating]

@The Green Flash That kinda low overhead system is what I use when I am on two wheels (do a lot of LD moto riding!)… but may partner considers a 3 star ”roughing it”… so for her sake this is the comprimise we’ve struck.

You are right for pointing out we do not have a “call of nature” set up yet forecast. I suspect a portable casette toilet might eventually be part of the build - but haven’t put a lot of time and attention into that yet. We’ll likely ease into being away from organized campsites, etc. so we probably have some time to figure that out as wee go down this path.

 

[Jakob1972]

We use a 5 gallon bucket trash bags baby diapers and the smelly stuff for RV toilets for our potty.
I built a 270 awning for my home built trailer. You might consider that you can customize it to fit your rig.

 

[Surge]

Interested to see where you take your build as I'm currently working on one of my own and so far, we have made very similar choices. I'll upload pictures of mine as soon as I get a chance. I'm currently exploring power and water options. Our goal is to not renew our apartment lease to travel and work from the road.

 

[The Green Flash]

@The Green Flash That kinda low overhead system is what I use when I am on two wheels (do a lot of LD moto riding!)… but may partner considers a 3 star ”roughing it”… so for her sake this is the comprimise we’ve struck.

You are right for pointing out we do not have a “call of nature” set up yet forecast. I suspect a portable casette toilet might eventually be part of the build - but haven’t put a lot of time and attention into that yet. We’ll likely ease into being away from organized campsites, etc. so we probably have some time to figure that out as wee go down this path.

I gotchu bro!

or

Two options... side mount or rear mount. That and a privacy tarp, a roll of mountain money, and game on anywhere you can dig a hole.

 

[The Green Flash]

And yes, my wife would NEVER go on either of those either.

When she comes, I drag the 21' toy hauler behind the F250. Queen sized bed, private shower and flush toilet facilities, air conditioning and central heat. Congrats on you getting your partner to at least climb into a RTT.

 

[VirginiaHeritage]

Welcome and nice build!

Looks like you have a mismatched spare. Since you have the advanced 4WD transfer case in your Badlands, which uses a clutch pack to vary power distribution in 4A, most recommend carrying a matching spare tire and doing 5-tire rotations every 5k to keep your spare useable in any drive mode. Otherwise, you really want to use that alternative tire only in 2WD for emergencies.

 

[dejones64]

Very nice! Similar to my 2-dr build. I'm still trying to find a place to mount my traction boards.

Curious about the mounting of your RTT, with the opening towards the front. Have never seen that before.

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