Is the Escapod Topo 2 the Ultimate Overland Teardrop Trailer?

[Music] thank you [Music] hello I'm Scott Brady with Expedition Portal and Overland journal and I am inside a very unique trailer so this is the escapod Topo II so this is a molded composite body trailer so it's all one piece they call it Peck construction and it utilizes recycled milk cartons water bottles Etc as part of the construction process so it makes for an extremely strong body it also makes for a seamless body so entirely weather sealed it's got two access doors plus it has this huge hatch that you see over my head and it currently has a bug screen and a light screen over the hatch and you can also get that on both doors so you can see that the doors here have screen hatches and also light screens so what makes this trailer very unique is the fact that it does have this one piece molded construction but it also has a heavy duty galvanized frame and independent long travel suspension fitted so you have coil springs with shock absorbers and heavy duty jounces so that the trailer has sufficient wheel travel to complement the tow vehicle oftentimes we see trailers with insufficient travel and that makes for not only a rough ride on the trailer but all of the contents within it another thing that I like about this trailer is the fact that it has a lot of storage space so it has a front nose box that you can fill with items like porta potties and and gray water storage containers propane bottles Etc and then it has an articulating hitch up front so it can handle rugged terrain so it allows for a lot of movement up and down and also side to side which would exceed what a normal ball would allow for also has a massive kitchen off of the back overall this is a made in the USA trailer that is designed for Overland travel so here we have the inside of the escapod you can really tell the attention to detail you can also see the premium construction this teardrop is quite a bit more expensive than many others on the market and it's reflected in the quality of the construction you can actually see they've molded in a vent for the truma combi unit so that's actually one of the heating vents that has an entirely molded headliner you got a fantastic fan or Max fan here really nice texture in the ceiling and that's of course going to eliminate all condensation and add for additional R-value insulation inside the trailer these LED lights run behind a diffusing strip so you get this nice soft light and it's also adjustable the interior lights can be dimmed on the side here you've got a little shoe storage and then this is another set of vents heater Vents and they actually have you can see inside there some reliefs cut in and then that pumps hot air into your shoes when I put my shoes on this morning it's actually quite cold here in Arizona I put on really warm shoes this morning so this is a little bit of a coat closet you can see the hooks hanging hats and jackets and then you have these large storage bins for clothing so you've got one on each side so that there's two people in the trailer can have their own little wardrobes and then this one is quite interesting so this flips down a lot more storage there but then these little side panels they swing out and then this becomes your home theater so you can just set your your iPad here and watch a movie no problem with these open you can see the inside we have our truma Combi control unit that allows us to change the temperature on the inside you can also go to full off and then it also allows us to adjust the water temperature because this has hot water on board for showering and for cleaning so you would select that and then you can change the hot water all the way to boost which will really kick up the temperature for showering and here this shows our battery condition this has a large 200 amp hour lithium-ion battery on board so we've got good battery condition currently and then this is going to be your master battery disconnect there's a small control panel here this is interesting I've seen this on boats before So This Side Marine it allows you to access several different panels and it's also very easily readable so it's showing that we have a rising barometer shows the time shows how long our battery will last at the current draw I do have the star link running and then I can change through the screens shows the current voltage and the current draw at 5.8 amp hours shows the level of our water tank we currently have 13.4 gallons available it's a 20 gallon system total so it's quite interesting how much is accessible from these screens and then we've also got the ability to turn on our inverter we can also dim our interior lighting [Music] this turns on our outside lights there's a light on each side of the trailer and then these are the rock rail lights for on the trail or in Arizona if you want to light up the ground so you don't step on a snake or other Critters when you're trying to get in and out of the trailer [Music] okay so here is our rundown of the escapod kitchen so this is a slide out stove and then it has an additional slide out drawer here that gives you access to all of your utensils and there's quite a bit of space in there all of these are recessed so that it can slide in tight into the additional Cabinetry the only thing I'm noticing is it would be good to have some kind of a wind guard at least on this side to slide in place a little bit of a windy morning this drawer here just simply folds open like this to access all of your spices and some cleaning supplies pretty deep stainless steel sink and then this panel here is clever because it magnets in place they use a lot of magnets which they all seem to be working really well this exposes the three knife set and behind this panel which is also magneted in place you can actually access the truma combi unit for any repairs and then this is the water mixing valve for the shower and then the connection point for the shower as well [Music] and then in here we can see we got 120 volt Outlet currently charging the Drone space for some cups Etc there's your shower connection here so this is quite clever so this just snaps into place and then the shower hose goes around the corner here [Music] and you can hang it on this so it hangs there and this is again magneted in place so it's quite strong now you've got your outside shower and then this entire space here is configurable with all these little slide in panels and then there's also the table and the table goes in front of all of this keeping everything in place so that it doesn't slide out when you're going down the trail this is your white light overhead for working at night and then you can also go to a red light and then this is going to be your water pump on and off okay and then coming around the side of the escapod here we can see that we've got rear stabilizing Jacks which are adjustable and they swing up out of the way for good clearance you can see that these are metal flares and the flares actually have these notches built into the side of them so these notches can be used to secure the table or I have no doubt they'll come out with other accessories that'll benefit from those notches and we have our water fill for fresh water and then this is that very clever table so the table slides into the notches and then it has an adjustable leg system that allows it to be configured based upon the terrain or how level the trailer is this model has the upgraded tire and wheel package so you end up with a 32 inch diameter wheel the standard 265 75 R16 which will pair well with a lot of different Vehicles out there like forerunners Etc [Music] you can see that this model also has an additional roof tent fitted to the top it's got an eye camper it's the icamper mini and it goes on to a set of Thule bars so if you had children or guests coming along they would have a place to sleep down this side this is the driver's side of the trailer we've got our truma Combi unit exhaust we've got our Shore charging to keep the batteries topped up [Music] these units can also be fitted with heavy duty Rock Rails that attach into this galvanized frame member here and then run along the bottom of the door and protect this corner this corner is a little bit vulnerable it is quite high off the ground so any normal trail conditions wouldn't be an issue but you definitely wouldn't want to impact this body this composite molded body and then you can see that the this corner would also be a bit vulnerable so that rock rail also protects that corner in the front in the storage box and then you've got an adjustable drawbar length here so this can slide inside to adjust based upon the tow vehicle which is a thoughtful feature and then this is your tongue jack and then this is an articulating hitch here so it articulates like this and it also can rotate like that I'm actually going to do my conclusions on this trailer Inside the trailer because for whatever reason Arizona has had quite the winter and the wind is howling outside you would never know it it is totally comfortable inside the trailer and that's because it does have a large capacity heater very thick wall construction and additional insulation throughout so when you've got the doors closed and you're inside this trailer it is a little cave a little comfortable cave to retire into teardrops I think are always a really interesting option for people because they satisfy what I believe is the minimum requirement of a trailer which is that you should be able to sleep inside the structure I've never understood the trailer model of putting a roof tent on top you might as well just put a roof tin on top of your vehicle and save yourself a whole bunch of money so teardrops really are the beginning of the what I believe to be the justifiable use of a trailer because they are very safe comfortable secure on the inside you can be completely out of the elements this trailer is designed to work in any conditions it's a four season trailer the water storage tank is also inside the confines of the trailer and is and benefits from the heating unit as well so this keeps the the water warm keeps things from freezing keeps you warm keeps you from freezing because you're inside of this this very nice structure overall my impressions of the trailer are this is an extreme quality trailer so most of the teardrops that we see are kind of moderate quality many of them are actually of of very light duty construction because they're not designed to be used off highway but this one is designed from the beginning to be used off highway so it has independent long travel suspension heavy duty galvanized frame composite one piece construction so you have a very durable shell durable chassis and durable suspension for long-term off Highway and Overland use I also like the fact that this trailer has so much storage on board it has a large kitchen a lot of storage on the inside for for clothing and other items and then with that big nose box you can store additional camping equipment the bed's comfortable it's quite deep it's a queen size bed or approximately a queen size bed and I found that I had a great night of sleep the one thing that you always notice with a teardrop is there's limited um leg height at the one end so your legs kind of tuck in so you got to remember that when you go to move around at night so you don't kick your shins but that's true of all teardrops so it's just something that you have to get used to when you're when you're using one but overall I'm extremely impressed I would say that my criticisms are limited we've used the trailer camping out and the only thing that I found was that the stove could use some wind protection and that's because we're in quite the storm so it would be nice to have a means of at least putting up a wind barrier on one side of the stove so that you get a better performance out of it while cooking but overall I'm having a hard time finding anything to really be critical about because this trailer is great and it's nice to see it on the market made in the United States made in Utah nice job escapod with your Topo 2. foreign