The Turtle V’s Buckstop Bumper

July 20, 2023

Aside from creature comforts of necessities like a bed, a place to cook, sit and a place to go to the bathroom, the real essence of designing an expedition camper for long-term travel is all about storage space for parts, supplies and travel gear. One of the most important first accessories many of us add to any Overland Travel vehicle is a good bumper.

While protecting both the sides and the front of our truck from a serious collision with anything including deer or perhaps a wandering cow in Mexico, it does not interfere with our forward vision.

A carefully designed bumper can have many functions in addition to keeping a deer or a wandering cow out of your radiator on a dark night in Baja California. A design like our BUCKSTOP bumper holds our WARN 16.5 ton winch, (in a locked compartment), with its roller fairlead, the Hella driving and fog lights, the front camera, the Go Pro camera, two 2¼” receivers and factory tow receptacles. Taking advantage of its box construction which gives the bumper its ultimate strength, it also provides two lockable sealed compartments on each side for spare parts and travel equipment. Securely bolted to the frame of the truck, any winching, pulling or lifting with a High Lift Jack takes the support directly from the frame. An incorporated rock guard protects the power steering cooling unit. If you’re looking for a bumper or are designing your own, check out the photos with captions for some ideas you might consider.

Taking advantage of its box construction which gives the bumper its ultimate strength, it also provides for lockable sealed compartments on each side for spare parts travel equipment.

The locking winch compartment prevents anyone from tampering with the winch controls.

The center light bar was a safe place to mount our Total Vision front camera.

The main top bar of our Buckstop bumper proved to be the ideal place for our Go Pro camera in addition to a second bracket on the roof rack.

Vertical support bars stabilize the mounting platform for auxiliary lights and offer protection for the headlights without interfering with their range of projection.

Incorporated into the design of our bumper, the 2¼” hitch receivers have many uses including a bike or motorcycle rack or pushing the trailer into a tight situation.