Made In Arizona: Valley-based company selling gears that make "glamping" possible

PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- If people ever wanted to experience the great outdoors without having to pitch a tent or sleep on the ground, look no further than Turtleback Trailers.

The Valley-based company now ships its camping trailers to sites across the country.

"Sleeping on the ground here in Arizona is fun with the scorpions and snakes," said Dave Munsterman. "You don't run into many of those but we've got 'em."

Thankfully, camping has come a long way from sleeping on the ground.

"Someone could get out of the tent-camping phase and get into a comfortable bed with hot water, and make it a comfortable place for mom and the kids to go camping too," said Munsterman.

This is what one might call Glamping. Glamour camping. Camping in style.

Munsterman owns Turtleback Trailers, operating in South Phoenix since 2013.

"We bring in pallets of steel, pallets of aluminum, we cut them out on plasma cutters," said Munsterman.

The idea came from a personal void.

"I was a backpacker forever," said Munsterman. "I always slept on the ground. I'm pushing 60 years old now, I don't want to sleep on the ground anymore. I feel like its sucking the life out of me."

These rigs run the gamut from basic, around $11,000, to luxurious, topping out around $40,000.

"So we have our expedition model, which is rightly named and it's 42 gallons of freshwater, a water heater, a shower, a full kitchen. They're designed to have a king size bed on top, and they are light enough to pull behind a Jeep or small SUV," said Munsterman.

At first, Munsterman did everything himself, from the building to the selling. Now, he says the company is thriving, shipping trailers all over the country. He also has a full team to help.

"As time's gone on, I've been able to bring in some great staff from the Valley," said Munsterman.

Turtleback Trailers
https://turtlebacktrailers.com/