When you buy a camper you gain adventure, but lose your truck’s tailgate. Not anymore. The ModCAP Base with Tailgate was built to end that trade-off.
It came out of a very specific ask from our US market, where “tailgating” is a way of life. People gather on the lowered tailgates of their trucks to watch the game, cast a line or crack a cold one with friends. When a camper takes that away, it quietly takes away something people genuinely love. So the brief was simple to say and hard to solve. Give them the ModCAP, without asking them to give up their tailgate.
It Didn’t Start as a Camper at All
To understand how we got there, you have to go back to the beginning. The ModCAP didn’t start life as a camper. It started as a shipping problem. Isma-eel Ariefdien, technical lead designer on the engineering team, is refreshingly honest about it. “The original design of the ModCAP was primarily to save on shipping costs,” he says. “On the original Canopy Camper, only about six to eight units fit inside a shipping container. The ModCAP’s modular design roughly doubled that.”
What began as a smarter way to pack a container became a smarter way to build a camper. And then it kept evolving. “It grew into something we didn’t initially know it would become,” Ish explains. “As a designer, you often start by solving a specific need and then retrofit and adapt.” That instinct to solve the problem in front of you, then let the platform grow, is the through-line of the ModCAP story. The Base with Tailgate is simply its latest chapter.
Built Inside the Tightest of Briefs
Doing it meant working inside one of the tightest briefs the team has ever set itself. The whole point was to stay as close as possible to the existing ModCAP Base. It had to slot straight into the ecosystem customers and dealers already know. That left Ish a narrow lane to work in, and he leaned into it. “My main playground was redesigning the internal supports and structure, which worked out well.”
It’s a deliberate constraint that pays off directly for the customer. The ModCAP Base with Tailgate runs with most of the existing ModCAP accessory range (the full ModCAP Rear Door Kitchen being the one exception), so nobody has to learn a whole new system to build the setup they want.
Tested Harder Than It Needed to Be
Redesigning those internal supports wasn’t a cosmetic exercise. Removing the traditional camper’s rear frame is a serious structural decision, and the team refused to guess their way through it. They tested it hard and the prototype surprised them. “It performed much better than we expected,” Ish says.
Even so, they reinforced it anyway, with thicker material and extra support in the corners where stress concentrates. “This was crucial because the traditional camper’s rear frame is removed in this design.” The flex-test proved it. The Alu-Cab philosophy in one sentence — when you take something away, you make sure what’s left is stronger than it needs to be.
Locking It From the Inside
The detail Ish gets genuinely animated about is the lock. We didn’t want anyone popping the external latches from the outside while someone was asleep. So the team engineered a new rotating striker-plate mechanism. You lock the external push-buttons, open the two latches to climb in, close the door, and throw the internal latches to secure from the inside. Ish even added an internal handle, borrowed from the design language of the Alu-Cab roof boxes, so that getting out is just as effortless. It’s a small piece of hardware doing a big job. That’s peace of mind, engineered in.
Built for the Weekend Warrior
A weekend warrior is a person who uses their truck for work through the week and full-sends the weekend. The one who needs the whole bed open to throw in a bike, a large pallet, a cooler, or a stack of boards without squeezing into a camper door for the privilege. “The ModCAP Base with Tailgate addresses specific pain points, like wanting to keep the tailgate for work or weekend use,” Ish says.
Ish is honest about where this product doesn’t deliver as well as the original ModCAP Base with full camper door. “An OEM tailgate doesn’t seal completely, so it’s not ideal for long, dusty off-road trips. But it’s perfect for a weekend camping trip.” It’s a leaner, more minimalist setup by design and it does the everyday brilliantly.
Fit to a Truck in Four Bolts
That everyday usability is where the ModCAP with Tailgate really wins. It’s lighter and behaves more like a standard canopy. It ships with a front window — non-sliding, to preserve the water-tank functionality — that hands you back your view through the rear-view mirror, something the original ModCAP Base quietly takes away.
It’s lighter on your truck too, and sheds roughly 20–25 kg by losing the rear door and filler kit.
One Camper. Zero Compromises.
That’s really the whole idea. The ModCAP built its name by being a modular solution that grows with you. The ModCAP Base with Tailgate is the next step in that story. For anyone looking for a camper that’s a bit more versatile, weekend warriors who want to take all their toys camping with them, tradespeople who need their truck to do truck things, sports fans tailgating in the stadium parking lot… the ModCAP Base with Tailgate has been engineered so you keep your tailgate, keep your truck, and keep the benefits of a camper.