OGT Expedition 2.0: 2019 vs 2020

Feel free to ask me what my thoughts are on any of the changes in the comment section at the bottom and I’d be happy to answer them if I can.

A friend of mine received his 2020 OGT Expedition 2.0 trailer recently and and I went over to checkout the difference and lend him a hand with setting up his Max Coupler hitch.

This post is not going to cover all the changes between the two year models, as I do not know what all of them are. I am going to try and show the major changes via some “before and after” style photos. You will notice that many of the images have a slider in the middle of them. You can use this slider to compare the 2019 (on the left) to the new 2020 (on the right).

I noticed only one change to the exterior of the front box. That was the cargo basket on top. The major changes seem to be the back panel and the construction of the front and side pieces.

Moving inside the front box there are some changes to the layout of various components.

The 2019 has a battery box that completely encloses the batteries. The 2020 battery box is open on the front. It is much easier to check the status of your electrical terminations on the 2020 model, but the terminals are protected better on the 2019 model. The battery box is quite a bit smaller on the 2020 (but the batteries are slightly longer), giving you several more inches of space to store something small next to it.

Below is the 2019 battery box with the lid removed.

This 2020 model had twin Gen 1 Genius battery chargers instead of the single Gen 2 of the 2019. I’m not sure if one is better than the other or not. The 2020 has them mounted up high on the front wall of the front box instead of buried down on the back wall.

Moving around to the kitchen we can see some of the changes made to that area. The fold down kitchen is no longer supported by a cable. It now has a bracket on the door that supports it, so the door is secured in place whenever the kitchen is down. Nice!

The speakers are now mounted in the fold down kitchen as well. They don’t seem to be as loud as the 2019 versions. They are much smaller and now one is facing to the rear of the trailer which might account for a loss in volume. They do have the benefit of not filling with mud when going down muddy trails.

The sink is now made in house by OGT and is a nice unit. It allows for a more flush food prepping surface while you cook, but you lose the faucet’s ability to swivel from side to side. It now just raises and lowers.

Around the back there are some more changes. The rear door is no longer fiberglass, it now is aluminum on both sides and appears to be made in house by OGT. It is also wider, but not as tall (although you do not lose any height inside) and the opening is more flush with the bottom of the rear storage area. Overall it is a much cleaner look to the rear of the trailer. It allows the rear door to be keyed the same as the other boxes around the trail. That is one less key, and that is a good thing!

Inside the rear storage is pretty much the same besides the door being nearly flush with the bottom shelves. The other noticeable change is that the 2020 model does not have the access panel on the right side. It has been mentioned on the OGT Owner’s group on FB that the new rear latch interferes with putting a FrontRunner Wolf Pack in the lower left postion.

Note that my trailer on the left has had carpet put on the shelves to help keep things from sliding around so much and to protect the powder coating from scratches.

Moving on to the shower box there are quite a few changes to be seen here. The major difference is that the box has been enlarged to hold the Proplex heater as well as the hot water heater. On the 2019 the heater was up on the roof, under the roof rack rails. Up there it took up a very large portion of the roof. By moving it down to the shower box you get several benefits. The first is all the freed up real estate on the roof. It would now be possible to put some larger tables up there. The next benefit is that the heater is now much easier to access if needed. And finally, since the heater’s exhaust pipe routes through the shower box, it should provide a little extra warmth in there for the hot water heater during cold nights. I’m not sure if it would keep the hot water heater from freezing overnight or not though.

The propane hose and regulator have been relocated.

The bracket for the shower head has been moved to a better location. Also, the water pump switch has been upgraded and moved to a bracket below the hot water tank. This is a much better setup then the 2019 where the switch was mount inside the cover of the hot water heater.

The 2020 model has new awning brackets. These appear to have a lot more adjustability to them and man, do they look nice!

The interior received several updates as well. For starters the cabinets have been updated. If you for go the TV option, you now get two lower doors to access the bottom compartment. These doors open downward so they can be used a table. They do have supports on the outer walls to help hold them up, but they were a bit wobbly in the center. I would suggest carrying a support that would span the full width of the trailer to give them more support if used as a true table. The heater vents have been moved to the control panel from the ceiling.

Below is a photo of the optional full width front shelf. It makes for a nice place to store things while you are setup at camp, but is right in the way if you like to lean against the wall and read/watch something at night.

And last but not least, the trailer doors are now made in house by OGT and they are very nice indeed. So nice in fact, that with all of the other little upgrades, I kind of wish we would have ordered a new 2020 model instead of picking up an in stock 2019.

As you can see below, the new doors use all of the vertical space on the side of the trailer. This makes them much taller and easier to get into. I actually wish they would have raised the lower edge of the doors a couple of inches though. You would have to “crawl” over a lower lip if they did that, but you already do this to a certain extent since the mattress is right there when you open the door. If they would have raised the bottom, not only would it have held the mattress and bedding in a little nicer, it would have also give a little more fording depth when crossing water. Maybe int he 3.0 version?

The new doors are made out of aluminum instead of fiberglass. They have a built in latch to keep them held open in normal conditions.

I did not measure it, but I believe the window is wider and taller. It for sure is an upgrade with smoother opening and closing as well has having two open positions. The addition of an actual handle to pull the door closed from the inside is nice as well. On initial inspection, it was unclear what the two adjustment knobs on the right side of the inside of the door. Maybe they are to access the locking mechanisms if needed?

Over all the improvements to the 2020 models are well thought out and executed. Each one adds more usability to the trailer and are well worth the modest price increase over the previous year models. If you have looked at an older model in the past and were trying to decide if this trailer is right for you, you can rest assured that it is even better now.

I will wrap this up with some photos of the 2019 next to the new 2020 models, the former pulled by a Jeep Gladiator and the later a Jeep JK. The front wheels of the Jeep’s were aligned for these photos.