We needed a better way to car camp

Colfax Campers was born out of our passion for adventure and the need for a better car camping solution. Dating back to the COVID shutdown in 2020, we made a few trips to the local lumber store and set out to design a more comfortable and functional sleep platform for our SUVs. Using the few carpentry tools we had in our garage, we hand built a 3-piece, modular, carpeted sleep platform for two initial vehicles: a Subaru Outback and a Jeep Grand Cherokee. What began as a personal project quickly evolved as we refined our designs and expanded to fit more vehicle types, including most popular SUVs from Subaru, Toyota, Lexus, Jeep, Ford, and other major manufacturers.

With professional experience in mechanical design and aerospace engineering, we set our sights higher than building platforms with power tools in our garage. We've since transitioned to using industrial CNC routers, allowing us to first design our products using CAD and precision cut each platform kit with extreme accuracy and repeatability. Manufacturing on CNC routers gives us the ability to ship each kit "flat-pack" which reduces shipping costs, minimizes risk of product damage, and offers a straightforward assembly process for even the novice woodworker.

Fast forward to today, we've built over 700 platform kits since 2024, and we still handle all the design and manufacturing in-house right here in Denver, Colorado. This allows us to build each platform to order with quick turnaround times and ensure every product meets our high standards for premium quality and functionality. We're constantly innovating and refining our designs to deliver the highest-value product we possibly can. After all, the design of our products really stemmed from a personal desire to build something that we could use not only for weekend getaways, but also to maximize the functionality of the vehicles we already owned.

Have any questions for us? Please reach out, we'd be happy to chat.

Our timeline

2020

April 2020

The very first sleeper platform is built to escape the Covid 19 shutdown and travel across the US.

November 2020

A sleeper platform is built for our first customer that found us through our Facebook Marketplace. Scaling this as a business? We weren't quite there yet.

2024

January 2024

Initial platform kit design is developed in CAD and prototype is cut at a local manufacturing shop on their CNC router.

February 2024

Our first CNC-cut drawer system and sleeper platform is finalized and built for a local customer.

May 2024

Subleased our first shop space of a couple hundred square feet in South Denver.

2025

March 2025

Participated in our first overlanding trade show at the Denver Convention Center.

September 2025

Moved into our own full size shop in Lakewood Colorado to expand production for 2026.

2026

January 2026

Acquired a new CNC router to bring platform kit manufacturing in house and gain better control of quality and turnaround times for orders.

August 2026

Completed our 700th platform build. We've shown lots of progress, but still have a long way to go!