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Daytripper Easel
Daytripper Easel

Daytripper Plein Air Easel

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The Daytripper Easel is a combination of a palette box that hooks onto a tripod, and a support for your canvas or panel.

Company name: Prolific Painter

Website:  www.prolificpainter.com

Pochade box name: Daytripper Starter Package

Type: Palette Boxes/PanelSupport

Price range:  $415

Weight: 4lb 1.8kg

Palette size: 9.5″x15.5″, 24cm x 39cm

Construction: Wood

Average Rating: 3.6 stars (based on 14 ratings)

Description

The Daytripper is a lightweight setup with the advantage over a pochade because the palette is at a more comfortable height and there is less weight on the tripod head. This means the setup is more stable. It fits most 1/2′ 20 – thread tripods.

Daytripper Easel
Daytripper Starter Package

A recommended setup is:

  • Daytripper easel
  • Palette: Neutral Gray Plexiglass
  • 18″ End Mount Upright Panel Holder with 8″ crossbars for small plein air paintings (11″x14″, 28cm x 76cm)
  • extra quick release plate

UPRIGHT PANEL HOLDERS

The upright panel holders have wide crossbars which gives very good stability.

Daytripper panel support system
Daytripper panel support system
 

DOLICA TRIPOD 
Dolica AX620B100 Aluminum Tripod

Or Amazon
Dolica GX650B204 Proline GX Series 65 inch Aluminum Tripod and Ball Head Combo for DSLR, SLR 

Construction

The construction is wood together with metal fixings for attaching to a tripod.

How to set it up

A nice feature of the horizontal bars that hold the canvas is that they are so thin so that they do not get in the way of your painting surface. Yet as you tighten the back screw it tilts and grips even a stretched canvas very tightly. It handles both thin panels and canvases, provided they are not too thick.

Daytripper Crossbar for panel holder
Daytripper Crossbar mechanism for gripping canvases

End or center mount?

Two types of panel holder are available: center mounted and end mounted. One question is whether to use the center mount or end mount?
This is the Daytripper easel with a center mounted upright panel holder. The specifications are:

  • 24″ Off Center Mount Upright Panel Holder with
  • 16″ crossbars

This setup is for larger plein air paintings (24″x30″, 61cm x 76cm). The canvas shown is a gallery wrapped 24″x24″ canvas on stretcher bars.

Daytripper easel with a center mounted upright panel holder
Daytripper easel with a center mounted upright panel holder

One small problem with this setup is that you cannot get it vertical with a canvas of these dimensions. It is also very wobbly and unstable with the Dolica AX620B100 Aluminum Tripod shown.

I found that if you bring the back leg forward it shifts the center of gravity too far forward and the easel becomes unstable. Extending the tripod top pole and lowering the legs lowered the canvas well below eye height for me, and so was also no solution.

The bottom line is I would recommend the Daytripper easel only with the end mount and possibly the center mount for a bit more stability, but only for panels no bigger than 16″x20″ except in an emergency.

Comparison

To compare it with other plein air easels, see my Guide to Plein Air Easels.
To compare it with other pochade boxes, see my Guide to Pochade Boxes.

Reviews of Daytripper Easel

This is my current favorite

This is my current favorite portable system. It is very lightweight and easy to set up. Also the canvas holder system is really nice. You can fit panels on and also stretched panels. The narrow lip holds the panel really firmly and is completely unobtrusive. Even then I am finding the palette a little on… Read more “This is my current favorite”

Barry Raybould
United Kingdom

I love the Daytripper –

I love the Daytripper – having used several alternatives in the past. I don’t paint huge panels/stretched canvas en plein air, but I DO use it for larger pieces in studio – it’s so easy to move around, and has a small footprint, and is so adjustable. I have 2 masts, the 18″ and the… Read more “I love the Daytripper –”

Casey Cheuvront
United States

The palette box is super!

Josh’s palette box is fabulous! Needing to have the flexibility to paint really large, I designed my own easel but I take this palette box everywhere with me. I weighs ounces, fits easily in a carryon, cleans up well and of great importance, has enough space to readily mix paints, even for a 36×48″ painting.… Read more “The palette box is super!”

Cynthia Rosen
USA

Great design by a prolific plein air painter

I use Josh Been’s Upright Panel Holders (UPH) for watercolor painting. They are well designed, sturdy and adaptable to the sometimes unique needs of a watercolorist. Since the UPH is designed to attach to a tripod with a ball head, I can lay my painting surface flat for wet-in-wet washes, or at a slight angle,… Read more “Great design by a prolific plein air painter”

Doug Moench
USA

The Best Yet

My criteria for an enjoyable plein air experience is dependent on three things 1 Stability of the canvas Because the palette rests on two tripod legs I find it to be much more stable than those where all the weight Is on the one point ball Joint No more holding the canvas while I m… Read more “The Best Yet”

Jean comerford
USA

Daytripper easel not delivered

A bad experience with ordering the daytripper easel. It seemed the ideal easel but the order never came.

Paul Hunter
Singapore

Will not do business with him again

His Day Tripper came highly recommended by my instructor. So I ordered it. While his website stated that it was in stock – after purchase I received notice that he had to make it first. Delay wasn’t too long, but it came missing the T-nut necessary to attach the mast (upright) to my tripod. I… Read more “Will not do business with him again”

Karen Fess
USA

Customer services is not that good

I ordered the daytripper package back in december and it was about 2 weeks before they shipped…I finally got the package but it was missing a crossbar…so I emailed them, and it was several days with no reply so I emailed them again. they eventially replied saying they will get that part right off to… Read more “Customer services is not that good”

Kevin Evans
United States

Still have not received my order

I placed an order over a month ago and still haven’t received my easel. Reached out a couple of times already, no responses to the email messages on their website, got an Instagram reply 2 weeks ago saying my easel would likely ship that day, still haven’t received my order or a shipping confirmation. Terrible… Read more “Still have not received my order”

Chance Yarbrough
USA

I ordered an easel and

I ordered an easel and other items more than two weeks ago. I immediately received an e-mail that the easel was being built but received no receipt for the purchases. Charges for the items have appeared on my credit card. I have subsequently sent several e-mails asking for information about the expected time of delivery… Read more “I ordered an easel and”

Ellen Pollard
USA

Stay far away

As you can see by most of the reviews the company has pretty much shut down. Takes the money and if you are lucky you get an easel months later. No replies to emails or calls ever. Owner has proudly proclaimed what a successful businessman he is that he gets to contribute the earnings to… Read more “Stay far away”

Dalan Wells
United States

No issues with getting the daytripper easel

I had no problems with ordering, or receiving, the daytripper easel. Joshua Been was great to work with. I did have a wait between ordering and receiving but accepted that this a small business with an owner that loves to paint as well as make easels for others. It is a great system.

Janne Potter
Canada

Fly On The Wall

I just wanted to let everyone know a positive experience. I hesitantly ordered a Fly On The Wall package for a future trip, and prepared to wait months. However another opportunity came up earlier, so I emailed Prolific Painter and asked if there was any way they could get my easel to me a little… Read more “Fly On The Wall”

Daniel Holmes
USA

Good experience getting my Daytripper Easel

I found myself in an unusual situation in April 2024 where I had to relocate for an unknown length of time at the beginning of a painting class—so I was looking for a portable painting setup fast and reached out to the Prolific Painter. Nick responded immediately to my query about shipping time. It took… Read more “Good experience getting my Daytripper Easel”

Helen Hillebrand

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Thank You

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope you find it useful. If you would like to get free painting tips by email, please sign up for my free tips newsletter.

If you are interested in a structured approach for learning how to paint, take a look at my online painting classes.

Happy painting!

Barry John Raybould
Virtual Art Academy

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