I also have had great success with a peel and stick weatherstrip on an action packer. I had one bolted onto my roof rack for 9 months in Australia. It was subject to massive amounts of "Bulldust", several huge rain downpours at highway speeds, and temperatures into the mid 40's Celsius (113 F...
I highly recommend truck bed liner. I made a plywood shelf for my rear bumper that I had professionally coated in truck bed liner. It was a step and a shelf to support a propane tank and folding ladder. It withstood all kinds of abuse, sun and water with no signs of deterioration or fading.
You can also get the honeycomb panels injected with foam, which gives you the rigidity of of honeycomb with the R value of 5-7 per inch depending on foam type.
I like it! The concept is very similar to the XP V2 & V3 but using flat panels. I don't see any technical issues with building the lower half of the clamshell design from off the shelf foam/composite panels. The top sides of the lower clamshell will tend to flex a lot, but can easily be braced...
I was surprised that of the 3, the Lotus proved to be the most reliable. I loved the acronym they mentioned though: Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious. I had not heard that before.
I just watched an episode of Top Gear last night. They took a Porsche 928 GT, Lotus Esprit and '71 Mustang Mach I on some pretty rough roads and tracks in Pantagonia:
More NWOR photos:
This gets my vote for best outdoor kitchen at the rally (Echo trailer):
I like the Nemo awnings on the AT Habitat:
A very cool custom camper using a Flip Pac roof:
This is the longest vehicle I saw at the rally, check out the rear overhang!