WJ Ute - camper?

[b. rock]

So, I have been eyeballing my WJ in the garage and the Smyth Ute conversion. I chatted with Mark the other day, and he thinks a reasonable payload would be ~1k lbs. A composite body camper for a 5' bed is listed in the 525lb range. 475 lbs for people, dogs, gear, water, will be tight, but doable. Can leave the rear window out so you have a passthrough too, or just run it like a regular truck camper.

So it got me thinking, why not make a new take on the Earthroamer Jeep? The biggest drawback on those was the 3.8 V6. The 4.7 easily out muscles that thing and has a better trans attached to it. Frame stiffeners just for extra belt & suspenders for the weight. End result would be a solid axle, capable, but small, 4x4 camper. What am I missing? Besides the usual WJ hate anyway.

 

[lkosh]

What composite camper are you seeing for a 5' bed that's in the 525lb range? Or are you talking a custom built composite camper?

I'm definitely curious about something like this.

 

[b. rock]

I stand corrected, 540 lbs. https://totalcomposites.com/lynx-slide-in-camper/

 

[ProjectMFOR]

I've been thinking about this myself. The 1k payload was what I thought the limit would be. You could cut weight if you went with the FWC project M style, 350lbs instead of 540lbs.