JK/JL Jeep Camper Concept

[LostInTheWorld]

Definitely liking this, I'm pretty sure my next overlander will be a JKU with a camper body, likely smaller than this.

Well done.

Thank you! This project has been a ton of work, so it's really satisfying to see it finally come together recently.


After working on the new JLU for the last 6 months, I like it quite a bit, but we also like our older JK. I think both the JKU and JLU are good options for a vehicle like this. The JLU is lighter with more aluminum and such than the JK, but it also has a lot more electronics to deal with.


The 6 ft wide and 7.5 ft long habitat feels like a nice volume inside. It will be fun to get into the interior buildout. I think it might be a pretty comfortable size.

We actually test drove the JLU camper for the first time yesterday. It felt nice and light while accelerating and turning. It seems good so far.

 

[nwoods]

Just curious, how tall are you?

 

[LostInTheWorld]

Just curious, how tall are you?

I'm 6'2".

 

[Mules]

Very impressive build! I had a similar path as you, and I loved AEV's vehicle, but decided to build off a Gladiator. Good luck and yours looks great!

 

[AggieOE]

This is an overdue update on this project, but here is a quick rundown of the current state of the vehicle design and build. Overall, it is going very well. I have been working on the project 7 days a week for the last 6 months and it is all really taking shape now.

• We relocated back to the large shop space where we built our Unimog in 2017-2019
• I decided to build two identical jeep campers at the same time (one for Yvonne and I and a second one for a friend)
• The base vehicles are recent year jeep JLU wranglers
• The finished vehicle will fit in a standard height sea container for shipping
• The camper is 6 ft wide and 7.5 ft long inside
• I am currently building the pop top roof that will be hinged on the forward edge
• There will be standing height with the top up, and sitting height with the top down
• I did a lot of design and material trades and decided on a composite sandwich panel build with an integrated steel roll bar attachment
• I decided to go with a flat sided camper to maximize internal volume
• I have tried to include some nice detail features like a slide out ladder that stows under the camper floor and a full sized passthrough to the cab of the jeep from the habitat
• Like normal, I did all of the fabrication work myself (including custom composite wall panels)
• I was able to remove 623 lb from the original jeep by cutting the back body off
• Currently the vehicle with the nearly finished camper shell on it is under the original curb weight
• Including almost all of the intended aftermarket upgrades, the first vehicle is currently 1,235 lb under the max GVW rating
• After an intense 6 months of building, I “might” have the first one ready for a trip to Overland Expo West (If you are there, come find me a say hi!)
• A friend has just arrived and is helping a ton with electrical and lots of details before Expo
• The interior will be totally empty by Expo, but the outside of the vehicle will hopefully be pretty much finished
• I’ve been posting all the project updates on my Instagram: @wabi_sabi_overland

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This really does look to be an incredible build. This would be a pretty awesome turn-key adventure platform. Lightweight, small, but yet also big.

 

[Mules]

Love to see your plans/layout of the interior. Curious if you're going solar or propane.

Also love your location for the spare and Hi-lift jack.

 

[LostInTheWorld]

Very impressive build! I had a similar path as you, and I loved AEV's vehicle, but decided to build off a Gladiator. Good luck and yours looks great!

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I really like the way your Gladiator top turned out. I was watching your progress early-on, but I hadn't check in on your progress in a while, so I hadn't seen how it tuned out. It looks like a great living volume.

 

[LostInTheWorld]

This really does look to be an incredible build. This would be a pretty awesome turn-key adventure platform. Lightweight, small, but yet also big.

Thanks. I'm really happy with how the size feels and how it turned out in general. After all of that work over the winter, my wife and I are getting excited to take this first camper on some test trips soon. The second (identical) camper that I made is going to our friend Dan Grec, and we will be putting it on his JLU in a few weeks. It will be neat to test the two vehicles out and see how we like them. New configurations like this are always a bit of an experiment, so it will be interesting to get these two campers out on the road.

 

[LostInTheWorld]

Love to see your plans/layout of the interior. Curious if you're going solar or propane.

Also love your location for the spare and Hi-lift jack.

I did a bunch of interior layouts work last years in CAD, but I decided to wait on any final decisions until we could get a real life feel for how the camper volume feels inside. It feels a bit larger than I imagined, so I think we have some good layout options. I'll try to post more about the inside soon.

I have 525 watts of Renogy flex panels for the roof, and I will probably go with 200 Ahr of lithium batteries under the front camper floor (I don't have them yet). That is a bit less total capacity than we had on our mog, but I think it will be plenty for what we are used to plus maybe enough for a small induction top. I have a new Planar diesel heater left over from one of my previous builds that I plan to install for heat. It will be WAY too high of capacity for such a small camper, but I think it will work well enough.

 

[LostInTheWorld]

Here are a few photos from the last week.

 

[Mules]

Incredible build! I was wondering what Dan was going to be driving on his next adventure, and now I know. Looks like both of you will have amazing all terrain vehicles. I'm just a weekend warrior so far, but some day I'll join the big leagues. Here is a little trip from last weekend.

 

[LostInTheWorld]

Incredible build! I was wondering what Dan was going to be driving on his next adventure, and now I know. Looks like both of you will have amazing all terrain vehicles. I'm just a weekend warrior so far, but some day I'll join the big leagues. Here is a little trip from last weekend.

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That looks like a great camp spot. Getting out in the fresh air is what it's all about. I've been spending way too much time in the shop working on these campers lately. My wife and I really look forward to hitting the road again.

 

[86scotty]

I saw Dan's latest video this week cutting his Jeep apart for the conversion. Nice work! I can't wait to see what you guys do with the interior.

Any pics of inside progress anywhere yet?

 

[LostInTheWorld]

I saw Dan's latest video this week cutting his Jeep apart for the conversion. Nice work! I can't wait to see what you guys do with the interior.

Any pics of inside progress anywhere yet?

Awesome, I’m glad that you saw Dan’s video. I’ve been meaning to post more about the build, but I’ve been too busy in the shop over the last 7 months to post details as much as I had hoped. It is great to have Dan here filming now. Stay tuned for more videos from him as we work through the camper installation steps.

Dan and I have been talking a lot about interior layouts. We have different requirements for the interiors of the two campers, so I think the layouts will be different and maybe even the pop-top geometry. I think it will be cool to build out the insides in different ways and then compare the two. Right now both campers are totally empty inside, but I'll try to remember to take a few photos and post them here.

 

[mog]

I saw Dan's latest video this week cutting his Jeep apart for the conversion. Nice work! I can't wait to see what you guys do with the interior.

For those of you who have not figured out that Dan Grec (world-famous The Road Chose Me) is the owner/builder/driver of the other rig, he has videos up on his YouTube channel
Here: