Rubicon question

[Haggis]

We traded our 98 Tj for the 04 LJ back in Oct. The Tj was fine for a runabout but with two kids, ages 12 and 9, it just wasn't practical for anything other than a short jaunt, there just wasn't enough room for gear. The Lj has been great, though it's a softtop it's quiter than the 98's hardtop. We took it to Virginia ( 8 hr ride) to visit jim65wagon, and with enough luggage for 5 days, coolers, & all the kids crap; we still had room left over for my wife to go on a shopping binge with my sister ( Jim's wife) and haul a bunch of crap home. Maybe it would have been better to keep the TJ after all.

 

[SeaRubi]

with 2 passengers, there's plenty of room in the back with the seat removed for a large dog and about a weeks worth of gear.

with the back seat just flipped up (e.g. not removed, which still takes up a ton of space) you can get an idea. The dog here (70lbs) is sitting comfortably in the middle, and I've got the cooler and a day-box strapped down for our afternoon jaunt. For leaving base camp, I use a couple of large cargo nets that I put all the gear inside, and then strap up top to bottom on the sides to the soft top frame. This makes great use of all that space above the wheel wells with room for a few boxes in the rear, and dogs in the middle. With the seat taken completely out there's tons of room.

Now, with kids + spouse + dog things get real interesting. I think I'm going to be able to pull it off this year with 1 child in the rear seat, fridge mounted next to her, dog in the cargo area (which is still a good size with the seat down) and using just a tail rack. If you went with a full overhead roofrack I think you'd be just fine.



fwiw