An overland trailer builder with a unique background in airborne adventure, Mammoth Overland hit the off-road camper market sprinting a few years ago, releasing a slew of crazy-rugged camper trailers one after another. This time around, it's ditching the chassis and wheels and showing a hardcore off-road camper that leaps up atop the tow vehicle roof or rack. Still a concept at the moment, the all-new SKL is a highly impressive rooftop shelter that brings along its own solid-state battery bank and insulated aluminum walls.
One of the interesting trends in RVs over the past few years has been the emergence of rooftop tents designed to serve as more self-contained campers. This new generation of shelter steps beyond mere tent by bringing along features like integrated lighting systems, built-in USB charging and staircase-like access.
Previous "rooftop camper" models we've seen rely on either the vehicle's power system or a separate power pack you bring yourself to run electrical hardware, but Mammoth takes it a step farther with an integrated battery. It takes advantage of the slim sizing of Renogy's recently launched Rego solid-state lithium battery, wiring two inside the roof construction to deliver 208 Ah of onboard power, as much as many a camper van or trailer.
That battery bank powers interior lighting strips, exterior flood lights for camp and trail, and a three-speed electric roof fan. The SKL (Skull) comes prewired for solar, adding the capability of integrated charging.
One thing the battery does not power is an electric lift system, leaving the setup of the SKL to the person(s) camping in it. The strut-assisted wedge roof lifts with ease, and the aluminum side walls and end wall fold and secure into place manually, creating a fully hard-sided high shelter with lift-up hatch window/doors on all three walls. The design also includes slim oval porthole windows on the upper left and right roof edges, a signature Mammoth feature that in this case provides natural light even with all the main doors and windows closed.
Mammoth has already proven that it's quite vigilant when it comes to bears around camp, and the SKL provides more hard-bodied security than the typical fabric-walled tent. Honestly, we're not sure if even hard walls would play out in the campers' favor if an agitated, determined bear came a-knocking, but at the very least, it would hopefully take a little longer to claw through high-strength aluminum panels than tent fabric, maybe giving those inside enough time to grab the bear spray or otherwise scare the creature away. Plus, the hard walls help the rig meet hard-sided camper-only restrictions out in serious bear country.
Mammoth's real reason for going with hard sides, though, is to apply its expertise in light-but-tough aluminum construction to boost the insulation value of the rooftop category. It says the SKL offers an R5 insulation value, and it further improves the tent's climate-optimizing performance with a white paint designed to reflect the sunlight in hot weather.
The current SKL prototype measures 89 inches (226 cm) long by 59 inches (150 cm) wide, offering enough space inside for a mattress length of 80 inches (203 cm) and a width somewhere between a full-size 54 in (137 cm)and queen-size 60 in (152 cm). At 18 in (46 cm) when packed for travel, it's taller than the average rooftop tent, including other hard-sided models, but we guess that's what happens when you integrate a battery pack into the design, even if it is a very slim one.
Mammoth has not listed an estimated weight as of yet, but we do know that Renogy's solid-state battery weighs in at 28.2 lb (12.8 kg), so that's close to 60 lb (27 kg) for the two batteries alone. The company also says that the build includes a roof rack rated to 500 lb (227 kg), which is an awesome feature but makes us wonder if they aren't hoisting way too much weight atop the vehicle roof ... or even an overland-grade pickup rack like the one pictured. For example, we know the overland-specific Kuat Ibex rack has a dynamic capacity rating of 300 lb (136 kg), which certainly wouldn't support all that tent and hundreds of pounds of gear on top.
It feels like the SKL might ultimately work better on a dedicated chassis, like one of Mammoth's rugged trailers. However, the company is really hoping to reach out to a different segment of buyer with the product, so we're not sure making another trailer out of it makes any sense.
“While our HV, ELE, TL, and WLY trailers have been wildly successful, we realized that not everyone has room to store an off-road trailer at their home," said Mammoth president Scott Taylor. "We wondered, what if a trailer and rooftop tent had a baby? SKL was born. SKL takes the features that our customers love most about our trailers and moves them to the roof of their rig."
Mammoth makes clear that the SKL it revealed at Overland Expo West over the weekend is still just a concept and not ready for production. It plans to reveal a more production-ready version later this year, at which time it will also detail more detailed specs and pricing information. We look forward to digging in further.
Source: Mammoth Overland