Earlier this year, Washington-based Mammoth Overland introduced a hard-sided prototype rooftop tent it refused to call a tent. Now that it's officially launched the production version, it's sticking with that anti-tent branding in calling it a rooftop camper. That's because the miniature SKL shelter doesn't have a shred of tent canvas, relying instead on aircraft-grade aluminum to create a fast-pitching cabin that battles winter with an uprated insulation package. Mammoth further cuts ties with the tent industry by slapping on a five-figure price tag.
Introduced this month, the production SKL – a stylized abbreviation standing for "Skull" – looks largely the same as the prototype, save for its "rescue me" orange paint. It has, however, undergone some further development since its first showing.
"When we debuted the SKL Concept at Overland Expo West in Flagstaff this May, we received a ton of great feedback," said Mammoth Overland president Scott Taylor. "Over the last six months, our engineers implemented that feedback, refined SKL, improving its features and usability, and created the production unit that our customers asked for."
One big change Mammoth identifies is quicker setup courtesy of a front door redesign. The company says fulll set-up can happen in as little as 30 seconds. It's really a straightforward matter of lifting the strut-assisted roof and then folding up and securing the three wall panels in place.
Mammoth previously demonstrated itself to be a very bear-aware operation, and while we have little confidence in folding aluminum panels standing up to a full and furious bear attack, a hard-sided camper does bring an extra touch of assurance that a fabric tent can't match.
As Mammoth's PR team pointed out when announcing the SKL, the hard walls also help the tent meet restrictions against soft-sided tents and campers sometimes set in areas like Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. These restrictions are usually temporary, but having a hard-sided shelter will ensure you won't run afoul if they do pop up, especially valuable when planning a trip far in advance.
Whether or not the SKL's hard walls would hold up to raging bear claws, they promise to crank up insulation, offering a claimed R-value of R5. That's a far cry from the R12/R25 figures Mammoth cited for the WLY cold-weather squaredrop trailer it introduced a year ago, but it's certainly better than the sub-1 R-value you'd expect from tent fabric and more in line with the level of insulation you'd get from a four-season sleeping pad.
Inside, the SKL offers a super-queen sleeping area measuring 89 x 59 in (226 x 150 cm), providing a comfortable stay for two people and maybe a child between them. Two rows of Mammoth's signature stretched oval porthole windows on the roof edges let light in during the day and provide a glimpse at the shimmering sky at night.
The interior includes strip lighting and a three-way bidirectional roof fan powered by an integrated 6-Ah Renogy battery pack. A pair of optional flood lights secures to the left and/or right side of the tent and taps into that battery to serve as campsite lights.
That battery might work as a tent battery, but it's not quite a "camper's" worth of power. Mammoth closes the gap by offering 104- and 208-Ah Renogy battery packs as optional upgrades. As on the prototype, those battery options take advantage of Renogy's slimline solid-state battery architecture to fit inside the shelter.
While well slimmer than a conventional lithium-ion or AGM battery, those Renogy options still add some extra heft to the already-heavy SKL tent. Renogy estimates the 104-Ah option at 30 lb (13.6 kg), the 208-Ah pack doubling it to 60 (27.2 kg). That's not too much of a load on its own, but campers who want to throw a set of crossbars on the SKL roof and take advantage of its impressive 500-lb (227-kg) carry capacity might be better off leaving extra weight off and wiring a battery upward from the vehicle.
The SKL itself weighs in at an even 300 lb (136 kg), according to Mammoth. That puts it well over what typical rooftop tents weigh, and buyers will want to be careful to check the dynamic weight capacity of their vehicle/roof rack before dropping on all that heft.
As an example, the Küat Ibex pickup bed rack we've been testing for an upcoming review has an advertised dynamic weight capacity of 300 lb. So it could just handle the SKL without going over that rated capacity, but any options or any other gear mounted to the rack would immediately spike it above and beyond.
We'd also be concerned about the point at which loading a rack system, 300-lb tent, options and up to 500 lb of crossbar-mounted gear on top would overload the truck's bed rails and would therefore look hard at a bed stiffening system if we were trying to mount up an SKL on our pickup truck.
But we suppose buyers who have US$11,500 to spend on a rooftop camper should have money to spend on a rock-solid base vehicle and properly reinforced carry system to transport it. That price edges out the hard-walled 275-lb (125-kg) AntiShanty Rooftop Dwelling, now starting at a $10,500 retail, and the 200-lb (91-kg) Hardsider Hardtent that still appears to be the most affordable, practical way to camp behind hard walls atop a vehicle roof at $6,000.
On the positive side, the SKL prices well cheaper than the now-discontinued $25K Redtail RTC. So there's that.
Take a closer look at the SKL in Mammoth Overland's new promo video below.
Source: Mammoth Overland
