[bondo]

Christ you make some good points. The utilitarian aspects of an old style camper shell and even a tonneau cover do have some drawbacks.

A camper shell is restricted to hauling cargo no taller than the roof of the shell. The camper shell also robs around 1 mpg due to poor aerodynamics.

A tonneau cover can add anywhere from a 7 to 10% increase in fuel efficiency to the pickup. Drawbacks are it is very limited in cargo volume and you cannot camp in it.

In designing the Aerolid, I tried to put as much utilitarian chracteristics into it I could think of. The top roof can be easily removed by unhooking one end of the hydraulic struts and then by pulling two pins which hingedly connect the roof to the lower body of the Aerolid. Two people can easily and swiftly remove the roof to allow for the hauling of cargo taller than the roof. You don't have to remove the lower portion at all. The first picture I include illustrates this and it gives the truck kind of a cool look.

Another aspect of utility is the camper position. The Aerolid roof can swifly be raised and then two canvas sides and a rear hatch with a window are deployed. The Aerolid can now be used for camping or to haul a larger volume of cargo, which I have done many times. The Aerolid is fully roadable in this position at sustained freeway speed. The second picture shows the camper position.

The roof of the Aerolid also raises flush to the roof of the cab making it much easier to stow cargo toward the front truck bed wall, much easier than a tonneau cover. I do like your idea of side access which would make things even better. Picture three shows the lid in the raised position.

Lastly, the Aerolid by design distributes most of it's wieght forward of the axel.

I have learned you can't do it all yourself and I appreciate everyones input and comments.

Bondo