Car Camping
Ever wonder what it would be like living in a car? Or camping… Well, here are some interesting photos of how someone converted their station wagon into a sleeper.
I definitely wouldn’t want to actually live like this but it has to be one of the most economical ways to travel long distances. Cars a great on gas, they’re stealthy, and super easy to drive.
I have known people that set their small SUV’s up in this way with an air mattress when traveling cross country. It’s interesting to see it done with small cars as well. And hey, it’s an alternative to a teardrop camper when you don’t want to spend the money and trouble.
I wonder if the same can be done with regular sedans because the rear seats usually fold down. I guess the challenge would be creating a flat platform to sleep on. So here, have a look how this one is set up…
Photo credits: http://www.passionelegno.eu/
The question was raised above about using a regular seday as a camper so I’ll give my input. Several years ago I drove our 1987 Honda Accord hatchback across country to Nebraska and stopped at a rest area to nap. I let the rear seat back down and put my legs into the luggage area. Unfortunately it didn’t work well because it was winter and I didn’t have a space heater. I also had to sleep at an angle to stretch out. So I gave up on sleeping. But with prep beforehand it could work out.
I’ve tried to sleep in my two Honda 4 door sedans but the trunk floor is lower than the lowered seat backs, and the height between the seat and trunk is narrow because of the steel framing under the rear shelf. I’d have to carry some folded plywood to make a platform for headroom and fold the front seatbacks forward to make it work. So I’d say it can be done.
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Alex Reply:
March 8th, 2012 at 7:07 pm
Thanks for sharing Carl. I’ve seen some people share photos online where they’ve used plywood to make it work. It can definitely be done.
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Alex Reply:
March 8th, 2012 at 7:07 pm
There was someone who took the passenger seat out of his Geo 3-cylinder hatchback so he could fit a bed so he can live in it.
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The idea of putting a matress in a station wagon is a much better idea than trying it is a sedan or hatchback. But whether you’re in a wagon or sedan or coupe you’d want to have a car top carrier for luggage unless you travel light and put the luggage in the floor behind the front seat.
It just came to me that the wife and I traveled to Nebraska about 5 or 6 years ago in the 1992 Chevrolet Lumina sedan and we had taken the rear seat out and put in a platform and some padding. By placing all our luggage other than a few items we were able to sleep in that rear seat area. It might be impossible for a 6 1/2 footer to do it though.
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Alex Reply:
March 8th, 2012 at 7:08 pm
Hehehe, cool! Thanks again Carl
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I have a 2012 Kia Rio sedan that’ll sleep with the rear seats folded down. The folded seats are higher than the trunk area, but can be smoothed out with a pillow for temporary travel accommodations.
I’m about 6′ tall and in order to stretch out completely I have to move the passenger seat forward and pack the rear passenger floor with pillows to fill the gap between the end of the rear folded seat and the front passenger seat.
Not the most comfortable sleeping arrangement. But for long road trip vacations on a budget, it’s great. 35 mpg in an inexpensive car with no hotel costs is an affrdable way to see the country.
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Alex Reply:
April 29th, 2012 at 4:21 pm
That’s awesome. 35 mpg, wow.
Do you do anything for privacy? Any tips you can share for parking when doing this?
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I built a pretty functional and easy to set up bed out of plywood in my 2006 Rav4. I took out the back seats which allowed for storage under the bed. I also use two large rooftop carriers so my girlfriend and I don’t need to leave anything outside the car when sleeping overnight which is nice when you don’t want to draw attention to yourself.
You can see some fairly detailed pictures of that project here:
http://www.rav4world.com/forums/98-4-3-interior/77783-has-anyone-built-car-bed-inside-their-rav4-camping.html
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Alex Reply:
April 29th, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Whoa, awesome, thanks for sharing! Do you still have it?
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Ryan Reply:
April 30th, 2012 at 1:49 pm
I do, in fact my girlfriend and I are getting it all set up for another road trip up the Oregon / Washington coast next week.
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I like that Rav4 conversion. Didn’t expect to see two cartop carriers side by side though. Pretty neat. An inflatable queen mattress might be easier to to store and take less room that the futon mattress, but the inflated height might prevent having a doggie bed shelf. Just wondering. About 20+ years ago I built a plywood platform above wheel wells in 1988 Dodge Ram 50 (Mitsubishi Mighty Max) truck bed and used an inflatable mattress with that. Stored luggage under the bed. Worked great. Of course the 3 children had to lay down or squat back there. And we had a camper topper on it. It was nice while the kids were young.
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Ryan Reply:
April 30th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
I actually tried an inflatable mattress first but, as you suspected, it didn’t allow room for the dog bed above our feet and was too high for us to sit up at night. I was also able to trim down the queen foam mattress a bit to fit around the wheel wells so it was nice and flat. The air mattress pinched in at those points making it less comfortable than the futon.
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