Car Setup

My vacation trip will be long enough that staying in hotels every night would be cost prohibitive. I tend to be on the go all day and just need a place to sleep at night -- not always knowing ahead of time where I will stop.

I like camping -- it's a lot cheaper than a hotel, gets me outdoors, and I can be more spontaneous. The "recreation.gov" website lists the campsites near a specified location. I can usually make campsite reservations online at the last minute, and since I have a lifetime national parks pass, I can camp in federal campgrounds at 50% off. So I'm bringing my tent and plan on staying in campgrounds a lot!

I wanted to have the option of sleeping in my car. Sometimes it is easier to find a Walmart, Costco, truck stop or rest area parking lot to spend the night than to find a campground. I also wanted to try dispersed camping on BLM land. As an additional benefit to the pocketbook, these options are free!

Prior to starting my trip, I looked online to see what other car campers had done to convert their cars for sleeping. I used some of their ideas and came up with a design that is working well for me.

-- The Bed --

The bed frame is made out of a 2 ft wide x 3 ft long sheet of 3/4" plywood, raised 8" off the floor in the back and 7" off the floor in the front. The plywood is screwed to 2x4 and 2x3 wooden supports. The Subaru floor is slanted front to back, so this makes a level sleeping surface and lets me store items under the bed.

The front of the bed frame has a 1" lip that allows me to rest the edge of another 2 ft wide by 3 ft long piece of plywood on the lip. When joined, the two plywood sections create a 2 ft wide by 6 ft long sleeping surface. The front piece of plywood is supported in front by a rectanglar brace that reaches to the floor behind the front seat. The brace and front plywood section are held in place by carriage bolts.

To avoid splinters, and to add a little exta padding, I put a yoga mat on top of the plywood, and for comfort, put  the REI version of a thermarest camping pad on top of the yoga mat.

To keep the camping pad clean, I sleep on a blanket or inside a sleeping bag, depending on the weather. The blanket can be washed, and helps keeps sweat off the camping pad on hot nights.

 

-- The Back Window --

To block light and add privacy for the back window, I cut a foldable windshield sun shade slightly larger rear hatch window. To keep it in place, I added velco strips to the sun shade and the trim around the inside of the window.

-- The Blackout curtain --

I bought some cheap blackout curtains and a compression curtain rod from Walmart to add privacy to the sleep area behind the front seats of the car. The curtains were 84 inches long. I didn't need the curtain to be that long, so I cut them shorter and used iron-on hemming tape to make a clean hem on the bottom edge, and used the excess fabric on the side windows, as explained later.

The curtain rod attaches conveniently to the ceiling by inserting the ends into small cavities that exist in the hand grips built into the ceiling of the subaru.

The curtain essentially isolates the front seats from the back of the car, and the small gap abpove the curtains allows for air flow when I open the sunroof. I use a small binder clip to keep the curtains from parting in the middle.

The curtain tended to droop between the front bucket seats, so as a final touch, I added a section of flexible plastic drip line pipe between the headrests to block the fabric from drooping forward between the seats.

-- The Sunroof --

I bought a rectangular mosquito net with magnets along the edges to keep bugs out of the car when the sunroof is open for ventilation at night. The front and back edges each have three long magnet strips, and the two side edges each have two magnetic strips. There are straps on the corners that can be joined together inside the car for added holding power.

The magnets hold the netting to the roof of the car, and the magnet segments allow the netting to be folded for storage.

The front straps enter the car above the front doors and click together. The back straps enter the car above the rear seat doors, and I clip them to the sides of the front blackout curtain to minimize the gap between the curtain and sides of the car.

-- The rear seat windows --

The rear seat windows each have two sections... a window pane that rolls down and a stationary triangular window. I cut triangles out of foam poster board to cover the triangular winows.

For the roll-down windows, I roll them down a couple of inches and cover the glass with the curtain remnants that were left over when I cut the front blackout curtains to size.

Then I cover the entire window with a mosquito net made for car windows. This setup essentially blocks out the windows for privacy but allows a gap for air flow. The mosquito net also helps hold the other window coverings in place.

 

-- Rear Side Windows --

Similar to the triangular back seat windows, I cut out window coverings from foam posterboard to cover each of the rear side windows. The poster board is held in place by friction.

-- Ventilation --

Because the sunroof and rear seat windows are covered with mosquito netting, they can be opened at night for ventilation. For added ventilation on hot, windless nights where there is little air flow, I have a rechargable USB fan with 3 speed settings. It also has a separately-controlled LED light with 3 levels of intensity. Both functions are very useful.

A hook on the bottom of the fan fits into the hinged hand hold above the side window, allowing the fan to hang upside down and be positioned to blow in whatever direction I want. 

-- Backseat Option --

Because the sleeping surface is divided into two 3 foot sections that are held together by carriage bolts, the front section can be removed and laid on top of the back section and the back seat can be raised to carry more passengers. I haven't needed the extra room or passenger space, so it has been easier to keep the 6 foot sleeping surface in place and not raise the seat... but it is an option if I need it.

-- Rooftop Carrier --

The rooftop carrier has camping equiment (tent, ground cloth, hammock, cooking gear, camp chair, camp table, etc), a couple of bags for clothes, a backpack, hiking sticks, a bear box, laundry detergent, and a few other miscellaneous items. The carrier can be opened from either side (not both at the same time), which is convenient. Most of the camping gear is in a big orange duffle bag. Some clothes are in a black cloth duffle, other clothes and some medicine are in a leather duffle, and cooking gear is in a green bag. The hiking sticks, bear box, laundry detergent, and a bag of miscellaneous items are separate. The system has worked well and kept things organized.

-- Storage inside the car --

I keep a cooler, a gym bag with toiletries (for when I shower at Planet Fitness), my hiking boots, and other items I use frequently or plan on using the next day, inside the car. I keep the cooler on the floor on the front passenger side or behind the driver seat, depending on which area will keep cooler. At night it stays in front, to give me more space in the sleeping area. Sometimes things get a little unorganized, but I'm pretty good at keeping things in their place.

I have a storage container for the mosquito netting and window curtains, and another one for things I use at night. Both are kept behind the upright rear passenger seat.

in the daytime, the blackout curtains and curtain rod are stored in the back, on top of everything else. This also makes the items underneath less visible from the outside.

-- Rainy Weather --

When it rains, I keep the sunroof and windows closed and use the fan to keep air flowing. Because the windows are all closed, I can no longer hang the black side curtains on the open windows. Instead, I use a set of eight magnets to hold the curtains to the door frame on each of the two side windows, and use binder clips to close the gaps between the front and side curtains.