A New Home!

Ever been tired while driving along and wished you could pull over and get some shut eye? So did we :)

Instead of finding a campground or a hotel, we can now sleep in our car while we are on the road.

We just got back from our first trip trying it out.  We went across the mountains to the east side of the cascades - Okanagon County. Pretty great place... Pros: Beautiful, sunny, small towns, good community, great recreation and hiking. Cons: wildfire, lacking much water, expensive to buy fertile land, and difficulty finding work opportunities. We also have some friends that are moving there, so that makes it more enticing... it's in the running for a future place to live.

... but back to the car...  That was our tryout trip and it was excellent! Super spacious and comfy.

Here is a photo of what it looks like from the back without the mattress. Logan spent a day designing it and another day or two building it. He used mostly scrap wood, but purchased most of the slats on top for $30 and the hardware for about $20 - less than one night in a hotel!

The bed frame Logan built in the back of our 2003 Honda CRV.

Here's how it works...  

The bed still folded with the seats all the way forward.

Pull the string while unfolding the flap, then let the legs down

The bed frame folded out with the front legs down

Bed frame unfolded from the back with the curtains up

When driving we have the mattress folded across the back, which still allows for full visibility and then once we've folded the frame down, we unfold the mattress.  Easy. 

We have a queen sized wool mattress in here and those are room darkening curtains that Logan made with velcro that attach to cover the windows. They only cost about $24 inlcuding the fabric and velcro. There is also enough room underneath for 4 totes and quite a bit of other stuff.

The cord that holds the front legs in until you let it loose is an important innovation because otherwise, the legs run into the seats on the way down. Clever...

Mattress laid out on the bed frame with room darkening curtains on windows

Check that out!

A table tucked away underneath

Table underneath (there is extra space under for the tools)

The center support folds up and attaches with a magnet

Here are a few more nifty things:

Under the carpet, there is a folding table that we can pull out to cook on, etc. In order to access it, Logan made the center support hinged, so it can fold up to access the table. It has a cabinet magnet to hold it up.  Fancy.

The wood is mostly pine, which we chose for its low cost and because plywood off gases a lot. We wanted something natural that wouldn't make us sick in any way.  He had one piece of red oak and one piece of poplar, so since those are harder, he put them on the two ends for more support.

When we lay down, we can use the backs of the seats as head rests, leaning up against them while reading and we have a velcro directional LED light so we can read without using our headlamps. We're living in luxury here.

The frame if very sturdily attached, so it doesn't shift at all and will not come loose if we are in an accident, etc. The back is tied in through 2"x12" and bolted into D rings in the car frame. The front is also tied in at the middle supports with cord. The brackets keep the frame from flexing from side to side.

Because he built it over the wheel wells, when it is expanded the frame is approx. 48" wide by 76" long - not quite the size of a queen mattress, but since it's squishy, ours easily fits. The major concern was to make it long enough for Logan (he's 6'2"), but he actually could have even have made it a little longer, so nice surprise there.

Extra storage space from the side doors

I love the extra storage space from the side. We keep our clothes, shoes, and extra gear in theses areas.

Rain visors so we can get fresh air without getting wet

In order to let in some fresh air, we can either open the back window or roll down the side windows an inch or two. If there are bugs, we have a bug net to velcro onto the back window and if it's raining, we installed rain visors to keep the rain on the outside of the car...

Pretty exciting! We're off to Utah tomorrow morning. Look forward to some beautiful canyon country photos soon. Thanks for sharing the journey with us! I'd love to hear what everyone is up to... send me a note if you have a chance.