Honda CR-V Camper

During my last semester of college in Rexburg ID I had a lighter course load so I had more time to do outdoor activities. After camping several times in the snow I had the Idea of building a proper bed that would fit in the back of my car. I had plans to go see many of the sights around Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah that summer, Logistically, it would be much easier if I didn't have to find a proper camp site or a motel room every night. It is much easier to find a truck stop or a Walmart parking lot or just anywhere you can park overnight. I will admit that one of my guilty pleasures is watching camper van builds. This was my first attempt to create something similar on a smaller scale. This was an interesting project because it changed over time as I realized what I thought I wanted and how I actually used it differed quite a bit. There is also video tour at the bottom of this page.

The 2nd gen Honda CR-V is a very good car for this kind of thing. For its size it has a lot of room inside. The one down side to this car is that the back seats don't fold down flat. They fold down and roll forward. Unfortunately that wasn't enough length for a bed. So I took out the back seat on the passenger side.

My original plan was to Use a slat bed made out of 2x4s and 1x3s to allow for the bed to act as a bed or a couch. I also had some plastic bins that I slid under the bed for storage of clothes and camping gear. After a few nights using this bed I decided that the adjustable width was useless and I would much rather have the 4 inches of head room taken up by the 2x4s.

A few days into my first trip I found a home depot, bought some 1/2 inch Plywood and some 1x2s, and I built a better (lower) frame. It's amazing what a difference 4" of head space makes! I even had enough wood left to build this slide out table (probably my favorite feature). The old bed frame came in handy as firewood.

One thing I really wanted for this build was an electric fridge so I didn't have to deal with an ice chest. For that I needed a deep cycle battery and a way to keep it charged. I ended up getting a 55 amp hour AGM battery because it was cheap and it fit under the passenger seat.

The battery was charged using a 100w solar panel on the roof and a solar charge controller. I mounted the charge controller on the pillar between the doors so I could see the voltage of the system. Later on I also added a connection to the alternator of the car through an isolator solenoid. That wat my deep cycle battery would charge from the car while it was running. It came in handy on some rainy days.

The fridge was originally on the floor next to the bed, but I realized that I could fit another storage box under it if I raised it up. So I took some scrap wood leftover from the bed and I built a platform for the fridge to sit on. I even added a hinge to the middle leg so I could access the compartment underneath. The dark square on the floor is a hatch that comes out and doubles as a picnic table!

For lighting I stapled some USB powered fairy lights to the headliner of the car. They were dimmable and changed colors. In such a small space you don't need much light, so these gave off plenty. In addition to some Reflectix window covers this made it quite pleasant to relax in here at night.

Here is a picture of the inside. On my first trip in this car I left the back driver side seat in Just in case I needed it. I Just folded it forward. After 2 months I never used it so I took it out for the next trip. It allowed me to fit more stuff in the footwell.

In all I've stayed in this rig for about 4 months. It was spread over several trips in all four seasons. In summer I cracked open the sun roof and used a fan to bring in cool night air. In winter I used a -20F sleeping bag and I was plenty warm.

The best part of this build was that I could go anywhere I wanted and I would never have to pay for a hotel room or worry about finding somewhere to camp. I just stopped at a truck stop or on public land or sometimes a quiet street that allows overnight parking. My car rarely got a second look because it isn't a van or an RV.

Here is the tour:

Here are some pictures of places I went: