Collapsible Car Bed

I have a tradition. Every year, I go camping along the coast from Washington State down to… however far I can get before I have to turn around and return home. Then Covid happened, and everyone’s plans got borked. This year, I was going to bring it back. Plus, now I have a dog, so it would be perfect. Just two cool dudes chilling on the beach. While camping isn’t expensive, I do have a TON of supplies. Getting everything setup, and in and out of the car, while managing a dog seemed like a lot of extra hassle. Then I found out about car camping, or stealth camping.

The idea is that you camp out of your car, but keep it on the down low, so you can camp in residential areas or whatever, and no one knows there’s someone sleeping there. Or, there is the Bureau of Land Management… land, where you can go camping out in nature, and there’s no fee. There’s no bathroom or water either, but that’s a tradeoff. So how could I make a bed that would fit in my car, and also collapse so that I could still use it day to day, without having to remove the bed?

First of all, most of the credit goes to Matt the Designer, whose video gave me the starting point of this build. The concept is pretty simple. My car cargo area has a slight incline, so it’s higher in the front than the back. Plus the back seats fold down, but are also on an angle. Once I figured out how high the bed would have to be in order to be somewhat level, it was high enough to fit two drawers underneath.

As far as building it was concerned, it wasn’t too difficult. The frame is 3/4 inch plywood. The drawers are 1/2 inch plywood. The drawer slides are 1×2 hardwood slats.

 

The top piece slides back so I can put the seats up, and then slides forward extending the bed. I still needed a little more space, so I added a third layer that is on hinges which fold out. It’s just enough to fit a twin sized bed.

 

 

 

 

 

I do want to paint or stain it, but I finished this project a few days before I was set to leave, so that’s a future project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the camping trip ended up being a bust, I did realize that I forgot to add a lid to the drawers. These are mainly so I have a space for cooking or whatever. Those are more 1/2 plywood with a hole drilled out as a finger grab.

 

 

 

 

 

I was lucky enough to find this twin sized bed that folded into thirds. It was so perfect for this, that the folds ended up being exactly where I needed them to be so I could collapse the bed and drive like normal.

 

 

 

 

 

The other thing I needed, was window covers. I found some thin reflective insulation that would help with condensation. We made a template for the windows, and cut the pieces out.

 

 

 

 

 

I had some blue fabric from some other project, so I used spray adhesive to attach them. Spray adhesive worked really well, but man it gets everywhere. Then I did the same process but with black fabric on the outside facing side. This will block people from seeing in.

Separately, I got some bug net “bags” that go over the door frames. Those worked out really well in the wild. I could keep the windows down, and the bugs out.

 

 

 

 

In the city, I used the window covers. They worked a little too well, and it got quite hot at night. I blame the dog. I didn’t take any pictures, but I also added a blackout curtain on a piece of string between the front “handles”. That blocked out the light and gave us privacy without making it obvious we were sleeping.

The trip ended up unpleasant, but it had nothing to do with my car bed. The fact that it collapses is wonderful. I can still use the drawers for storage, so there’s a lot less clutter in the car. It wasn’t too expensive, either. I think the most expensive part was the mattress, and that was less than $100.