Car Camping

Driving off grid requires you to be prepared. Having somewhere to sleep is a major requirement. Back in the day, the Holden Torana car had a tent accessory available for converting it into a sleeper. In this instructable I investigate how to easily convert a Toyota Corona car into a sleeper. Previously I had used a modified camp stretcher bed but this is no longer possible due to a change in cars' design. After researching a couple of designs, the best was found to be the simplest.

9 mm sheet of plywood

Saw

File

To sleep in the back of a Toyota Corolla, slide both front seats as far forward as possible and position the seats as upright as possible. Next, lower the back seats down, they pretty much fold flat. There is a gap in front of the folded seats. The objective is to fill in this gap to maximize the sleeping platform.

My first attempt used corrugated cardboard. Two lengths of corrugated card were folded back and forth and placed in the back seat wells to create a zig-zag base. A top length of thicker, honeycomb cardboard was placed on top. This was almost stable enough, though took up a fair amount of space when not in use.

While testing this setup, I noticed there was a middle island between the front two seats and wondered if it could be used to support the front end of some plywood.

A small sheet of plywood was placed on top of the front seat island, letting it stick out about 10 cm over the back seat. It was a bit wobbly, with only one support point at the front. To make it sturdier, I ran some cords from the plywood and hooked them to the front seat rails on each side using small hooks made from a coat hanger.

Setting it up was kind of a hassle, and the platform was only just wide enough to rest your head on.

A precut sheet of plywood was purchased from a hardware store. It turned out the sheet could slide through the rear side door and be placed on top of the island and folded down rear seats. Being wider than the previous small sheet gave it much better stability, especially when you laid on top as your body weight locked it into place - creating a stable sleeping platform.

It would be useful to be able to store the plywood sheet flat in the boot when not in use. This way, when you wanted to convert the Toyota Corona into a sleeper, just fold down the back seat and slide the plywood forward. The plywood sheet was cut to be 930 mm by 600 mm, enabling it to fit in the boot. The corners were rounded and edges smoothed. The slightly smaller size also allowed access to underneath storage space.