Palo Duro Canyon State Park Campgrounds, TX
This is a looong overdue Part Two of a Two-Part Series.
Read Part One: Why I Turned My SUV Into A Mini-Camper here, and hopefully there’ll be Part Three one day (although, who knows, do people even read blogs anymore?!).
Like many people, I love tent camping, but I’ve also long dreamed of having a little home-on-wheels for longer, more comfortable trips. Also, like many people, this is financially out of reach for me for the foreseeable future.
So, waaay back in the summer of 2019, I got inspired to build a sleeping platform for the back of my SUV. Y’all can read all about why I did this in the first post of the series.
If you search for ‘car camping’ or ‘suv camping’ or something similar anywhere online, you’ll find tons of examples of people building out sleeping platforms, cubbies, kitchens, and other elaborate set-ups in their SUVs, vans, and trucks.
Now, after a ridiculously stupid amount of time of this blog draft just sitting unfinished in my drafts folder, I can add my little, simple DIY to that collective effort.
My perfectly lovely Acura RDX, while great for everyday life and regular roadtrippin’, isn’t exactly the best candidate for this sort of thing, but after researching and talking with others, I got it done with the help from my dad (even though I’m not in any of the pics, I promise I contributed, too!).
Salt Creek Recreation Area, WA
A few things before I start…
First, the photographer in me has to say that most of the photos below of building the sleeping platform were taken with my cell phone and aren’t the greatest. It was a very hot summer Texas day and I did not feel like building and worrying about getting the perfect shot.
Second, you’ll need to have and be comfortable with a saw and a drill for this project or know someone who is. While the overall design was mine, as y’all will see, my awesome dad did a lot of the physical work of cutting pieces, as carpentry and DIY projects like this are most definitely not my strong points. One day I hope to be more knowledgeable and comfortable about doing this sort of thing myself, but I also really like doing it alongside my dad and creating those memories at the same time.
I originally built this for my 2017 Acura RDX, but I’ve since moved to a 2021 RDX and had to make a couple adjustments. I’ve also added a sliding tray table, but I’ll get into that more later.
There are resources online that document this process much better than I can, but I hope sharing my experience in any form will be helpful and perhaps inspiring for others.
Newhalem Creek Campground | Marblemount, WA
Please bear with me and my descriptions and knowledge. I’ll do my best to try to provide measurements where I can, but in the end the measurements of your specific vehicle will ultimately dictate the design and materials you need. When I was doing research into other people’s set-ups, I quickly realized that the big picture is what mattered most, not necessarily the exact measurements of others.
Before you start cutting and drilling, you obviously need to take your vehicle’s measurements and figure out your sleeping platform design. If you search on the internet or social media, you’ll find lots of examples of how other people did similar builds. The ideas are seemingly endless and you’re bound to find something to spark your imagination for your own vehicle and needs.
A few things to keep in mind while designing your project:
To take the back seats out or leave them in? I needed to leave my seats in for various reasons, so that trumped any desire for more head room and space if I took them out. Your situation may be different though.
How much headroom do you need? I’m not particularly claustrophobic, but I also didn’t want to be sleeping right up against the ceiling. In the end, because of how the platform had to be made in order to make it level, I didn’t have much choice in this area.
Do you want to store stuff underneath the platform? I did, but not so much that I’d compromise on headroom. Ultimately, the height underneath the platform was dictated by the leg height needed to make everything level. It worked out pretty perfectly for me. I have plenty of space for my needs and the spot fits some standard plastic storage bins I already had.
What else is important to you for sleeping and traveling in the vehicle comfortably? For me, it was more important to have as much sleeping room as possible, which meant sacrificing space elsewhere. I also needed room for my dog to sleep as well. For you, that may not be as important as having room for more storage or something else. I recommend laying the seats down and getting in there and really thinking about what’s important and what’s not so much. Besides researching online, talk to others who’ve done similar things or traveled in camper vans, as they’ll likely bring up things you may not have considered before.
I opted for a very simple design for several reasons. For one, my vehicle kinda dictated it. I also wanted something not only relatively easy to build, but easy for me to take in/out by myself and store at home. And if I built something, took it on the road, and hated it, I didn’t want to have spent a lot of time, money, and resources on it.
Materials Used:
Wood – I used about 3/4” piece of plywood for the platform and bought a few other wood pieces, as well as used some scraps we had for the legs and the weight-bearing reinforcement pieces. This will naturally vary depending on your specific needs.
Wood Screws – size will depend on the wood thickness you use.
Wood Glue
Wood sealant and brush
Tools Used:
Marker/Pencil
Saw
Drill and bits
Pocket hole jig
Level
Tape measure
Large clamps
Sandpaper
Velcro
A word about the wood and cutting it. If you don’t have access to a saw, most hardware stores will cut it for you, either for free or a reasonable fee. Policies may vary so they may not cut big pieces, a problem we ran into. And unless you want to make countless trips to the store, like me, try to have every little thing planned and measured out before heading out.
As I mentioned, when I originally built this, I had a 2017 Acura RDX and the seats did not fold down flat, instead there was a slight angle. Not wanting to take the seats out, we had to work around this. In the end it was pretty perfect. We built the platform in 2 pieces adding legs to make it stand level with the seats and so it would rest on top of them. This created a little under 7 inches of space below (6 3/4” to be exact) the platform in the very back, which was more than enough for my needs and allows me to fit various storage boxes and bins underneath. A couple years ago, I added a sliding tray table under one side and I love the increased functionality!
Love my recently added sliding tray table and wish I had included it from the beginning.
STEP 1. MEASURE YOUR VEHICLE.
Of course, before you do anything else, you need to get your vehicle measurements and then determine what size your platform will be.
LENGTH: Measure the interior length of your vehicle from behind the front seat (or to wherever you want the platform to extend) to where the platform will end near the back of your vehicle. Don’t forget to take into account the wheel-well and any other structures, as well as make sure the platform doesn’t stick out past the rear doors.
My platform is a total of 57“ long, the front piece is 34” and the back/rear piece is 23” long (full disclosure, I might be off by a few centimeters here or there). I probably could’ve made the overall length a little longer, but it works for me.
Now if you’ve done the math, you might be asking how I fit if the pieces are less than 5 feet and clearly I am taller than that. I’ll get to that.
Trying to figure out the proper leg height needed to make platform level.
HEIGHT: Two things will dictate the height of your platform: any structures it needs to clear (like a wheel-well) and the amount of storage space underneath versus head room you want. My SUV’s design dictated this for me. Your vehicle might have more space and thus more flexibility in what you choose. The height of my platform is 6 3/4 inches.
When determining height, consider these questions: Do you want to be able to sit up all the way? Are there particular storage bins or items you want to fit underneath or anywhere in the vehicle for that matter? Don’t forget to account for the height/thickness of your sleeping and building materials. Lay down the seats and get in there and think about what other things you might need to consider.
As you can see in photo below, the RDX 2017’s seats didn’t fold down flat, so the front piece of the platform lays on the seats in front and then there are legs in back that make it level with the back platform piece. When I got the RDX 2021, the seats laid down not quite flat, requiring 5.5 inch legs to be added.
Front piece all finished and loaded up.
WIDTH: If you’ve got a lot of space to work with, you can calculate the width measurement once you know the height of your platform. Think about these things: Do you need to accommodate one person or two? What will you be sleeping on? Foam cut to size, sleeping pads, mattress, something else? For other people, like me, your vehicle is going to determine the width.
My platform is 39'“ wide and as you can see in the photo above, it’s a little smaller than the actual vehicle interior width. Once my “mattress” is in there though, it fills up the whole space. Leaving the extra room on the side is good for a couple reasons: it reduces the likelihood of damaging the interior of my car, and in the back, it allows me store things alongside the platform.
I sleep on a combo of an inflatable backpacking Thermorest sleeping pad, a foam egg-crate folded in half, and a fluffy mattress topper I already had. While I sleep comfortably and will try to get more into my complete set-up in another post, I am considering upgrading to more of an actual mattress at some point soon.
STEP 2. CUT YOUR WOOD PIECES.
My platform is created from two rectangular pieces with leg supports. The leg supports are made from 1.5“ x 1.5” wood and we used a 3/4” piece of wood as an additional support running the length of the platform.
One piece fits the section over the folded down seats, which in order to be level, required it to be on an angle, meeting the smaller piece in the rear.
Since moving to a 2021 RDX, in which the seats do fold down level, I added legs to make both pieces of the platform the same height. Sorry, forgot to take any photos, but it was the same process seen here.
Making the platform legs.
STEP 3. MAKE POCKET HOLES + ASSEMBLE THE PLATFORM.
Assemble your platform pieces by applying wood glue to the connecting surfaces, then drill screws into each pocket hole. Evenly space the vertical supports along the length of the platform.
Clamp and let the glue dry.
Close-up of the platform legs.
Drilling pocket holes.
Close-up of picket holes.
Vertical support along the length of the platform.
Securing the legs.
STEP 4. SAND + SEAL THE PLATFORM PIECES.
Be sure to sand everything really well and then apply a good sealant. The sealant helps protect the wood from humidity, water, heat, etc.
After sanding both pieces, we sealed them.
STEP 5. ASSEMBLE PLATFORM, MAKE YOUR BED & HIT THE ROAD.
Load up your mattress, pillows, blankets, and gear, and enjoy your bed and new lil’ home-on-wheels!
When I first built the platform, I left it bare and used an old blanket to cover it. This past year, I covered it in some inexpensive carpet squares, which makes it look so nice, but I still end up throwing an old blanket down to add a layer of protection between my bedding and the platform.
I first planned on securing the two pieces together with hinges. But several years later, the temporary heavy-duty velcro is still going strong and works perfectly for my needs.
How it looked when first completed in the 2017 RDX, before adding the carpet, sliding tray table, and modifying it with additional legs up front for the 2021 RDX.
OPTIONAL ADD-ONS
After my first trip in 2019, I added this lockable rooftop box which not only frees up space inside, but also allows me to take more gear for longer trips. I also added a sweet lil’ awning and then a couple years ago, I added a sliding tray table which I’ll try to not wait another 5 years to post about.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT MOVING FROM THE 2017 TO 2021 RDX
As I’ve mentioned, when I got the 2021, I had to add more legs to level the platform since the seats now folded flat* unlike in the 2017. I didn’t take any photos of that, but we used the same process outlined above.
*The 2021 seats lay almost flat, but not quite. It required 5.5” legs to make it level with the other piece, but your build may be different.
In addition to the legs, we also added another wood support piece in the center of platform like we did on the other piece (I’ll add a photo of it to this post shortly.)
Close-up of the new legs (and lots of dog hair 🙈) to raise and level the front platform piece. This also had the added benefit of creating more storage space underneath that I love.
After adding the legs, a support piece up the center was also added.
Here's how everything currently looks in the RDX 2021.
The platform fits more snuggly against the rear wheels now, but it still fits. I do worry a little about the interior fabric getting snagged or something, so just make sure you get good width measurements and don’t go any wider if you’ve also got a 2021. Adding the carpet around the edges also helps in reducing any potential for damage.
The platform could probably be a little longer, but it works for me, as I’m a side sleeper and usually scrunch up smaller than my 5’ 9” frame. Once I get all my bedding in there, it hangs over the edges creating a little more length and I lean the front seats back to create headboard effect.
I’ve seen other platform builds that bridge the gap between front seats and the platform in more creative ways, such as with a third panel that folds up and down. I went simple, but there are so many great ideas out there. Good luck!
Goodnight from the coast of northern California.
I’ll work on putting together a little tour of how everything looks all set up nowadays, so check back for that, but considering my blogging track record. that’ll either be within the next month or next year. It’s anyone’s guess.
