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Living out of a SUV not a truck
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A sunroof, especially with the tilt open option, seems to take care of the condensation issue in my lil wagon. Not so good if its pouring rain of course. |
Kirk B. wrote:No condensation in the forest.what? |
camhead wrote: Beyond that, if you are wanting to do a long-term road trip, make some sort of sleeper platform/loft, although that coud be a bit cramped in a suburu. Or, a lot of the time you can find just the right combination of rubbermade bins to make a removable platform in the back that you just set boulder pads on top of. We do that in my wife's CRV a lot.The big question with Subaru living is whether or not to build a platform, or to keep it basic. I've gone on a number of multi-month road trips, and have tried just about every system and permutation. Here's an overview of your options: You can keep the stuff in the car and sleep in the tent. This is the old standby. It is great if you are staying in one place for a while, since you only have to set up the tent once. This option is not as good if you'll be moving around a lot, since setting up and taking down the tent is a hassle. Upsides are that this system gives you a fair bit of space to work with, and is organizationally simple. Downsides are that your mobility is limited a bit, you need to find a decent campsite, and you may have to pay for camping. You can keep the stuff in the tent and sleep in the car. This is a creative inversion of the previous scenario, and it work really well. I prefer sleeping in the car to the tent, since I find the car to be warmer, more weatherproof, and generally more comfortable. the back of the Subie (back seats down, of course) is especially comfortable if you have nothing else in there, and a decent mattress to cover the back with (I have a big sheet of memory foam, folded double that I use as a mattress; this is as least as comfortable as my mattress at home). ANyway, this system is best for somewhere where you'll be staying a while, has free camping, but you want to sleep in the car. Example: a long stay at the creek. Even if you are sleeping in the car, it is nice to have your own campsite to hang out in; the tent serves as a placeholder to keep Front Range jerks (like myself) from stealing your site. Also, if you are on a long road trip, you'll probably have some extra odds and ends taking up space in the car (books, maybe a crash pad, extra shoes etc.). Trying to sleep in a car with all this junk is a hassle, so you keep it in the tent, allowing you a nice open back of the car to sleep in. You can built a sleeping platform in the back of the car. This is the roadtripper classic. Built a platform, sleep on top, and put stuff underneath. It can be a nice permanent feature made out of wood, or a modular system cobbled together from bins, crash pads, and milk crates. In my experience, this works great in trucks, big vans, and big SUVs, but not so well in the Subie. The interior space of the Subie, while long, is not very tall. Once you built the platform, the amount of living space (i.e. height between the top of the platform and the ceiling) is not very much. I used this system for a summer, and found it to be too cramped; there was nowhere near enough room to sit up in the bed, which I did not like. Take very little, and sleep in the back. My current favorite system. Maximum simplicity and mobility; you just need to use some discipline when packing. There are lots of little nooks to keep things in in the Subaru, and you can keep the back mostly enpty to give lots of room to sleep in. I am 5'8, and I like to sleep diagonally across the back of the back (back seats are down). My food bin goes in the back corner of the back of the car; this does not get in the way of my diagonal sleeping position. My bed (memory foam mattress, sleeping bag, quilt, pillow) stays in place permanently, diagonally across the back. I have a climbing pack and a medium size duffle of clothes. these are stored atop the bed during the day, and on the drivers seat at night; it only takes a moment to move them, so this is an easy thing to do daily to arrange the car for sleeping. If I have a folding chair in the car, I just stick that under the car at night. Everything else fits into the area that is the footroom for the back seats. Books and laptop go atop the spare tire, in the hidden spare tire compartment in the back. The trick with this system is that you have to pack very lightly, which is tricky on long trips where you plan to do a lot of activities. If you are bringing the mountain bike, the crash pad, the skies, and the portaledge, this system won't work. I prefer this system on a trip where I plan to exclusively sport climb, and as such can minimize the amount of gear I bring. Using a roof box will let you bring more stuff, which might be useful on an extended trip, but I have not yet found this to be necessary; just keep you life simple and bring less. Note: this advice assumes a few things: -That you will be traveling solo; two people and all of their gear sleeping in a subie would be difficult -That your Subaru is a full-size outback, and not some little WRX or sedan. -That you are not some 6'4 giant. |
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Don't play the simpleton, Mr. Hand. We both know I mean that it is a non factor when one is outside. |
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This girl lives out of her vehicle (first an outback, now a SUV) - go to homelessgal.blog.com/ Apparently she gets the odd house-sitting job in the winter, but lives in her car the rest of the time. |
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Some sample posts from Homeless and Female (a woman who lives in her vehicle). |
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Keep 'em comin! interested in more info about storing gear, clothes, food efficiently and in different ways |
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My wife and I lived in the back of a Prius for a pretty long time. Our trick was definitely to use the roof box. As far as food organization, it can all go in one box. Shop every rest day, don't buy food that you can't leave unrefrigerated. Clothes should all fit in a small duffel and get washed when they need it. We had three changes and tons of cold weather stuff. Our bed was made up of crash pads with a bigger one shoved up front during the night. |
shotwell wrote: Efficiency in the car isn't about storing the extras well, it is about not having them in the first place.This is true, although there absolutely is such as thing as going too minimalist. This is car camping after all shotwell wrote: Camp chair? Leave it.I absolutely disagree with this, a thousand times over. |
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WHat the hell do you guys do for showers? Just curious? |
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What the hell do you guys do for showers? Just curious? I don't think I could stand not having a clean shower every AM and/or toilets! |
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You seriously need a shower every single day? You have never crapped outside? Yes, stay in a hotel with the other families and primadonnnas. |
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yikes, these questions reek of n00bism |
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You bet your ass I need a shower every day! As a nurse I def believe in one and yes I have shit outside before. That's one thing! being a slob isn't another one! |
Michael Urban wrote:You bet your ass I need a shower every day! As a nurse I def believe in one and yes I have shit outside before. That's one thing! being a slob isn't another one!Hotels......when the maid goes to clean the rooms after people have left, ya ask her to go in and take a shower....she's gotta clean the room anyhow, be nice and slip him/her a few bucks. |
