Car Camping

Car camping has been mentioned in several posts.  So, what is car camping?  We're not talking about how some homeless people live in their cars nor some fictional outing by Lightning McQueen. What we are talking about is essentially either sleeping in your car or truck when camping or it is sometimes used to refer to just tent camping out of your car, using your car to get to the campground and using your car, truck, or SUV as an integral part of your camping equipment and not camping very far from your vehicle.  A vehicle can serve as a pantry, closet, bedroom, and shelter from bad weather as well as transportation.  With the addition of an attached tent it becomes a very stable part of your temporary domicile.  Your car radio can provide weather information and entertainment.  Just make sure you don't run your batteries down!  Of course the size and style of your car will play a significant role in how you can use it while camping.  A large SUV, van, or a pickup with a camper shell are generally the most flexible, providing the most options for transporting gear, sleeping, and living space, but even a compact car can get you in out of a severe rainstorm and running the heater could be one way to prevent hypothermia in cold weather.  Sleeping in a compact car may require developing some rather creative body positions that make yoga seem easy but larger vehicles can be quite comfortable.  I recall some Hudson and Nash sedans in the late 1950s that had an option called "sleeper seats".  The front seat backs fold down level with the rear seat cushion, creating a wall-to-wall bed.  We found it adequate for our family of 4 when I was a teenager.

In its simplest form, car camping is using your car or other vehicle to transport you, your companions and your camping equipment to you camp site and possibly sleeping in your car.   Other non-RV camping methods might include bike camping (bicycle or motorcycle), hiking, horseback, and back packing.   Car camping allows you to bring along larger, heavier equipment to make your stay more comfortable.  You usually only have to carry your equipment a few yards from your parking area to your camp site. Y ou can also use your vehicle as a secure storage facility while you're camping and as a refuge from particularly nasty weather.  You might have more room in your tent than your car, but your car may stay a lot warmer and drier in nasty weather.   One form of car camping is using your car or truck in lieu of a tent.   That works pretty well if you have a pickup, van, SUV, or station wagon, but can be kind of cramped if you're trying to sleep in the back seat of compact car.  If you're using a pickup having a camper shell, canopy, or truck tent -- or at least a tarp you can fasten over the bed -- will be helpful.  As mentioned above, some years ago, the now defunct American Motors offered "sleeper seats" in their Hudson and Nash sedans. The front backrests folded down flat next to the back seat to make a fairly comfortable full size bed inside the car. When I was a teenager my family took a trip to Yellowstone Park in a '57 Hudson and 4 of us slept in it.   Haven't seen anything like that for about 50 years!  The only complaint I had was that we didn't have screens for the windows and were attacked by voracious mosquitoes all night long.  By morning they sounded like B-52s buzzing inside the car!

Advantages of car camping include low cost, flexibility, and the ability to go just about anywhere. You can start small, with basic second-hand or rented equipment to see if you like it, then gradually upgrade as your needs and wants grow.  You don't need to buy, insure, maintain and store an extra vehicle.  You don't need a large parking space like you would for a motorhome or trailer.   You can usually store all your camping stuff in your garage or basement.  Apartment dwellers sometimes find space under the bed or in a closet.

The perceived disadvantages of car camping are usually focused on the lack of amenities found in RVs (weather protection, sturdy walls, comfortable beds, stand up head room, climate controls like furnaces and air conditioning, full service galleys, hot water, and private sanitation facilities plus many of the electronic entertainment options you have at home.  RVs are perceived as safer and more comfortable in foul weather.   Most people who move up to RVs from tent camping do so for the creature comforts and to avoid the hassle of setting up and taking down tents.   In reality, the only real disadvantages to car camping are the time it takes to set up and break camp, the greater impact of bad weather on your comfort, and perhaps the  lack of stand-up headroom for dressing and various other activities.  You also have to cook outside, which can be a problem in bad weather. 

 Car camping isn't a new concept.  Kits to turn your car into a sleeping area (See this Tentobed Company advertisement) and tents that attached to the side of a car like this one from The L.F. Shilling Company have been around a long time.   Note the vintage of the vehicles in these ads.  I put them both as pre-1920 models. I doubt if you'll find anything "designed to go on almost any standard car" these days and the lack of running boards would make these vintage models unusable without modifications.  You might add a roof top tent and camp ON your car.   Here are some rather high end examples:  roof top tents.  Truck and SUV tents are designed to fit in or on these vehicles to create extended living areas in camp.

Car camping allows you to bring along equipment that would be too heavy or too bulky for hiking and back packing.   For hike-in camping or backpacking the emphasis is on light weight and small size.  Car camping lets you bring along larger, heavier tents and warmer sleeping bags, bigger camp stoves, and other equipment to enhance your experience and add convenience to your outings. Car camping is especially well suited for larger groups.

To go car camping you'll need a car or other vehicle to transport you and your equipment.  Your equipment will probably include a tent, sleeping bag(s), camp stove, ice chest, flashlights, and water jugs.  Other camping accessories you might find useful include lanterns, camp chairs, and folding picnic tables.   An awning or canopy might be helpful in hot weather if the campsite is not shaded and can sometimes be used to keep the rain off, if it isn't raining too hard and there isn't too much wind.

A variation of car camping that often adds convenience and comfort is truck or SUV camping. This may involve the use of a tent that attaches to your truck or SUV.  Or you might sleep in the back of your SUV or in a truck tent or shell on the back of a pickup truck.  I have what they called a "carpet kit" for the back of my pickup.  Not only does it line the bed with carpeting for comfort and warmth, it's set of foam cushions can be configured into a sofa like seating area against the cab or spread out to form a wall-to-wall mattress covering the entire truck bed that is very comfortable to sleep on.   A shell lacks the stand-up headroom and the facilities of a slide-in camper, but it does keep the elements at bay and requires little or no setup in camp.   Truck and SUV tents are less effected by winds than stand-alone tents simply because they are securely anchored to your vehicle and the vehicle sometimes provides at least a partial wind block.  Sleeping in the back of your truck or SUV is usually warmer, more comfortable, and more secure than sleeping in a tent.  If it gets really cold you can always run the vehicle heater for a while to take the chill off -- just be sure any tent fabric is clear of the exhaust and the exhaust doesn't exit into or blow back inside the tent!  And don't run it enough to run out of gas.

You might enhance your car camping experience by adapting your car specifically for camping. You may want to fashion curtains or window coverings that will give you a little privacy and will help keep out unwanted light when you're trying to sleep.  If you frequent locations where mosquitos or other flying insects are a problem, you might want to make screen for the windows so can enjoy fresh air without the bugs.  If you're really ambitious, you might customize your trunk to organize your camping gear or turn it into a functional camp kitchen by building a "chuck box".    If you frequently attach a car tent or a canopy to your vehicle you might want to install permanent hooks to make it easier and more stable.   If I were planning on doing a lot of car camping, I'd look for an old Hudson or Nash 4 door sedan from the late 1950s because of the sleeper seat option they had, creating a comfortable sleeping area the full length of the interior that can accommodate up to 4 people.  Adapting any modern car to a similar configuration could be difficult.   You would have to start with something that has front seats than can be fully reclined.   Even then, the built in headrests in most modern cars would be in the way of folding the seat so it is completely flat. In the 1920s there was something called the Tentobed that created a sleeping area over top of the seats.  Even if you could build one today, it probably wouldn't be practical given the low clearance between the tops of the seat backs and the headliner.  Back in the 1970s and 1980s there were cots that fit over the front seats in van conversions that could sleep a small person but I haven't even seem them around for years.  Our pop-top camper had dual bunks in the pop top and we added a third one over the front seats as the family grew.   You might be able to fabricate your own to custom fit your vehicle using poles or pipes and canvas but finding appropriate mounting hardware may be difficult.  Metal (not plastic) closet rod end supports might work.   Here is a link to one possible online source:  canvas cot/bunk bed.  Measure your vehicle carefully to see if one of their standard cots will fit or can be easily adapted.  This is also a possible source for bunk rail mounts if you need them for your own home-made cots.  These cots might work in vans, trucks, and large SUVs but would probably not be very practical in modern passenger cars.  Even full size sedans have a pretty low profile with minimal head room.

Here is a link to another good description of car camping.

Pack up and go!