Question about sleeping in cargo area

I still like tent camping, too. I plan on doing some of that this summer, also. But, it's definitely more spooky when you hear animals creeping around knowing that the only thing surrounding you is a sheet of canvas!

I plan on picking up a smaller tent this year for island camping. I have a so called 2 person backpacking tent I purchased for the purpose, and it's hardly a 1 person tent. I think I'll upgrade to a 3-4 person tent.

I like having options. 2 tents, a platform in the 4Runner, and a travel trailer pretty well cover my needs. I can't imagine having to choose only one thing.

Edit: If I get ambitious, I might start working on platform design #5 pretty soon. Sometimes it's as if I enjoy building them more than I enjoy using them.

 

Is is really a lot of space to be gained by deleting the rear seat backs? How difficult is that compared to the seat bottoms?

Did you remove the seat belts also?

 

You gain a good amount of potential storage underneath the platform. In my experience, it's well worth the effort.

There are (2) 14mm bolts on the hinge that holds each seat-back in the middle. Then, there's a bolt in the rear of the seat back that attaches to the hinges on the sides toward the wheel well. And, another bolt will free the hinges from the body. I usually reattach the hinges to the seat backs to keep everything together.

I forget which ones are 12 and which are 14, but they can be removed in a few minutes with just a ratchet and a 12 & 14 mm socket. The passenger/center seat back is fairly heavy, but not too bad.

It usually takes me about 20-30 minutes to remove the seats completely and slide the platform into place. I do not remove the seat belts.

Some pictures to show how I used the added space for storage. Keep in mind, though, that my platform is about 8-9" tall in the cargo area, so I have a little more storage than some setups.

 

Same, I love tent camping but my wife had grown out of it unfortunately. I think car camping in a 4 runner could be fun as well. I have found over the years it's becomes less of the adventure of it and more about enjoying the moment. In the Marines you definitely learn to train your body to grab sleep when and where you can. Sleeping with your face in the mud sand or rocks. When your tired your tired. Creepy crawlies over my skin never bothered me. With the thought of wildlife coming up at night and the security of your car. I might suggest sleeping with a sidearm close at hand even in your tent. Not to kill but as a scare tactic. If I could bestow some wisdom on Chozen about the one thing I learned. Why the heck didn't I buy RV's or travel trailers much sooner? Your no less manly glamping than you are shoving yourself in your 4 runner camping. I remember the first night my wife and I had a travel trailer. We rolled into some National Park somewhere. Screaming rain and howling winds. Tent camping in near Tornado conditions would of been horrible to set up camp. I back my trailer in, put the slides out and was up and running in less than 5 minutes. I sat there sipping my beer and my wife her glass of wine in total relaxation. If I had been cramped with my spouse in the back of my 4 runner and or crossing my fingers my tent doesn't leak my wife would have been miserable.

I have found many wild areas of 4 wheel drive tracks are still within driving distant at night to a decent base camp area. Definitely enjoy nature as you see fit as Bass suggested. I can only part with a nugget of intel I have learned over the years. Have fun with it !

 

My wife and I sleep in the back. Made a platform to help level out the area. She didn't go up camping so ground tent might be a bit of a stretch to get her on board. Now I just need to figure out where our Great Dane will sleep haha. I imagine when kids come into the picture we will go big tent or trailer route, but until the we are hobos in the back!

 

This is my setup (although I carpeted the platform and used 1/2" instead of 3/4" plywood. I have also slept in back on a Luno inflatable without using the platform, which worked well enough. One nice thing about the Luno mattress is that you can use it full width or half width. The latter is nice when you don't want to move everything outside or up top.

 

Surprisingly it’s much more space than I anticipated. Before I would put my camp tables, chairs, buddy heater, tarps, skottle, and trash can in the roof pod. Then I’d have to put the firewood inside the truck and I hated that. Then again it’s two adults and a large dog camping so I didn’t want the mess of the firewood inside the truck, plus whatever critters are living inside to find new shelter inside the truck.

With the seat delete, and no I kept the seatbelts due to the fact that if I want to put the seats back in it’s one less step to do so, I’m able to put all that stuff that used to be in the pod under the platform. Of course minus the trash can, tarps, and poop shovel. Now the pod is a dedicated dirty utility room lol.

another benefit of camping inside the car is that you can turn on the truck, heat it up, and sleep comfortably. I only do this when camping in the winter and it’s snowing though, but it sure beats the hell out of a tent.

 

I went with the $40 do it yourself plywood platform and it works perfectly. I cut a piece of an old wool blanket to wrap around so it wouldn’t scratch the plastic over time or my sleeping bag. Bit of spray glue to keep the blanket on the plywood and some staples on the bottom. Then I ordered a 5.5 inch thick 28“ x 66“ memory foam customized mattress from mattress insider. Only cost $197. 28 inches is the width I will need with the single seat still in an upright position, I think my dog will sleep in that seat. Of course it’s just me and this sweet doggy at this point, I know a lot of you lucky people with girlfriends and wives Would need a larger mattress. it also gives me room behind that single seat for a couple of backpacks and so on. I always hated inflatable.

I really think the prefabricated options are way too expensive for what they are.

 

I think you are correct