How I camperized my SUV - part 2

Where we last left off, I had finished constructing the bed frame for my camper. This frame would allow me to sleep comfortably in the back and also provide room for storage beneath the bed. What's next? If you recall, I had a list of requirements for my camper: - ability to drive

- a place to sleep

- clothing and personal items storage

- privacy

- cooking and food storage

- relative lack of bugs

- comfort The first three requirements have been accomplished. Let's work on privacy. Step 2 - Privacy For a little while, I was stumped as to what would be the best way to create privacy within the vehicle and keep the sun out. Curtains seemed like a daunting task. I couldn't come up with a way to attach them inside the vehicle that wouldn't be too difficult or risk damaging the material inside my SUV.

What I finally came up with was what you can see here. These are cut-outs from a roll of Relfectix and pushed into place in the window frames. Like this, they stay in place mechanically. Construction was simple: I basically held the roll up to the windows, traced the frames with sharpie and cut them out. With some adjustment, I had them fitting fairly well without letting in much light around the edges. What I loved about this idea is that they are quick and easy to place at night, and can also shield from heat and sun during the day. For circulation at night, I may keep the windows down a few inches, and if I do this I can also fold down and clip the Relflectix to the window. Cost: $35 Step 3 - Cooking and food storage Easy peasy. I've packed a cooler, a water container, a camp stove and your typical camping dishes and cookware. There is enough room to store all of these under the bed. NEXT! Step 4 - Bug screens As I mentioned earlier, I will be keeping the windows open in the evenings for some circulation in the vehicle. Without doing this, it could become muggy and damp by morning. However, opening the windows comes with another set of problems. Problems of the six-legged kind. How can I keep those pesky mosquitoes for interfering with my sleep? I knew I would have to devise some sort of screen. My solution was creating magnetic screens to place on the outside of the window frames at night. There are pictures below. You can make these yourself by buying some mosquito net and small magnets. A needle and thread is also required. Cut the screens to an inch or two bigger than the window, and sew the magnets around the edges to hold the screens in place. What I found worked best was to create a small pouch with extra netting material and sewing this around the magnets.

This was a bit of a tedious project, but I think I will appreciate it once I am on the road. One thing that I am insecure about is that the netting seems quite delicate. I will need to be very careful to not tear or rip it over the next few months. I am bringing the remaining materials with me, so if need be I can construct more. Cost: $20 Step 5 - Comfort! We are nearly done! All that is left to do is to make a comfortable bed atop that wooden bed frame. You could use whatever material you like. I used three layers of cheap foam mattress padding. The standard double size fit very well on the bed frame and feels quite comfortable. The foam can also fold up with the frame during the day when driving.

I used bedding that I had at home to make the bed, but you could also buy your own for the trip or use a sleeping bag. Cost: $80

And voila! There you have it. Ready to hit the road in this comfortable mini camper. Follow me now as I take off for Bellingham, Whidbey Island, and Olympic National Park in Washington State! Thanks for reading :) - Amanda