Toyota Rav4 by Weekday / Camper by Weekend.

Intro: Toyota Rav4 by Weekday / Camper by Weekend.

Summer in the Yukon is short... and coming to an end. I'm not ready to be finished with my outdoor adventuring, so to extend my season into the fall and winter I decided to convert my car into a camping space.

There are many many awesome examples of vehicle conversions into sleeping spaces.

The only other 1997 Rav4 that I found is this one. They did a great job, but I didn't want such a permanent conversion.

I wanted a car by weekday, camper-car by weekend.

Here is how I accomplished my goal.

STEP 1: Design Phase

The design phase was the hardest part of this whole process and I wouldn't have come up with the final version without the HUGE help of YuKonstruct members. I love being part of a makerspace :)

It is important to take this time and really consider what you want and the space that you have available. The above photos show the mapping out of space.

I didn't want to take out the middle seats, which was a major design limitation. The other limitation is the configuration of space in the car - narrow in the middle and widening out towards the front.

I had quite a few design ideas that were ditched for different reasons.

What I ended up with is a modular design so that it can fold up and be stored all together in the back of the car. This truly fits my needs of car by weekday, camper by weekend because it is easy to pack away. I can remove it and store it in my shed if need be, or I can just leave it in the back of the car. For longer trips, I can remove the middle seats to have more storage.

STEP 2: Materials & Tools

This build wasn't without mistakes and changes, but I've tried to draw the final product in the diagram here.

Tools:

• Table saw
• Chop saw
• Drill

General Materials:

• long wood screws 3" and 4" for when I wanted to screw through a 2x4 into another structural piece
• short wood screws 2" for going through plywood and 2x4
• 4 strong hinges (or a piano hinge)
• 1/2" wood screws to get the hinges onto the plywood (the screws that came with the hinges were too long)
• One piece of 5x8" plywood. Depending on how strong you want this to be, you can consider thicker plywood. It would change the measurements, so keep that in mind.
• Four 8-foot pieces of 2x4", which leaves some to spare.

The specific materials for the different sections of this are outlined in the diagram. Yellow is plywood, green is 2x4s.

STEP 3: Piece 1: Back Storage Box

**NOTE - added 2018: after some time, I redesigned this box a bit. Instead of the support 2x4 you can see at the front of picture 1 being across the box, I re-cut the pieces so that the support was along the two sides. That way, I can fit blue pins inside of the box - when the 2x4 ran along the front I could not fit them in.

The back box was simple to construct. The bottom is a bit smaller than the top because there is a plastic molding that it needs to fit inside. The bottom piece of plywood is there so that the legs don't buckle out when the box is moved.

In order for the second piece to fit over this box in the back, I had to leave space for the legs of the second piece to fit between the box and the middle seats. This is why the box doesn't take up the full space available in the back.

The biggest thing to note here is that the back structural legs are both for this section and the next. So check out the note in photo 2: only screw the plywood halfway onto the 2x4. The other half acts as a support for the middle piece.

Measure carefully and screw together.

Check and double check. Put it in the car - make sure it fits and that there is space for a 2x4 to fit between it and the middle seats before moving on.

STEP 4: Piece 2: Over the Seat

This was the most complicated step, and I made a few mistakes when constructing that you might notice in the pictures.

The top piece (27x37") is correct. In order for it to reach over the seats while still resting on the back box, I have to slide the back box forward as far as it can go. I have to slide the box forward and back every time I pack the bed away. It isn't a hardship, just something to note. (photo 1).

Screw a 2x4 onto the front edge of the plywood. This acts as the structural support for the fold-out extension, so it needs to be out from under the plywood half way. (Photo 2). I also mapped out my hinges here so that when I screwed it down I wouldn't be putting screws in the same places.

I put the plywood into the car, resting on the seat and measured how tall the legs should be to be level (photo 3).

Here, I made a mistake and made the structural leg pieces go right to the edges of the plywood (photo 4). If you follow the diagram from Step 3 you won't make this same mistake. When I tried fitting this piece over the back box, I realized that I forgot to leave space for the plastic molding and it wouldn't fit. I had to adjust the structure in by 2 1/4" on both sides (photos 5 and 6).

The last step was to put a short piece of 2x4 under the back edge of the plywood so that when it sits on the box in the folded away state, it has a bit of support.

STEP 5: Piece 3: Fold Out Extension

After cutting out the 37 by 20 inch plywood, I attached it to the middle section using strong hinges (photo 1). Although the round part of the hinge faces up, I don't have a problem with this when sleeping as my thermarest easily pads this.

Try out the hinging action (photo 2).

The hinges resting on the 2x4 are strong enough to hold the plywood in place, and I haven't had a problem in use yet. However I might decide to put a removable support under the fold out extension that fits into my cupholder - it just depends if I feel that it needs the extra support.

STEP 6: Go Camping!

This instructable got me to a functional stage, but I'm probably going to work on this project for some months (or years) making improvements to fit my camping needs.

Right now I'm covering the platform with a blanket so that there are no slivers to puncture my thermarest, but eventually I will sand it and probably round the corners.

I'll likely buy a foamie that perfectly fits the space (extending out to the doors over the side holes), which can be packed away under the seat. I also plan to buy/make boxes that fit into the different spaces in the car for easy storage.

I'm going to put some kind of netting on the roof to dry out any gear and have a bit more storage.

There are lots of things that I plan to do, but I'm excited to have the initial structure and to figure things out as I go!

Comments

[Jtownmotors]

Great design! Had to mess with the length of the ply a bit and add an extra 2x4 on the middle legs to make it level with the back box, but it’s wonderful! We didn’t have enough ply to make the full 32” bottom panel but we used the scrapes on either side. Will definitely be adding a wood support in the cup holder as well.

[baasir]

Congrats for a very practical design.
I made the following modifications:
1.The size of the ply fixed on top of box is 25-3/4.
2.The center part is also 25-3/4 inches.
3.I fixed the center part with four hinges and cut it in half.
4.The hinges rest on the back box as suggested by you.
5.The front part is 18 inch.es.
6.The pin on the hinges faces down
7.I fixed all pieces with a steel grey carpet using an adhesive.
This modification helps me to use it as single or double bed. If I use it as a single bed then I have extra storage space, while keeping the seats intact (only folding them).
Will update on fitting of drawers etc.
Once again thanks for this beautiful design.

[zamduman]

Hi Baasir, I am trying to do the same mod for single/double bed.
Can you post a diagram or photo of what you mean by #3 "3.I fixed the center part with four hinges and cut it in half." I can't picture how this all works!
TY,
JAM

[PeterE114]

Hi All -- I just built this for the '02 Rav 4.

One thing to note, I had to modify the middle piece and middle leg dimensions.

Middle Legs need to be at least "15 instead of the "12 used here.

Just slept in the back two nights ago!! Yew! Stoked.

Comment back if you need more details about the '02 model. Have fun!!!

[bbixby907]

I'd love the details if they're still kicking around three years later :P

[Loblaw]

Nice to hear that this can work for a newer Rav4 with a few modifications. Thanks for sharing!

[TrevorK36]

What thickness is the plywood?

[WadeGuthrie]

Thanks for the post. What is the length of the bed?

[Loblaw]

All the pieces of plywood combined give you (22.25+27+20) = 69.25 inches. 5 feet 9.25 inches

[MikkoB3]

hi,

Thanks for sharing.

I want to ask, how long is this camper bad?

I think to Toyota Rav4 I, but I have 184 cm?

[jeremesanders]

Finished the Build out a couple weeks ago. Thanks a ton for the good design! Was able to get it done in about 7 hours, though I was rushing a bit towards the end and did the same mistake you did by putting the middle portions supports flush with the corner. Fixed that the next day and everything is good to go! Will post some pictures soon :)

[Loblaw]

Great that you are using a makerspace! I also built mine at Yukon's makerspace - YuKonstruct.

I'd say it took me about a weekend to actually build it. It took longer to design and figure out how to go about it though. If your car is different than mine, the design phase is really important.

[jeremesanders]

Sorry, meant to use this account, didn't realize I'd already made an instructable acct.

[TeresaN14]

such a good design, we changed a couple of things because our toyota rav4 is newer so the dimensions are a bit different, but thank you so much!

[Loblaw]

That's awesome! I'd love to see a picture :)

[Loblaw]

Check out my latest advancement for my Rav 4: https://www.instructables.com/id/Bug-free-Car-Camping-Window-Cover/

[hilal]

Wouldn't it be more practical to have an air mattress that you can inflate with your car's power supply?

[Loblaw]

Sure! I'm not a fan of things that can pop, but that would certainly work and be practical for size.

[Kurt E. Clothier]

This is a really great build! My wife and I have been caught in far too many rain storms in our tent, and we don't really want a real camper - car camping seems to be the way to go.

I think I would take a rolled up mattress pad to put over the boards - like 2" memory foam. Those can be compacted pretty tight. Awesome job.

[Loblaw]

I just bought a foam mattress and it really improves my sleep :) The nice thing about it is that it also goes out to the edges so that if your foot moves out to the edge it doesn't fall off.