I love Ruby Sue the Subaru, my trusty ’17 Forester, but sometimes I wish she were a camper van. I spend a lot of time working on the road and hotels/campsites can get expensive.

So since a van isn’t in the budget right now, I decided to research SUV camper conversions and turn Ruby Sue the Subaru into the ultimate car camper. The final conversion includes a custom-built sleeping platform and sliding drawers.

My top priorities were storage, flexibility, and cost.

Storage:
I wanted an elevated sleeping platform that would fit storage bins underneath without it feeling too crowded or claustrophobic at night. 

Flexibility:
A lot of conversions remove the SUV back seats entirely, but I wanted to keep them inside. (This is only possible if your back seats fold down semi-flat.)

Cost:
I’m not planning to live in the car full-time, so I wanted to make it as useful as possible for short- and medium-term road trips (from a quick overnight to 1-4 weeks) without breaking the bank.

Cost Breakdown for SUV Camper Conversion

Cost breakdown (platform setup only):
$154.45 for wood, carpet, and hardware at Home Depot
$0 labor (thanks for the help, Mom and Dad!!) 
$44 for sliding plastic storage boxes

If you already have items like a foam mattress and sleeping bag, the wood for the platform will be your main expense. There are also a lot of totally optional extras I included —like a $500 roof box or $10 string lights, listed below— that not everyone will want.

There are plenty of cool additions I could make to this buildout, but most weren’t worth it to me unless I were living in it full-time (in which case I’d likely want a full-featured campervan.) 

Designing the SUV Sleeping Platform

The final design has three separate wood pieces that stack to allow the back seats to unfold, which is great for driving friends to adventures. (Or recently, driving my grandma and Great Aunt Carole to my Great Aunt Cheri’s farm to meet her newborn lamb!)

It took a weekend of trial and error to get the panels to lay just right, but no technical expertise or tools were required: just a saw, a pencil, measuring tape, and LOTS of patience. If you don’t have a saw or driveway/garage space of your own, Home Depot and Lowe’s will cut your panels for free! 

Final Sleeping Platform Dimensions

With all pieces extended, the platform is 74″ long, 42″ wide, and 9″ tall: a little bigger than a Twin mattress with plenty of room for 5’2” me and 60-pound Juno. It’s not really meant for two people, unless you REALLY like each other. 😉 

Sliding Drawers/Standing Desk

We used drawer attachments and two pieces of a slightly lighter plywood to make two slideout tables, aka cutting boards/cookspaces/my ergonomic standing desk. With my laptop on the slideout platform, I can feel like I’m still in Silicon Valley when I’m actually in Monument Valley.

What I added to complete the buildout:

1. Clear Plastic Under-the-Bed Style Storage Drawers ($22/each, $44 total)

I love these transparent drawers because I can easily see what’s inside, and the hinged top means I don’t need to slide the bins all the way out to grab something. I popped off the wheels with a screwdriver and they still slide in and out easily under the platform.

My bins are loosely organized into a “kitchen” bin and a “camping” bin, while the overhead is for oversized items like snowshoes, camp chairs, hiking poles, and my duffel bag of clothes. The front seat holds easy access, easily-squished items like my laptop, camera, and big bag o’ snacks. Juno sits atop the back platform like the queen that she is.

2. Stretchy cargo next for interior roof ($6.95)

This is really meant for bike baskets, but it fits perfectly across the roof of my Subaru when anchored to the four grab handles. (Which I recently learned are called “Jesus handles” or “oh shit” handles. In this case, “hold my shit” handles. 😛)

I hang my headlamp, lantern, car keys and glasses from the net while I’m sleeping for easy access, but make sure it’s empty when I drive so nothing flies out and hits us. 

3. Memory foam mattress topper ($75)

Mine is a 3-inch-deep Full, but you can go even higher and wider if you like. (A Queen would have to be cut to size, so I settled for the Full even though it’s a few inches narrower than the actual platform.)

3 inches deep felt comfy to me and I didn’t want to go higher so I could still sit up most of the way in bed.  I like the linked bamboo one, but almost any foam topper, even a cheap eggshell one, will be great.

4. Waterproof mattress cover ($30)

This is a must for a klutz like me, so I don’t ruin my foam mattress with spilled beer or muddy paw prints.

5. Sheets and blankets ($30)

The sheets I picked are t-shirt soft and ruby red to match Ruby Sue’s exterior. I also got a knockoff Pendleton blanket (it’s from K-Mart, lol) for cozy, Instagrammable nights. 

6. String lights ($10)

When my window insulation panels are turned shiny-side-in, it’s like a disco dance party for 2! I also use my head lamp and rechargeable lantern for more focused light as needed. 

7. WeatherTech Custom-Cut insulating sun shades ($149.95)

I started my car camping journey by cutting my own Reflectix panels, which was much cheaper at $20/roll. But I never managed to cut them quite close enough to stay in place all night, and even the good ones lost their tension after just a few uses.

Enter WeatherTech! These shades are custom-cut to fit your car make and model and 8 months in they still work perfectly. I turn them shiny-side-out on warm days to keep Juno cool inside and shiny-side-in on cool nights to keep us cozy (and get that cool sleeping-in-a-disco ball effect.) And they’re great for privacy —sleeping at rest stops, changing clothes in busy campsites— even when the weather is perfect.

8. Stretchy bungee cords with hooks ($2.95)

Stretchy bungee cords with hooks ($2.95)
Great for tying back any loose luggage so it doesn’t go flying at sudden stops. 

9. Thule Force Xt L Roof Box ($499.95)

This guy makes long road trips possible by holding all my oversized items (tent, snowshoes, camp chairs…) to free up space inside. I once ferried four friends PLUS Juno PLUS campfire wood PLUS dinner, breakfast, tents and sleeping bags for five because I had this roof box. It’s the best.

And you get 10% back with your REI dividend! The good folks at REI will even help you bring it out to your car and install it.

10. Warm sleeping bag for cold nights

On cold nights, I open up my petite Big Agnes and spread it over me and Juno to keep us warm. It’s always been enough, even on a 12ºF night in the Colorado Rockies. On warm nights we’ll sleep with just the sheet or a light blanket, cracking the windows to reduce condensation. 

10. Deluxe foam pillow ($50)

I splurged on a camping pillow that’s even nicer than my one at home so sleeping in my car would feel like glamping. Good thing I can get sunrise views like this without leaving the car, because it’s so cozy I never want to.

I’m in LOVE with Ruby Sue’s new buildout and have already spent weeks sleeping inside. It’s everything I could have asked for. 

If you’re dreaming of long-term road travel, I’m proof that you don’t need a fancy van to get on the road.

You don’t even need a platform buildout like this one — I once slept in Ruby Sue on a 3-week road trip to Canada and back with nothing but my inflatable backpacking sleeping pad. You can do it, too!

See you on the road, 
Becky and Juno  

— 
Are you planning (or already rocking) a car camper buildout of your own? I’d love to see it! If you have any questions about my buildout, please let me know in the comments.

Pin this for later: