Car Camping Setup

I have been wanting to go on an extended road trip for a long time and finally have the means to do so.

The plan was to put a bed in the back of my car and have storage under the bed. I started with taking out the rear seats to get some more room to work with. I was also hoping that removing all this weight would help fuel efficiency. (which it did, I went from 21hwy mpg average to 25hwy mpg average)

After this I had decided that the bed would be made out of those wire shelving units. I got the idea from this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQDQmHgE0SE

Using Wire shelving units seemed like the best option for me. I was thinking about making the bedframe out of wood or pvc pipe, but I didn't have the tools or skill to be able to make anything in a reasonable amount of time.

Once I got the wire shelf unit, I needed a way to tie it down so it doesn't shift everywhere while driving. I ended up designing and 3d printing a mount that could be screwed in where the seats used to be screwed in. I started with 4 arches on each disk, but that didn't seem to distribute the load well enough since they would break. I'm sure being in the heat of the car didn't help either. So I added more arches. Tried 6 and settled on 8 arches total. I also made round foot pegs for the front of the frame and some square ones for the posts of the bed to lay on so it didn't leave a dent in the carpeting and rubber of the car.

Now that the frame was in the car, I needed to get the mattress on top and also needed to make what I call arm hammocks.

Arm hammocks were needed to keep my arms from falling off the bed since it was a bit narrow. The end result has the feel of a cocoon lol. Once that was all done all the gear went in and I started driving.

I have not started the long road trip (defined by days on the road, not mileage), but I have already driven across the country. It took 4days 3nights and about 3,000miles. I stayed at campsites those 3 nights and brought food to try and not eat out on the road. The way the cost to drive across the country was totaled does not include the cost of anything bought before starting on the trip. This includes the food and gear I brought with me as well as some car maintenance.

Once on the road I spent:

Gas: $356.40

Fast Food: $117.14

Campsites $102.8

GRAND TOTAL $576.43

This was less than I was expecting, and if I had committed more to eating the food I had packed I could have spent no money on fast food. But the food I packed was all shelf stable and I could always eat later, plus there are some good places to eat that I can't get back home so I had to go. Now the cost of getting the car ready to go on the trip in the first place was substantially more than just the cost to get across the country. I think the amount I spent on the gear was about $1,500 and this includes the wire shelf, a solar battery station (wanted to be able to charge drone batteries in the backcountry), mattress pad, water jugs, duffle bags, and other small miscellaneous supplies.