Took off on a 'walkabout' up toward Nova Scotia (from NE OH) last month. I was gone for three weeks and learned a lot from the experience. I'd purchased a nice roomy tent with intent to use that to avoid expensive hotels, but I had also removed the middle seats (along with the requisite mod to the wiring harness to get the airbag light to go out) so I could sleep in the LC if tenting seemed undesirable. I purchased an Exped air mattress which fit perfectly between the raised rear seats. I also picked up one of those cheap Sterilite 3-drawer storage cabinets in which to store stuff and put that against the rear driver's side door (where it wouldn't interfere with my visibility). I put the drawers facing the window so they wouldn't open during turns, and loaded heavy stuff in the bottom so it wouldn't tip. It never budged, but obviously the only way to access stuff in there was by opening the car door.
As it turned out, it rained at some point on most days, so the tent never came out of the bag. The first night sleeping in the LC demonstrated that the floor isn't exactly flat; there's almost a 2" slope from the front of the rear wheelwells to the rear footwell. You don't realize how much 2" is until you try to sleep across that slope. I stopped at a Lowes and bought a 4' x 8' piece of 2"-thick styro insulation and cut it to shape in their parking lot using a knife, which totally solved that problem. However it was slightly fragile at the edges, so I'll replace it with something more robust before the next trip (thinking Baltic Birch plywood).
For ventilation, I purchased a huge piece of good screening, the kind designed to keep out No-seeums, not just mosquitos. I cut it into four large pieces and draped it over each open door, almost down to the running boards, then closed the door. I bought a box of rare-earth magnets and used those on the outside of the car doors to hold the bottom edge of the screens tight-ish against the car. It seemed to work...no bugs entered once the doors were closed and I was in the vehicle. The ones that came in WITH me were another matter, and the first half hour of any night was spent dealing with them if I was camped in a buggy area. Curious to see if anyone makes slipover window screens that fit our 200's, since these were a bit fiddly to use each night.
Heat build-up was a problem, not unexpectedly. The screens allowed the windows to be down, but not much air moves through screens like that without being forced. And since it rained often, I had to keep the windows up to the height of the window shades, so only 3" - 4" of opening on those nights anyway. I also noticed that the rear area seemed to get warmer for the first hour or two after closing the vehicle up, and I wondered if that was the residual heat from the exhaust rising up. By morning, it was usually comfortable (50's - 60's F most nights). I need a better solution to keep the interior cool, most especially if I want to try this during the summer months. Interestingly, one night when it really felt hot in there, I opened the sunroof completely (non-buggy area) and left it that way for 30 minutes, expecting a huge difference as the hot air rose up and departed, but for the life of me, I couldn't feel it getting any cooler.
All in all, I consider the experience a success. I learned that there's "camping" and there's "I sleep in my car to avoid hotels", and I'm more interested in the latter. I typically move each day, so there's no setting up a serious "camp" like there would for people who choose a destination to stay for longer periods. I value ease/speed of setup/take-down, security, and weather protection. I also slept exclusively in free locations sourced from freecampsites.net, which worked sensationally, but many of these sites are limited in space. Having only to fit my vehicle, albeit a large SUV, into the space was very welcome. Even towing a tiny teardrop camper would've added a lot of headache in some of these cases.
So, questions for the collective:
Heat reduction suggestions
Window screen recommendations
Is there a "tent" that fits the back of these vehicles (and their weird tailgate)? I heard about Tailveil, but wonder if anyone's used one of something similar with the 200.
Any other suggestions appreciated!
As it turned out, it rained at some point on most days, so the tent never came out of the bag. The first night sleeping in the LC demonstrated that the floor isn't exactly flat; there's almost a 2" slope from the front of the rear wheelwells to the rear footwell. You don't realize how much 2" is until you try to sleep across that slope. I stopped at a Lowes and bought a 4' x 8' piece of 2"-thick styro insulation and cut it to shape in their parking lot using a knife, which totally solved that problem. However it was slightly fragile at the edges, so I'll replace it with something more robust before the next trip (thinking Baltic Birch plywood).
For ventilation, I purchased a huge piece of good screening, the kind designed to keep out No-seeums, not just mosquitos. I cut it into four large pieces and draped it over each open door, almost down to the running boards, then closed the door. I bought a box of rare-earth magnets and used those on the outside of the car doors to hold the bottom edge of the screens tight-ish against the car. It seemed to work...no bugs entered once the doors were closed and I was in the vehicle. The ones that came in WITH me were another matter, and the first half hour of any night was spent dealing with them if I was camped in a buggy area. Curious to see if anyone makes slipover window screens that fit our 200's, since these were a bit fiddly to use each night.
Heat build-up was a problem, not unexpectedly. The screens allowed the windows to be down, but not much air moves through screens like that without being forced. And since it rained often, I had to keep the windows up to the height of the window shades, so only 3" - 4" of opening on those nights anyway. I also noticed that the rear area seemed to get warmer for the first hour or two after closing the vehicle up, and I wondered if that was the residual heat from the exhaust rising up. By morning, it was usually comfortable (50's - 60's F most nights). I need a better solution to keep the interior cool, most especially if I want to try this during the summer months. Interestingly, one night when it really felt hot in there, I opened the sunroof completely (non-buggy area) and left it that way for 30 minutes, expecting a huge difference as the hot air rose up and departed, but for the life of me, I couldn't feel it getting any cooler.
All in all, I consider the experience a success. I learned that there's "camping" and there's "I sleep in my car to avoid hotels", and I'm more interested in the latter. I typically move each day, so there's no setting up a serious "camp" like there would for people who choose a destination to stay for longer periods. I value ease/speed of setup/take-down, security, and weather protection. I also slept exclusively in free locations sourced from freecampsites.net, which worked sensationally, but many of these sites are limited in space. Having only to fit my vehicle, albeit a large SUV, into the space was very welcome. Even towing a tiny teardrop camper would've added a lot of headache in some of these cases.
So, questions for the collective:
Heat reduction suggestions
Window screen recommendations
Is there a "tent" that fits the back of these vehicles (and their weird tailgate)? I heard about Tailveil, but wonder if anyone's used one of something similar with the 200.
Any other suggestions appreciated!
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