Hammock Camping inside the 80

[93Chewbacca]

Okay... so my wife and our two small kids are taking a 6000 mile road trip this summer in the 80 with quite a few destinations on the itenerary (Mt. Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, CA coastline and of course MOAB ). Part of my plan is to leave the middle seat at home and do some occasional camping inside the LC on a mattress of some sort, BUT having two kids sharing the floor is not going to work.

SO... I ordered a pair of ultralight hammocks and plan to hang them from the grab handles in the middle seat area. One hammock will be hung from the grab handles directly behind the front seats and the other hung from the grab handles above the LR and RR door windows. The front seats slide/fold forward nicely and are out of the way and each hammock has nice room for a small kid.

I did a test run with the kids and they loved it so much I could barely get them out of their hammocks after the test, so I think its going to work nicely.

 

[96bruzer]

Cool idea! Hope I had this when my kids were younger when we were camping...

 

[BrotherRob]

If one of you needs to sneeze. Please make sure you take video.

Here's a thought, hang the kids hammocks on trees and have some peace and quiet.

 

[NLXTACY]

Er...middle seat at home? Seat belts for the kids!?!!??!?! Am I missing something?

 

[Jeeper]

Er...middle seat at home? Seat belts for the kids!?!!??!?! Am I missing something?

3rd row seats! They're great for the kids, and when you arrive at the destination, they fold up and off the cargo floor. I had my 2nd row seats out for a few months last year, and it's great having all that room in the middle. hmm.. how about a camping table?

 

[Cannon88]

Pretty cool, but my 2 kids would never sleep! It would be one big swinging fight!

 

[NLXTACY]

3rd row seats! They're great for the kids, and when you arrive at the destination, they fold up and off the cargo floor. I had my 2nd row seats out for a few months last year, and it's great having all that room in the middle.

I assumed that but it wasn't specified by the OP

 

[DRTDuck]

Awesome, how much weight do you think the grab handles would hold? e.g. how "big" of kid could utilize that?

 

[93Chewbacca]

Awesome, how much weight do you think the grab handles would hold? e.g. how "big" of kid could utilize that?

Not sure yet, but both combined weigh about 100lbs and they did climb into the same hammock for a while with zero visible deflection of the handle under load. I think if you have a larger child you could probably hang a single hammock from both sets of handles. However, a child that weighs more than 100lbs may be too tall to fit comfortably.

Pretty cool, but my 2 kids would never sleep! It would be one big swinging fight!

Fortunately, if my kids carry on for too long, they have to face "Mama's Wrath" which is more than enough to keep them in line... lol

3rd row seats! They're great for the kids, and when you arrive at the destination, they fold up and off the cargo floor. I had my 2nd row seats out for a few months last year, and it's great having all that room in the middle. hmm.. how about a camping table?

Yes, this is the plan. The 3rd row seats fold up nicely to the sides off the cargo floor. Yes, I should definitely make/buy a camping table of some sort

 

[93Chewbacca]

These are the hammocks I ordered:

Amazon.com: Grand Trunk Ultralight Hammock: Sports & Outdoors

 

[yoopercharged]

Funny, I was thinking of a good way to hang one to sleep in. It looks like your kids are smaller than I am though.

 

[ham00]

Got me 1 of these tents for the back of the 80

Gives a bit more room when camping

Sorry i dont have a link but i got it from lakelandgear.com

It has survived a 50mm (2") overnight down poor with out a leak

 

[justbecause]

Er...middle seat at home? Seat belts for the kids!?!!??!?! Am I missing something?

you can see the reflection of child safety seats in the window glass....

wonder how much weight those oh $&^t bars hold....

 

[arndog123]

Cool. My son would love to sleep in one of those. I always take the middle row seats out when we go camping and leave one of the back seats in for my son. The back row is his favorite spot on both 80's.

 

[Tacoma4life]

Wow that sounds like an awesome trip, have fun. And if you happen to need Cruiser assistance near Mt Rushmore, I'm just minutes away.

 

[yohavos]

Very cool!

 

[93Chewbacca]

wonder how much weight those oh $&^t bars hold....

I think if we knew what size bolts they use, we could look that up and get a pretty close figure.

 

[greenbeast]

I applaud you for taking the opportunity to take trip like this with your family.

Imagine how kids would be if other parents placed same emphasis on family time!

The wife loved the the hammocks and think we may try that in Colorado in July. Have safe trip and take plenty of pics!

 

[justbecause]

I think if we knew what size bolts they use, we could look that up and get a pretty close figure.

I would expect the roof to fail before the bolts.

 

[Bluetribal]

What my co-worker did in his Siena van was built an elevated platform over their feet for the kids to sleep on. But with third row seats you would have to get creative with a fold up platform.

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