Why shouldn’t I: remove 2nd row keep 3rd for camping? (1 Viewer)

[NickSonoma]

Hello,
Pre.S.: I tried searching but I couldn’t find anything on this idea.

My issues:
1) I am 6’2” 250(pre 2020)
2) wife is 5’ and convinced lions and bears eat everyone.
3) 2 kids under 5 y.o.

What I am working with:
1) 01 LX 470
2) still have 3rd row seats
3) a hitch basket/no roof rack(garage too low)

my idea 1:
1) Completely remove the 2nd row seats prior to the trip while at home with power tools and store at home.
2) transport kids in 3rd row. Then easily remove 3rd row once at destination.
3) use entire rear section of vehicle as a sleeping area with maximum space(head-toe, side-side, floor-ceiling) possible.
CONS:
Storage Area would be divided by kids. Kids would be crushed by cargo in any kind of accident. A quick evacuation would be slower than option 2.

My idea 2:
1) Completely remove the small side of the 2nd row seats prior to the trip while at home with power tools.
2)Completely remove the 3rd row seats prior to the trip and store at home.
3) transport kids in the remaining 2 2nd row seats.
4) tilt 2/3 of 2nd row forward.
5) make a sleeping area with 2 head to toe lengths.
Cons:
I am not likely to reinstall the small section of the 2nd row once home.

My idea 3:
1) Completely remove the 3rd row seats prior to the trip and store at home.
2) fold entire 2nd row forward.
3) make a sleeping area for wife and kids.
4) dad sleeps in a tent and if a bear shows up, dad is an idiot for leaving s’mores on the table and not removing garbage. If all else fails, dad claps really loud.
Cons:
Dad doesn’t hear about his snoring.

 

[ramangain]

Idea 4

Ditch the hitch basket and get a trailer with a RTT.

 

[NickSonoma]

Idea 4

Ditch the hitch basket and get a trailer with a RTT.

I honestly don’t get RTT. I think they’re cool. I would totally keep one for a summer if I won it. But it doesn’t solve any of the problems I choose to encounter in Northern California.

Most of my camping is in mountainous places with uneven ground. There are trees with low branches. I am amazed how old I am and realize I will only get older. Climbing will not always be an option. Rodents can climb. The 1 minute set up tents have come a long way. If 12 years from now my kid pukes in my RTT after sneaking some alcohol, I can’t throw it away. We don’t build power plants in CA, we have rolling blackouts due to electricity shortages and fires, our hydro electric system is close to failing due to a drought, the people who won’t expand our electrical generating capacity have demanded more cars be charged on the grid. I want my roof space available for additional solar for my house.(it’s mofo’n 2021, I live in the metro area of the capital of global technology and I need to worry about generating my own electricity. SMH)

 

[bigredmachine]

i think that your going to have a tough time sleeping in the truck, im 5'10" and sleeping in my 80 i have enough room but my feet are at the tailgate and i have a few inches of head room with the passenger seat moved all the way forward so it may be on the tight side for you. its just me in the truck and i have a platform laid out over the second and third row seat folded flat so i have room for stuff and sleeping. you could make a platform that lays over the seats like mine and keep item between the seats under the platform when sleeping and use a roof basket or something similar for keeping whatever else wont fit in the truck while you sleep

 

[97 AZ LC]

I honestly don’t get RTT. I think they’re cool. I would totally keep one for a summer if I won it. But it doesn’t solve any of the problems I choose to encounter in Northern California.

Most of my camping is in mountainous places with uneven ground. There are trees with low branches. I am amazed how old I am and realize I will only get older. Climbing will not always be an option. Rodents can climb. The 1 minute set up tents have come a long way. If 12 years from now my kid pukes in my RTT after sneaking some alcohol, I can’t throw it away. We don’t build power plants in CA, we have rolling blackouts due to electricity shortages and fires, our hydro electric system is close to failing due to a drought, the people who won’t expand our electrical generating capacity have demanded more cars be charged on the grid. I want my roof space available for additional solar for my house.(it’s mofo’n 2021, I live in the metro area of the capital of global technology and I need to worry about generating my own electricity. SMH)

First of all I applaud you for having a firm grip on reality. You are getting older, and lions and bears do eat everyone, and both species can easily breach a RTT. But I feel like what you have here is a uniquely California problem that can be solved only by native Californians, which eliminates most of us. Good luck.

 

[hoser]

The standard platform set-up will give you a bit more usable floorspace because you are above the wheel wells.... and the same 'sleeping' headroom as removing the 2nd row seats.

Picture pilfered from internet....

And then something like this for your front seats. You'd want to temporarily disconnect the horn though.

I also have this DAC tent that goes over the back. With the drawers fully open and some plywood on top, you could squeeze another 2 ft of legroom out of the set-up. However, it's a nylon tent, not the kind of 'security' your wife wants.

 

[xplore]

This doesn't sound like a realistic plan to me long-term, but your best bet is probably to do a platform set up like the one @hoser posted an example of if the family must sleep in the cruiser. The disadvantage is that anything you would transport and store behind the second row would have to be cleared out overnight. Maybe you can put it all in your tent with you overnight, lol.

In my opinion, the real issue here is your wife's fear of the wildlife. I would address that to streamline your entire camping experience, because everything we're talking about here is a short-term solution. Your kids are going to get bigger, and then you're going to start running out of options without going to a tent.

 

[MongooseGA]

Leave California. Come on, everyone's doing it.

 

[ramangain]

To assuage the wildlife fears, may I suggest getting tips from Clarkson in Top Gear Season 22 Episode 4?

 

[NickSonoma]

Leave California. Come on, everyone's doing it.

I don’t know, there are some perks. The Smokey Season is a dry Smoke. The Fed’s did shut down the National Forest though. Gas was shockingly cheap in Hawaii. Central Shaft Florida was super clean feeling. Dallas/FTW was amazing to visit. If I left California, I am scared I would expect society to function and I wouldn’t get the joy of visiting it.

An awesome part of California is how new everything is. So we have buildings from the 1940s that were warehouses that are historical monuments now. We can’t do anything with the prime property in the center of town because it was used in the towns first major industry that lasted a whole 15 years before the town diversified. Often times the industry wasn’t unique or noteworthy. It was just some form of agriculture.

 

[utflowerman]

We are a family of four plus dog and you couldn’t pay me enough to sleep all of us in the LC. It wouldn’t go well. At all. I’d rather be bear food.

 

[grundsethp]

Your kids are young. They will grow fast. Get yourself a trailer and you are set for years.

Something like this is flexible but not bear proof

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A teardrop trailer for the wife and kids is a less expensive way to get a hardsided trailer vs a real

I just go to established camp grounds as my wife likes real toilets and running water. We then do day trips into the wilderness.

I now have a RTT and Kimberley Kamper for 5 of us. I have 3 teenagers. We are comfortable but still feels like camping.

 

[kwon-offroad]

Leave California. Come on, everyone's doing it.

Just don't come to GA. We full.

 

[Ancient Pistol]

I've slept in the back of mine, by myself. It works, but it's not comfortable. I imagine the platform would make it worse. I'm about to buy a really nice tent that I can stand up in or even hangout in comfortably. If I'm in grizzly country, I'll go back into the Land Cruiser.

 

[MechE30]

Tents and really nice cots are vastly cheaper than a RTT and much more comfortable. Throw a Exped Meganat on a cot for a raised luxury sleeping experience.

And my one tip for winning the wife to camping is: cook amazing food. Really good steaks, great wine, or whatever her thing is. Make camping a place where she gets to indulge and she’ll tolerate the less than ideal sleeping scenario.

 

[Ancient Pistol]

Make camping a place where she gets to indulge and she’ll tolerate the less than ideal sleeping scenario.

And do the bulk of the work. Make sure she sees it as “time off.”

 

[nukegoat]

You're not going to have 4 people sleep in the LX. No way, gonna suck, horrible, unpleasant. Trailer or tent and accept constraints

 

[hoser]

Anything is possible!

 

[awesomeissquid]

Maybe Slee will help build another one of these:

 

[highonpottery]

I don't see it working out for you. I'm in a very similar situation and sleeping inside the rig with 2 adults and 2 small kids never even crossed my radar, it's just not gonna happen. We'll do the drive-in movies and just that is a pain trying to fit us 4 comfortably in the rig for a couple hours.

If my wife wanted to sleep in the rig with the kids I'd likely get one of those tents that fit on the back of SUVs and has the tent section on the ground as well - then setup some other stuff around the tent to make a perimeter

I would never do the 2nd row removal with the kids sitting in a LATCH-free 3rd row