Odd one..

[WireyWhenWet]

Okay Focii guys, here's one for you...

Ford Focus Mk2.5, hatchback.

I do alot of miles and alot of things, in about a month's time I'm racing up in Windermere for a charity event and our team has opted to camp the night before; I have tents etc.. and am no stranger to lugging a full car and roof rack for 1000s of miles, but I've had the bright idea of Top Gear-ing it and having two of us sleep in the car to save some effort and do it a bit differently. Hopefully to save dragging so much kit as we only need a couple of bits for the event really..

I've looked into this before and have seen universal mattresses, custom stuff, etc. But has anyone actually done this, and if so how, and how did you find it? Would you recommend or avoid anything in particular?

 

As I said, odd one! But any advice is much appreciated- Got an open mind to this one!

 

[Ennvoqation]

Depends on how tall you are, I used to crash in the back of my Focus Mk 1 and 2 by dropping the rear seat and using an old roll mat. All I took with me was a camp stove, poncho, sleeping bag and roll mat (apart from the usual stuff such as first aid kit etc). It happened more often than not when I used to cover a lot of mileage.

It was OK, and considering the ground conditions probably a touch more comfortable. If you're really tall then it could get uncomfortable. 

 

[south_bound]

I slept in my Mk 2 earlier this year when a really long drive through France was just getting a bit too long at 3am (must be a sign of age as I used to just drive through the night).  I just lay out on the back seat with a coat for a pillow so not the most comfortable but managed a few hours kip.  I would probably recommend folding down the seats and using a mat or blow up mattress with feet in the boot and head towards the front if the boot is not too full of stuff.  Not sure you could fit 2 people though unless yours is an estate.  On the way back I was too tired to move and just dozed off in the driver's seat - after pulling over and stopping at the services that is.

[WireyWhenWet]

Many thanks for those!

 

I've been looking at the options and have seen some pretty funky ideas, some doodads on amazon and what not are inflatable half-mattess delays that fill the rear footwell area and back seats, but this is definitely more for kids or a single person to crash on..

I've been thinking of knocking up a slate of my or something to fit the back with the seats dropped to span the length, with a few off cuts at the boot end to level it out and just stick a foam/air mattress on that for the more luxury option..

The other thought was to just take the rear seats out entirely for the trip and keep it flat, bung the air mattress in and have that be it for the sakes of frugality, and could fill the footwells with out bags anyway as that'll all be soft stuff.

I've got a in having factory tinted glass already, (although I do need to replace the OSR one as have just done a door swap), so that helps with privacy, and I'm 5'11, Miss Wirey is more carry-on friendly so that's a bonus too.

I'll update this as info for if it helps anyone, but by all means people please keep ideas coming!

[south_bound]

I just spent an entertaining few minutes looking up ideas and there are loads of websites and blogs which talk about this - just google "sleeping in a hatchback car" for ideas.  It seems the most common way is to take out the back seats and build a platform from plywood to raise the bed up and give storage room underneath.  You can make up black-out blinds using silver insulation material to help keep warm.  Then you take it from there and add features as you want, like lighting, 12V fridge, roof box, cooking stove etc.  Looks like fun, but not sure I'd convince my wife to go along with the idea!