This looks amazing! I have no patience to build such a masterpiece. I just bought a full size air mattress from Wal Mart for 15 bucks and laid it over the four folded flat seats. I'm 6'4 and it works great. Plenty of room at the front and under the seats to store items. The best part is it cost me less than 20 bucks and is ready in under 5min.

just about the best car camping mod I've seen in an Element!

I agree. Nice setup. It is amazing to look at how people set their Es up differently.

This is AWESOME!!!!! We're getting an Element in a couple of days. Thanks so much for making this an Instructable!

Interesting weight saving design and well organized.

I like your design! Cudos for a well thought out & executed system. Many good features for use & safety. It could be simplified somewhat. Ignore the haters.Evolving changes are part of the design process. Maybe a window shade-like bar for the extension cover w slats sewn in; Roman shade style. Or maybe a telescoping metal frame instead of folding metal supports arms for the "cot" portion w the "cot" slats as a continuation of the shock cord system, attached at the end and could unbunch as the telescoping metal support came out. I checked out the indestructible page - very well crafted.

@kencousins

8 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Yeah, I had a Mark III version in mind that would have incorporated some of those ideas. Sadly, we traded in our E for something more economical. The bed lives on, providing a comfortable berth to a couple in Tacoma, WA.

This is amazing . You’re a genius for this bro . Not practical for me now but it’s great to know if ever I need to sleep in my car daily that I can use this as a resource .

Very creative and clever - great job!

AMAZING WORK. well done man!!

Very nice job with that!

Just in case we need to machete, best line ever

It takes a little bit more time to set-up but a job well done. Thanks for sharing.

Very creative & well executed! If it works for you, then great! But I agree it seems complicated, probably not what I'd go with, personally

Love it! much more thought out than my design. haha

Nice job!!

Great good luck!

dude this is bad ass..!!!

Great idea. How do you attach the supports to the side of the car?

Nice!!!!

Looks incredibly comfortable, but ridiculously complicated. Whatever works for you though is great.

GREAT IDEAL LIKE IT

not bad you have plenty of room for storage under, ccan fold out to use and very easy to convert back to passenger mode

Ok great and how did you attached the brackets where the ikea wood slats are resting on ? Did you glue them on to the panel or you actually drilled the panels, aren't those panels very weak or not strong enough to support the weight of the bed?

@kencousins

7 жыл бұрын

Here's a more detailed description of the build: www.instructables.com/id/Folding-bed-for-car-camping

So complicated. I just fold all my seats down in my element and throw an air mattress on top. Take like 45seconds

Interesting design, a few questions if I may? 1. What are the slats actually sitting on for the whole rear portion? 2. I'm assuming the pivoting cot arms are secured to the side brackets that the removable rear seats attach to? How are you securing the cot arms to them? 3. It seems like the bed is really being supported by the slats up in the cot area and not really by the canvas. Could it have done away with a lot of complication to just use the slats and cross beam/tent poles? Thanks for taking the time to film and share!

@kencousins

9 жыл бұрын

billj121 Thanks, Bill. 1. There are braces along either side that bolt into the mounts for the rear seats. The cot arms are held in place with a clevis pin and reinforcing plate, both of which are attached to the side braces. 2. See www.instructables.com/id/Folding-bed-for-car-camping for a more detailed explanation. 3. Yes, I suppose you could find a way to support the front without the canvas, but you'd have to ensure that the slats didn't move around much. Alternately, the canvas and stretcher bar might be sufficient to support the bed without the slats, but I had a couple of slats left over, and I figured "why not"?

That gas can may be beneficial for the insurance company if you ever get in a bad accident. Nice job on the bed.

@kencousins

6 жыл бұрын

The gas can is always kept empty; I keep one in every vehicle just in case.

super creative congrats. I have an Element and I am taking your bed Ikea idea to build a shelve on the back, my question is how and where did you attached the supoorts for the wood slats on the bach of the truck, I can't tell on the video? regards

@kencousins

7 жыл бұрын

I drilled holes in either end of the slats, and then laced them together with paracord (with hard tubing for spacing between slats). The back ends of these "laces" drop through a hole I drill in the side-mount supports, from which I then hung carabiners. The front ends of the laces are attached to an eye bolt at the front of the side-mount supports, using Nite-ize s-biners.

I really don't see why some ppl have to be so critical. Surely there main advantage to doing your own conversion is that you get to streamline it to exactly fit your priorities/lifestyle. Also I think it rocks that ppl are taking the van conversion idea and running with it. And whilst this would be too fiddly for me to want to set up at the end of every day, (and ppl who believe that a fixed mattress is the ONLY way need to realise that a fixed mattress won't fit into a vehicle this size), personally I wouldn't opt for a fixed mattress - I don't think they are an effective use of space but then I too would opt for a smaller vehicle than a van (tho not quite this small - altho I'd go for length over height). Also the problem with a fixed mattress, even in a van - if doesn't have extensive length it tends to force those owners to have a kitchen that requires outside access - that's fine if you're traveling in warmer climes or in summer but not all of us are interested in doing that (some of us actually like SNOW); as I say - your design should fit your personal requirements which means no one else has the right to push their ideas on you because they won't have your priorities. What I really liked about YOUR design was the lack of wood (not that I don't like wood but), I feel this gives hope to those of us who are carpentry-challenged that a diy conversion is within their grasp (and yes, I realise you must've custom-made a few of those metal rungs but I was significantly better at metal-work at school than carpentry)

Does look very comfortable. Do you do all that every night and every morning of a trip?

@kencousins

6 жыл бұрын

We did (we since sold everything for a Prius - I commute for work, and the E is not exactly fuel efficient). Seriously, it's not as complicated or involved as everyone seems to think. My wife was able to set it up by herself within 5 minutes. Stowing it takes just a bit longer - no worse than towing a popup trailer.

That bed is cool but considering the other Elements I've seen...this just seems like a lot of work.

Looks like Boise..?

I like it as a generation one design. The gen 2 seats limited forward swing reduces the usable bed length by almost 6 inches :-( One refinement I'd make is to the front cot to make it rapi d deploy. If the fabric had curtain type pockets over the lateral rods, the rods could swing inward for storage with the fabric still attached. Extending the fabric rearward over the slats, I'd use the fabric and grommets to position the rear slats, and webbing straps underneath to anchor the slats to the eyebolts or cargo hooks at one end, bungies at rhe other. The front crossbar should provide enough tension to hold the rods in place, and a simple angle added to each end could allw them to hang from the rear panic handles, use legs that slotted into the from seat tracks, or both.

@kencousins

9 жыл бұрын

psdaengr I suppose you could just trim three inches from each half of the mattress, if it wouldn't fit otherwise. I thought about permanently attaching the canvas to the cot arms. I ended up going with the current design because the way the fabric twisted as the cot is stowed is takes up extra space in the cargo area. Plus, I couldn't come up with an elegant way to ensure that the cot stayed in place in case of accident. The one-wrap is pretty solid. I'm not sure I understand the value added by extending the cot canvas back over the rear slats. The paracord is lighter (though I like the idea of a bungee to hold it taut), and the mattress cover is already sufficient to cover the cargo area. The cot arms are really quite sturdy - no need for an angle brace, at least in our weight range (~300 lbs combined - mostly me). Unless you're suggesting to do away with the pivots entirely - an interesting idea, certainly. I chose a pivoting design mostly for safety and simplicity - once the bed is stowed, the arms are mechanically locked to the side braces, and deploying it with the pivots allows us to apply leverage to stretch the cot canvas, rather than keeping it taut while "inserting" one arm or the other into the side braces. Does that make sense?

That's nice but I don't have that much time on my hands to build 1. I think I just try to air mattress at Walmart say how that works out

Instructables Project Link www.instructables.com/id/Folding-bed-for-car-camping/?amp_page=true

Круто!

Interesting design, but way too time consuming and complicated to set up and break down.

what year is your element

@kencousins

8 жыл бұрын

It was a 2006 EX-P. We've since sold it and the bed separately, the latter to a couple with a 2008 EX. It installed quickly, with no problems.

@slave2thesystem

8 жыл бұрын

Very cool. Thanks.

@slave2thesystem

8 жыл бұрын

I like the 06 model the most. Very nice car

seems ridiculously complicated. TLDW.

@kencousins

9 жыл бұрын

Cool story, bro.

@yakadee1

9 жыл бұрын

Understatement of the year.

@zamzammrfixit3113

5 жыл бұрын

because you cant follow instructions .. you need a good head for this which you dont have . Thanks !

too complicated,it seemed like doing on a P.Hd on bed making.

Omg buddy - what a complicated mess. Build a platform and put a mattress on it.

@kencousins

8 жыл бұрын

Whatever. It's comfortable, it's safe, and it weighs the same as the seats.

never mind the disenters, they would complain if you gave them a million dollars, noy complicated and only srung out on the presentation, after you showed us how it was done it would only take a feww seconds to set up

way too much time. looks comfortable though.

No, it wasn't. That's sort of the point.

@kencousins

9 жыл бұрын

unabonger777 Granted I haven't gotten stoned before deploying the bed, but my wife and I find that either of us can set up the entire bed within five minutes, bedding excluded. Usually she's setting it up, while I start the campfire. Not exactly brain surgery.

seth rogen?

@laska907

4 жыл бұрын

It’s good to know I wasn’t the only one! Lol

Huh?

@peggooo

5 жыл бұрын

SuperDeut4 lol !