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"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch) 01/25/2017 at 14:36 • Filed to: None

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Who’s slept in their car, and if you do it semi frequently, what are your tips and tricks for a good nights sleep away from your bed.

I sleep in my car about half a dozen times a year, but I’ve always done it. I used to have sleepovers in the back of my family suburban in the garage for the helluvit when i was kid. Then I spent a week living out of a 1st gen RAV4 just to see if I could. These days its because i tend to get a much better nights sleep off the ground and out of the wind in the back of my truck.

It usually looks a lot like this

I have to take out the middle seats on account of the fact that the cruiser isn’t actually that long and there isn’t room to lay down with the seats tumbled forward, Once I do though its pretty room. A few things that I do to make it pleasant is to keep all my stuff I wear under a blanket if I can for the cold mornings. I also make sure to keep my keys obvious and handy in case I do something stupid like try and lock it with the keys still inside. Also, I have something like these

For letting the breeze in without letting the bugs in, I like em, but I bought some neodymium magnets to help seal the edges.

You can also get reflectix and cut to shape to help with light/heat.

as seen in the windows here.

I would eventually like to put some drawers in the back of the truck so I don’t have to unload the entire thing to sleep in there, but one step at a time.

So you, what do you do if you have to spend a night in the car? Does it work? any tips you’ve found to make life easier when you do?

The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 14:40

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I did a few times when I had a minivan, once in my old Vibe.

Jcarr > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 14:42

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I did a handful of times in college when I would go to parties at campgrounds or on farms.

My best tip: Alcohol, and lots of it.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 14:43

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My Elantra wagon was the best for this. My AW11 with no interior and solid one-piece racing seats is not.

HammerheadFistpunch > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 01/25/2017 at 14:45

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quitter.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 14:46

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slept in your car

hahahahahahahahaha

Nope.

HammerheadFistpunch > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 14:48

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oooh, I just remembered one. If you have a puffy coat cause its cold. stuff inside a t-shirt or, even better, a hoodie and have the best damn pillow around, plus it stays warm for the morning when you’ll want it.

E90M3 > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 14:49

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Slept in a Mercedes B180 at Le Mans, not the most comfortable thing ever.

I’ve also taken naps in a variety of Ford pickup trucks in the oil field.

HammerheadFistpunch > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 01/25/2017 at 14:49

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I am disappoint.

HammerheadFistpunch > E90M3 01/25/2017 at 14:50

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was it [the Mercedes] just not long enough?

E90M3 > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 14:53

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We had all our luggage in there and I don’t think the backseat folded flat, and since we were on another continent, we didn’t have any sleeping things. Well I had a blanket, but that was with me in the passanger seat. My friend tried to sleep in the back seat.

nerd_racing > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 14:53

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I slept curled up in the back of my 1 series. The back seat has a hard plastic divider tray to make it a 2+2. Best advice, do not forget your pillows and blankets. Ask me how I know. Ended up having to ball up my banana costume to cover the hard plastic and then used a baseball mitt for a pillow.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 14:53

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I did sleep in it. Kind of.

HammerheadFistpunch > nerd_racing 01/25/2017 at 14:54

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thats pretty rough.

marshknute > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 14:54

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The secret is to have a Toyota Sequoia. You can fit a 4x8' sheet of plywood inside with the trunk closed , so you can stretch out all you want and still have room. It also has like 24 cup holders for your beer!

Die-Trying > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 14:55

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lock the doors.....

bench seat in a squarebody truck. i keep an old thick quilted moving pad in the truck, i usually use it when i have to climb underneath the truck somewhere strange, but it is warm. the bench seat is just wide enough that i can fully stretch out. the truck has the split rear window, and small vent windows up front, which makes it easy to get a flowing breeze. i also keep a handgun within easy reach. its kinda weird waking up in odd places having someone you dont know staring at you through a window.........

bhtooefr > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 14:56

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I’ve camped in the Prius once.

Two totes, about an 18" tall stack, between the passenger and rear seat. (Add two more between the driver and rear seat if you want to share the bed.)

Either a narrow camping pad, inflatable camping pad, or if doing the configuration that sleeps two, a twin air mattress. Add bedding as appropriate.

If the outside temperature is comfortable, then there’s three ways to go - either use magnets to hold mesh over a window and open that window, use a Habitents  on the back of the car (I wish they had a ZVW50/51 model, they’ve said it isn’t compatible with it yet), or turn the car on, dim all cabin lighting all the way, shut the head unit’s screen off, and let the HVAC system handle ventilation. This is the step that I failed to do, and it smelled awful for a day or two afterwards.

If the outside temperature isn’t comfortable, just turn the car on and follow the directions above.

HammerheadFistpunch > marshknute 01/25/2017 at 14:56

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Thats a good solution. The Cruiser is a bit on the narrow side, even with the seats out, such that sharing the back with my 5 year old is getting harder these days. I really need a drawer/platform to get on top of the wheel wells.

My inlaws sleep in their Routan when we go camping with them, and that thing is HUGE and the floor is flat. Its a great camper

nerd_racing > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 15:06

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Slept from 1 am to 6 am then volunteered for 12 hours. Slept pretty well the next night in a hotel and then ran a tough mudder.

Die-Trying > bhtooefr 01/25/2017 at 15:07

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when the bugs are bad, stretch an old t shirt over the open part of a window tie off the neck if need be........

RallyWrench > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 15:09

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I used to do it regularly when I was working races & rallies, and have when camping for years. It’s been in everything from a BMW E28 to a VW GTI, Subaru Outback, Volvo 245, a 4Runner, two Toyota pickups, and now my F150.

If in a small car that doesn’t have enough space to stretch out fully (or in the backseat), I always just tried to get as level as possible on the back seat or fully recline the passenger seat and sleep in that. In the wagons I had to cock sideways slightly, but with my head at the B-pillar and feet at the opposite C-pillar it worked ok. Again, using stacked sleeping pads to get as level as possible helped bigly, especially when the seats don’t fold completely flat.

It’s always good to think about where the sun will be when you wake up and park or shade accordingly so you don’t get woken up too early or with blazing sun in your face, the inside of the car will heat up quickly that way too. If you’re leaving any doors or tailgates open, make sure the latches are locked so it doesn’t increase battery drain, because some cars (especially most modern ones with body control modules) draw more with doors open regardless of whether a dome light is on.

Drawers work great in a truck when you have the height, you saw what I did in my Ford:

http://overland.kinja.com/easy-pickup-bed-sleep-and-storage-solution-1753681950

pauljones > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 15:09

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When I was in college, I had a little Saturn, and between 18 units a semester and 40+ hours of work, I lived out of that car. If you’re like me, it doesn’t take much to be comfortable.

Keep in mind I did this in LA, but still, here’s my recommendations:

General Supplies:

1) A small cooler for water/gatorade/iced coffee

2) Non-meltable snack (Nature Valley Oats & Honey are a favorite)

3) Maglight

4) Small flight pillow (headrests get really uncomfortable to lay on after about 5 minutes)

5) Comfortable and warm quilt/blanket

6) Phone charger

7) Stash of small plastic trashbags

8) Sunshades for all windows

9) Febreze - don’t skimp on this shit. Your car can get astoundingly stinky when living out of it.

10) 1 duffel bag

11) 1 milk crate for storgae

12) 1 fully-stocked dopp kit

13) 1 high-quality swiss army knife or leatherman

14) 1 fully-stocked emergency road kit

15) 1 fully-stocked first-aid kit

16) 1 good book

17) 2 clipboards

In terms of clothes, here’s what you need:

1) 2 sets of towels

2) 1 pair of jeans

3) 2 pairs of khakis

4) 3-4 pairs of decent slacks

5) 5 versatile button-up shirts (think more along the nicer end of things. It’s easier to wear a nice thing casually than a casual thing semi-formally)

6) 7 T-shirts

7) 7 pairs of socks

8) 7 pairs of underwear

9) 1 pair of shower-safe sandals

10) 1 pair of tennis shoes

11) 1 pair of nice shoes

12) 1 versatile belt (like the shirts, think more along the nicer end of things. It’s easier to wear a nice thing casually than a casual thing semi-formally)

13) 1-2 jackets

That seems like a long list of stuff, but it’s actually really not. And you if you do even a halfway decent job of packing your clothes in a duffel bag, all of the above should take up no more than half the room in the trunk of a compact car.

All of that, combined with a membership at a solid gym with lots of locations, and that’s how I lived throughout college. While I technically had my parents home to go to, I had a two-hour commute each way, and didn’t have time except on weekends so that I could do laundry. There’s never a shortage of places to buy a meal, and all you have to do is find a reasonably safe place to park. A library membership is a bonus.

I don’t ever recommend living out of a car. Truth be told, though, if I were back in LA, I could probably still go back to doing this and being okay.

shop-teacher > pauljones 01/25/2017 at 15:35

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Wow, that is an impressively thorough list.

Tristan > HammerheadFistpunch 01/25/2017 at 16:42

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I used to sleep in my cars often. I even slept in my XJ once. It was miserable. The best vehicle I had for sleeping in was my ‘88 County Squire wagon. Now for sleeping on the go I take my Suburban... and hitch the travel trailer to the back.