Poor man’s sprinter van

[rclouse79]

I have always enjoyed being able to crash in the back of my suburban where ever I end up at the end of the day. I have been working on some modifications so my son and I can do the same thing.
Last year he slept on top of the two coolers on his trifold mattress without complaint. I tried it this year on a hunt with my buddy. I could feel the gap between the coolers and I fell on him in the middle of the night because they weren’t wide enough. I made a carpeted platform out of plywood that closes the gap against the wall and is as wide as the mat. The back cooler is filled with frozen gallon milk jugs and the front cooler is for gear and a few frozen jugs to keep things cool. The coolers can still open with the platform on top.
I watched some YouTube videos where people made plywood cubbies to utilize the wasted space inside the back windows. Instead I suspended some pocket organizers to store all camping things you would need at the end of the day. When you are ready for bed all you have to do is throw your bags in the front seat and unfold the mattresses.
My camp box is the vertical slide out tool box at the end of the coolers. It is amazing for keeping everything accessible and organized.

 

[ahlgringo]

good job man, amazing what a little ingenuity can create.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Nice work! I have a similar setup I use in my Jeep but seeing yours makes me wish I had a suburban now.

 

[324matt]

A 10mm socket will take out the 2nd row seat back for even more room. Nice job though looks good

 

[BBarnett13]

A suburban is the Cadillac of vehicle camping without getting into ridiculous overland rigs. This was my setup for my roundtrip to the panhandle of ID from western PA. I had to make a cardboard wedge (pictured) to bridge the height difference between the 2nd & 3rd rows.

 

[Mountain_Life]

I spit out my coffee when I got to the part where you fell on your hunting buddy. Let's hear more about this.

 

[Te Hopo]

I built this a few years ago for my truck, it's mostly just myself on trips so this and tinted rear windows work great for comfort and security.
That's a mattress 4" thick and 32" wide.

The square compartment under the mattress is long enough to hold my rifle, fishing rods and/or bow out of sight and protected, other compartments hold water, food, camping gear and so on.
The draw is my camp kitchen.
I can fit my cooler in there next to the bed and gear bags go in a locking roof box.

 

[ShakeDown]

This is why I went with a topper set up.

 

[beachbunny]

did that with my old k5,took out the front passenger seat and rear bench, it was huuuggeee!
a waterproof warm palace

 

[rclouse79]

I spit out my coffee when I got to the part where you fell on your hunting buddy. Let's hear more about this.

I parked on a slight angle the wrong way and was fighting to stay on those coolers all night. My pad was starting to slide, and I tried to sit up to scoot it back over. Once my butt hit the crack between the coolers I might as well have been on a slip and slide. I tried to give him as much warning as possible by yelling “OH $&@$!!!” Luckily we are good enough friends we both started laughing.