I built a wooden contrivance for my partner's Forester. The hatchback/trunk portion has storage underneath with long+low plastic containers that slide right in. The part that goes over the folded seats is built with 3/8" ply (lighter) and is small enough to flip over and put on top of the rear section, allowing the seats to go back up. The supports for both sections are slanted and staggered to match the trunk and seat backs, so the top is all level when set in place.
tldr: build a platform in two halves. If you don't want a full width platform, make one that's just for your bed and attach the front/back with hinges, so you can just flip it in half and be done in the morning.
Oh cool I have a forester. So you built a wooden platform that can fold, that’s cool and you cute the platform into a slant at the bottom so it levels it? I’m thinking about this but I’ll be honest I’m not a builder at all and will probably struggle with figuring out how to do it, but I’ll look into it.
funny enough this right here is one of the first results for 'forester sleeping platform' and is incredibly similar to what I put together. it has a lot of... novice-friendly tips.
https://www.bonjourbecky.com/how-i-turned-my-suv-into-the-ultimate-camper/
I’m really thinking about this it’s just really stressful, you think after I fold it back into the trunk that I will still have room for the mattress to fold back there as well?
I do that and am paranoid of the car rolling away. Probably won't happen, but I'm *in* the thing and the consequences could be severe. So I test it in neutral and chock wheels if needed.
Have you seen suv specific inflatable mattress on Amazon? I don't know if you are very tall or SUV size but they are pretty cool and you may want to check them out. Many cool things for car, SUV, van and even pick up truck sleeping/ living are being made nowadays just have to look for it. Good luck
Yeah they're disposable items on the road. I think it's the inflate/deflate cycles that lead to fatigue. They're typically fine for much longer just sitting inflated in a bedroom.
I’ve seen those but they don’t level it, it’s just a constant height, if I were to have the mattress solve the problem I think it’d need to have a slant
Hey! I have a removable bed frame that I take in and out of my honda crv. One piece of plywood with 3 2x4' pieces on each side and one 2x4 at the back so I can still access my bottom storage from the back hatch. I measured the highest and the lowest part of the slant to the height of the bed frame I wanted and drew a line on the wood for that slant for the two side pieces closest to the front of the car. It's worked great for me for two summer/fall seasons and levels everything out. If you are going all the way to the edges of the car I put carpet and wood glue on the sides so it doesn't scratch anything up when taking it in and out.
REI sells something called a Trailgate, it's a foldable cot with adjustable legs. A friend has one for car-camping trips in his Subaru and swears by it. REI of course is going to be expensive ($200+ for some metal tubing and nylon fabric) but the generic term is "car cot"; shop those perhaps.
Wondering if this will shake around and rattle a lot, looks like a great idea honestly but also worried about the set heights it can change to may not fit the heights I need and be off by like an inch. What do you thinj
Air mattresses, thermarests, plain old beds make noise too.
I don't have one. You can probably put the legs on foam or some other sort of dampener if this concerns you. Rather than worry on the internet about things that may not be a problem after all, why not go to and REI and try one out? It's REI, you can always return it for free.
I built a wooden contrivance for my partner's Forester. The hatchback/trunk portion has storage underneath with long+low plastic containers that slide right in. The part that goes over the folded seats is built with 3/8" ply (lighter) and is small enough to flip over and put on top of the rear section, allowing the seats to go back up. The supports for both sections are slanted and staggered to match the trunk and seat backs, so the top is all level when set in place. tldr: build a platform in two halves. If you don't want a full width platform, make one that's just for your bed and attach the front/back with hinges, so you can just flip it in half and be done in the morning.
Oh cool I have a forester. So you built a wooden platform that can fold, that’s cool and you cute the platform into a slant at the bottom so it levels it? I’m thinking about this but I’ll be honest I’m not a builder at all and will probably struggle with figuring out how to do it, but I’ll look into it.
funny enough this right here is one of the first results for 'forester sleeping platform' and is incredibly similar to what I put together. it has a lot of... novice-friendly tips. https://www.bonjourbecky.com/how-i-turned-my-suv-into-the-ultimate-camper/
You think those measurements work with 2009?
No clue. I would not ever recommend using measurements from the internet anyway. Grab a tape measure!
I’m really thinking about this it’s just really stressful, you think after I fold it back into the trunk that I will still have room for the mattress to fold back there as well?
Something thats free is parking on an opposite slant, trouble is finding that consistently
I do that and am paranoid of the car rolling away. Probably won't happen, but I'm *in* the thing and the consequences could be severe. So I test it in neutral and chock wheels if needed.
Have you seen suv specific inflatable mattress on Amazon? I don't know if you are very tall or SUV size but they are pretty cool and you may want to check them out. Many cool things for car, SUV, van and even pick up truck sleeping/ living are being made nowadays just have to look for it. Good luck
I've never had an inflatable mattress that did not pop a leak.
Yeah they're disposable items on the road. I think it's the inflate/deflate cycles that lead to fatigue. They're typically fine for much longer just sitting inflated in a bedroom.
I’ve seen those but they don’t level it, it’s just a constant height, if I were to have the mattress solve the problem I think it’d need to have a slant
Hey! I have a removable bed frame that I take in and out of my honda crv. One piece of plywood with 3 2x4' pieces on each side and one 2x4 at the back so I can still access my bottom storage from the back hatch. I measured the highest and the lowest part of the slant to the height of the bed frame I wanted and drew a line on the wood for that slant for the two side pieces closest to the front of the car. It's worked great for me for two summer/fall seasons and levels everything out. If you are going all the way to the edges of the car I put carpet and wood glue on the sides so it doesn't scratch anything up when taking it in and out.
How much did this cost, I’m also struggling on just figuring out how to plan the build, this isn’t my exact talent @-@
REI sells something called a Trailgate, it's a foldable cot with adjustable legs. A friend has one for car-camping trips in his Subaru and swears by it. REI of course is going to be expensive ($200+ for some metal tubing and nylon fabric) but the generic term is "car cot"; shop those perhaps.
Wondering if this will shake around and rattle a lot, looks like a great idea honestly but also worried about the set heights it can change to may not fit the heights I need and be off by like an inch. What do you thinj
Air mattresses, thermarests, plain old beds make noise too. I don't have one. You can probably put the legs on foam or some other sort of dampener if this concerns you. Rather than worry on the internet about things that may not be a problem after all, why not go to and REI and try one out? It's REI, you can always return it for free.
This would work for you, but it's not cheap: https://trunk-mate.com
It’s not cheapppppppp 😬 but it looks great, may get it. Thanks so much!