#sleepingplatform

Hey, everyone! Well, I'm back after a long time not writing. I meant to keep a regular blog this year, posting at least once a week, but that didn't work out. I got caught up in the "winter blues" and wasn't feeling very inspired to write anything. I did read a lot, though, so that has to count for something. But here I am, and today's topic is the sleeping platform my dad and I recently put in my Jeep. I suppose I should start off with what brought me to want to build this sleeping platform in the first place. I bought my Jeep Grand Cherokee back in 2016. I needed a vehicle that would allow me access and clearance to roads that would have been inaccessible in the Acura I owned before. I wanted more space for both myself and passengers, as well as more cargo space to haul all the stuff I'd need for camping and photography ventures. Prior to the build, I would put one of the back seats down, put an air mattress along the side with a sleeping bag and cuddle up next to all the camping and photo gear. It was a tight squeeze, but it worked. Although I'm fully equipped for "regular" camping (ie with a tent), I often end up shooting in places where I don't have the ability to set up a tent or don't want to take the time to do it. So car camping has always been the obvious choice for my needs. I had looked into rooftop tents, but with the high price tag and not being able to fit into my downtown Vancouver parkade, sleeping in the back of my Jeep really did make for the best of both worlds. I just needed to make it more efficient. Earlier this year, I started doing some research on what others had done to make their vehicles more car-camping friendly. It was then that I discovered a lot of people had made sleeping platforms for their vehicles. I don't know why I hadn't thought of anything like that sooner, but better late than never! My parents recently moved to Victoria after ten years overseas, and having them close (but not THAT close, hey mom?) is a great thing. I knew my parents had a garage and my dad had tools that we could use to make a sleeping platform for my Jeep, and I asked my dad if he'd be willing to help me with it. I won't lie; I'm not mechanically inclined. I'm not good at building things from scratch. Hell, I'm not good at building things at all. I get frustrated and end up making more of a mess than was even necessary. I'm a solid three out of ten on the "Mr. FixIt Scale," which is a term I'm going to trademark. I knew my dad has had a lot of experience building things over the years and thought this would be a great project for us. I also thought it would be a great idea for my dad to spend some time with someone other than my mother for a little bit, although I'm not sure who needed the distraction more. My parents are lovely people, for those that don't know, but they've been overseas with mostly just themselves for the last ten years, plus the stresses of moving and setting up a new house upon their return to Canada. I digress. https://youtu.be/J4bLKkBWrQE During a work stint, I told my friend Jared about my plans to build this platform, and he got pretty excited. We had done some measurements during a lunch hour on set and built a preliminary sketch of what it was I wanted to create. I sent these off to my dad, and we messaged back and forth about what we'd need. My girlfriend and I headed to Victoria to "meet the family" as well as get this sleeping platform built. We arrived early in the morning, and after a quick visit, my dad and I got to work. He had found some YouTube videos where a guy built a sleeping platform in his JGC, and had the plans for his build on the Internet. We took his plans, made some measurements of our own, and changed them slightly so they'd work for my Jeep, as his was a few years older and had different specifications. https://youtu.be/D1tiszHNIjE One of the main purposes of the sleeping platform, aside from having a firm resting place, was to allow for convenient storage of a lot of the camping essentials that would have otherwise taken up a lot of space in the trunk. One of the things I didn't like was having to take certain camping gear and move it up to the front seats or stack it to the side in the trunk when I wanted to go to sleep. With the platform, you still have to move some things around when you want to sleep, but the work is minimal and most of the main components are tucked underneath the platform. Originally I had wanted to put in sliding drawers, but this would have added more height to the platform, decreasing the amount of headroom so I decided against this option. The plastic containers slide out easily enough. https://youtu.be/oLZxKJjFWSs My dad and I headed to Home Depot with our plans in hand. We knew what sizes of plywood and beams we'd need, and to cut down on time, we got everything pre-cut for us at Home Depot. I wanted to put down some sort of rubber mat to help keep the mattress from sliding, which would also aid in keeping gear from moving around when in travel mode. After purchasing the custom cut wood, the rubber mats, and the containers, I was sitting at a total cost of $250. Not too bad for a mobile hotel room!