Question - Configuring a Wagon for sleeping inside it.

Robin

I have lost count on how many storage variations I have made to multiple 4x4's over the years but there is no simple answer to your dilemma. Somewhere along the line there has to be a compromise.

You either carry heaps of gear on a roofrack or you tow a trailer.

In the end I opted for the trailer. This, once again, presents its own problems when travelling remote and especially on desert trips or cross country driving.

The third alternative is to take an angle grinder to the body and re-configure it to suit your needs.


Cheers

I had the dilemma of how to sleep in the troopy and still carry all the gear . The obvious answer was to buy an oztent . cheers .

Rob, I have a campertrailer but with just the fiance and I, unless staying put in the one place I long for the tent. I hate the fact I have to pack up the tent to visit somewhere...hence the camper.

But as an option to your delema...I think the roof top tents are a joke in the fact that the setup is substantial and the windbrake they represent on the road must cost a fortune in fuel.

Im not sure if you have seen these though... Magollina Roof toppers? These are hard roof capsules so you leave all the bedding in the pod and just drop them down when finished for the night.

Would allow the vehicle to hold all necessary gear and the roof tent for sleeping but being sreamlined and fibreglass eliminates the wet tent packup and is fuel efficient.

Plenty of variations that might suit.

Im not associated with nor do I own the product but have seen it in action and was impressed!

All the best

Matt.

Robin,

Sorry, been too busy to get down to the Coffee Shop.

Pop into the factory and I can go through some things with you.

Give me a call on 9706 6527 first to make sure I'm not out.

Regards,

Jim.

Robin

Link to a Bike Camper as you have mentioned above - bit expensive though
Bike Camper

Cheers


A

Hey Robin

Isnt it great when they get their cars - the amount of space available in yours seems to increase tenfold ... LOL

Pretty much whatever arrangement you come up with will come back and kick you in the butt somewhere along the line. There will always be the " I wish I did this or that" situation ... lol

In a troopy ... I built a storage box that filled the rear half of the storage area .. on the pass side. The lid lifted up for access and bulky, heavy items could still be stowed at floor level on the dvrs side. Careful stowage was required due to left and right weights in the vehicle but the extra effort was worth it, for the easy, full height, floor to ceiling access from front to rear when unloaded.

The storage box lid was comprised of two lids. the top lid was hinged to fold over to the drivers side ... when the vehicle was unloaded ... and form a dble bed base. The mattress was two piece.

This worked well for a number of years.

Have a smaller wagon now and space is more limited. Currently in the planning stage of a single huge drawer, that will slide out leaving the interior totally free for sleeping. This will be for use on shorter trips where a trailer is not required.

( Jim ... I have design rights ... LOL )

The main restriction that I can see Robin is the height of the fridge at around 450 to 500mm doesn't leave quite enough room to get in & out of bed. If the cramped position doesn't bother you then a false floor could easily be run right up to the front seats. Good enough for someone with ducks disease but if you're over 6' then I doubt you could stretch out fully without tilting the seats forward. Storage _Affordable_Storage_Drawers.aspx, water tank, etc could all be accessed easily from the rear & side doors. Personally the noise of the fridge cutting in & out all night along with the condensation would make me go back to setting a tent up pretty quick. In standard form a troopy is possibly the only vehicle tall & long enough to make a comfortable 4x4 wagon to sleep in.
Cheers Craig.............

Robin,

A bit of a late reply to your query but we have done exactly what you are after to a GQ patrol. We took this on our first trip around Australia and were quite comfortable for an extended trip. We had an existing draw system in teh back covered in carpet, we then removed all the back seats (temporarily) and we built a storage system that fits in there. We have a caravan water tank that goes along the floor (where the rear seats used to sit straped to the holes from the seats), the fridge sits stapped to the floor behind the passenger seat and above this is a system of boxes built out of ply and covered in carpet. The storage system includes a pantry with a draw that opens out the back right hand side passenger door, a vegie storage box with aeration holes, and several other boxes designed to fit all the other camping gear. We then custom built a cargo barrier that is mounted to the top of the existing rear draw system, the cargo barrier is hinged and can be unbolted from the top and lays down over the top of the storage system so you have a flat bed surface for the evenings. All of the storage system is cushioned using heavy duty foam to 'level' up the base of the car where its uneven from the seat mountings.

The only things on our roof rack are the spare tyre and gas bottles.

The pluses of this system we have found are:
* all the heavy stuff is stored low down (fridge, water, recovery gear)
* heaps of storage space, all easy to get to and everything has its place
* nothing goes in the back on top of the 'bed' area except the bedding and camp chairs (ie. the things you get out first anyway
* takes us 5 mins to convert the car from driving mode to sleeping mode
* everything can be removed easily when we get home and the seats put back in - we then just store the system in the shed for the next trip
* it is all homemade and relatively cheap

The negatives we have found include:
* airflow - on hot nights sleeping in the car does not allow for adequate airflow (we now take a swag which we use outside or in the car depending on how close to water in croc country we are!)
* there isn't a huge amount of head room (ie. you can't sit up) but we find it enough to be comfortable)
* its not the easiest to get in and out of but again its not a huge issue for us

I hope that helps you out with some ideas.

'Draff

G'day Robin,

There was a mob some time ago that did a drawer system all the way to the driver's seat. It was one drawer that contained the bed. Can't recall the name but when combined with the latest very nifty looking rear tent structures available for wagons these days it could provide a comfy sleeping arrangement (not confined to the cabin) and the storage above is not lost or needing to be moved to use the bed. Also the area underneath the rear passenger area would be storage.

Kind regards

Theo

We spent over a year deciding what we wanted and came up with the perfect answer - a pop-top Troopy. We looked at converting a normal 4wd such as Robin wants to do, tent tops, camper trailers, tray backs, etc, etc.

The Troopy has everything we want incl inside sitting room in the back when it is cold or wet plus sleeping for 3 and maybe 4. The up top sleeping is a perfect size for a double airbed which is what we use.

We have the storage space, fridge, stove, kitchen sink, water tank and dual fuel tanks and batteries. I can stand inside with no problems - useful for getting changed.

It is also used a day to day run around and being around the standard height we can still get into most carparks. It is also a registered 7 seater which has been handy from time to time. Being a Troopy, there are not many places you cannot take it.

Had it nearly 6 years now and we will never sell it as it is too useful and we love it.

We do have our cake and are eating it too.

Stevesub

Yes, I agree the Britz ones are too high, especially for day to day use when you may have to go into low carparks.

When we bought ours, there was not a lot on the market at that time, in fact we only saw our model which was converted in Adelaide. I cannot remember the company but they do not do Troopys any more.

The ones hinged at the front are from Ballina. They should be OK but I sleep with my head over the front of the vehicle and do not know how much room there is for sleeping in that model.

There is no room for a ladder in a Troopy, we stand on the fridge to get up to bed, not ideal but it works (the fridge is a metal Engel).

As a nice feature, our fridge is mounted on springs so that it does not get as much vibration from the vehicle. They are fairly stiff but is should help with longevity for the fridge.

The other option around right now are ex-Maui pop-top ones BUT are they expensive - like twice what we paid for ours and we bought ours when it was 3 years old.

As for too narrow, well we find it is no problem and have a double air bed as our mattress. The one that came with the truck was too hard and we are happy with the air bed.

It is great, we pull up at a camp site, pop the roof, put our clothes bags on the front seats, get out the table and chairs -then Gin/Beer time all in under 5 mins. All food, kitchen stuff, sleeping gear, TV, recovery gear incl hand winch, spade, etc, etc has its own place in cupboards and under the seat and all are easy to get to very quickly and do not need to be unpacked.

Our only problem is the second spare which we only carry when we think we need it. It sits behind the passenger seat and is a pain but we only put it in for outback trips. A dual wheel carrier would fix that problem but make access to the rear more difficult.

You also cannot take anything on a roof rack on our model at it is more weight to raise when you pop the roof and the pop top part is fibreglass.

Hope that this helps.

If you are in the Bribie area, let me know and you can suss our one out.

Stevesub