While performing the restoration of my SII Carawagon I spent years planning and designing the layout. I flipped back and forth over the idea of trying to fit everything inside, literally including the kitchen sink, but finally rested on the idea of keeping it simple, but comfortable. We decided to try keep in mind that we were basically "backpacking around..." with the afforded comfort of sleeping and traveling inside the truck. With that mindset we were able to keep all our "gear" to a basic minimum preventing overloading the truck and clutter. For myself, I know that I stand a better chance of staying out on a trip longer if the sleeping arrangements and living quarters meet the satisfaction of my wife! With that in mind I designed the largest sleeping surface afforded by the overall dimension of the truck, while including enough space to stand and dress in comfort. For that, I built a bed platform that uses the counter tops, hanging supports and planks, that are all contained within it's own cabinet, take only seconds to set-up and result in a bed that is full width and extends to just before the dash. It is more comfortable than our bed at home. We use Luxury Therm-a-rest mattresses and a memory foam topper for ultimate comfort!
For our clothes, I built a support rack off of the rear door to hold our 2 individual backpacks that are accessible while inside the truck and can also be used as "bug-out bags" in case of emergencies (each bag has a small stock of survival gear). Obviously, we did pack other clothes and footwear in other cabinets in the truck, but left the day to day stuff easily accessible.
Through work I was able to acquire some Galley carts off a Boeing 757, that slide into a storage rack. These turned out real nice, as when we set-up camp, we just pull out the carts that contain the food and cooking utensils etc. and set-up outside. The other nice feature with this was that every couple of nights we would stop off at an RV park with showers and could just quickly slide out the cart with the toiletries and carry it with us. They are super light and can be individually locked if required.
In behind the Galley Carts is enough space for all my tooling and some vehicle spares. Here is one place that I could use some lightening though as I tend to over do it with the amount of tooling I like to bring. The rest of the cabinets store various other equipment and is all accessible with the bed set-up. The larger cabinet under the drawer holds the Potable water tank.
The propane Catalytic heater turned out to be one of the biggest pieces of desirable equipment while traveling through Alaska. Going to bed at night warm and dry and waking up the same way, just ends and starts every day great!
Some other mods that have worked out great are the rear tent that was designed and built following the original Carawagon slide out tent, and the side awning. It sure seems that most of our camping trips North of the border result in at least one day of rain, so having a nice and dry shelter that sets-up quickly is nice. We have also found the tent essential for a great transition area to dry off and clean up before entering the truck. this helped huge in keeping the truck clean and livable.
This is just a brief example of how we have built the "expedition platform" portion of our truck. It is great to see just how different everyone's trucks get built to suit their own personal needs. We have traveled a fare bit in this current configuration, including living out of it for over a month and love it. Unfortunately, we now have 2 Saint Bernard pups, and things are looking like they may get a bit tight in a few more months! Back to the drawing board!
