Post your sleeping set ups!

[IncorpoRatedX]

I'd like to see the sleeping areas you've made in/on your monteros.

next month I fly out to LA to pick up another montero and I plan to camp in it, in my current 95 SR i took the middle seat out and left it in the house, I move the front seats forward and put moving blankets down for padding, but that's only good for 1-2 nights, i'll be on the road for 9 days. So, I'll be hitting up a lowe's and having them cut some wood to my measurements, then building a sleeping platform over the back seats in my 95 SR, so if you have an SR and you built your sleeping platform in a similar manner, please help me out with some info

 

[rxinhed]

Someday, maybe:

 

[off-roader]

Here's mine. I kept the 2nd row seats for passengers and built a platform around it...
It ends up being a bit more than 6' in length (from rear door all the way to the front seats w/ them forward as much as possible) and most except a pro basketball player should fit. Storage underneath is handled via toughneck storage bins (upgraded from what's in this old pic below) and two 18x8x8 canvas tool bags from a military surplus store.

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

is that 2 separate pieces?

 

[off-roader]

is that 2 separate pieces?

3 pieces cut from two 4x4' pieces of 1/2" thick plywood. The first section was cut to fit behind the 2nd row seats when they're open and usable seats. The other 2 sections were cut to nearly the same length as the first section then halved so it could be folded open/closed as needed.

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

What are you using for supports? I'd love to see more pictures of it.

 

[GrassCat]

3 pieces cut from two 4x4' pieces of 1/2" thick plywood.

Are you sure it wasn't 5' x 5' x 1/2" Russian birch plywood? That's what I made the others out of. Well the first was Russian apple wood, but that's been awhile.

 

[off-roader]

Are you sure it wasn't 5' x 5' x 1/2" Russian birch plywood? That's what I made the others out of. Well the first was Russian apple wood, but that's been awhile.

IIRC. Regular ply.

For supports there are 4x 3" ID black PVC (thick strong walls) pipe holding it up... then there are 4x 5/16" dia. carriage bolts inserted down through the wood from the top screwed into one side of a turnbuckle. The other side has a J hook bolt that's hooked onto the luggage strap d-rings in the floor. Then on each side there are ~2x3x12" pieces of pine cut at the right angle which acts as spacers for each side where its bolted down to the 3rd row seat mounts.

 

[Hill Bill E.]

Off Roader: That looks great! Also appears to have more head room than my XJ did with a platform.

I was able to squeek out 7' diagonally in the XJ, I think 6' is plenty for most folks.

 

[markdam]

rear seats

Okay I'm confused I plan on sleeping in my 1998 the passenger side rear jump seat and rear seat can and will fold into 1 long bed. But my driver side passenger seat doesn't do the same fold I'm thinking maybe it's stuck it won't do the slide forward fold back deal has anyone successfully folded both sets of seats down into 1 big bed?

 

[faithhaughtone]

My friend also add a small flat wood to which they sleep. I think that's very creative. My friends bought his Montero car in Texas and I'm planning to get one two.

 

[Imnosaint]

This relates more to the "on" part versus the "in" part of this thread.



We camp and sleep comfortably in this Oasis II RTT. At 39 pounds, it's no burden, deploys in moments and warm and cozy. It's small enough to accommodate additonal loads on the Thule racks.



We've configured it a couple of ways,





...going back to this using Front Runner's strap-on wheel step to eliminate hauling the aluminum ladder.

 

[vgreen]

Just last month, I copied Off-Roader's (or Grasscat's?) excellent design (Thanks guys!). Well part of it. To start with, I just made the first piece that sits behind the seats. I made it sit even with the seat back when it was folded, creating a platform nearly 60in in length. Not long enough, but I added a full size air mattress, and it kept my feet aloft. The air mattress cuts into head room, but that wasn't really a concern for me. You could also stuff your bag or something else in footwell to rest your feet on. I intend to add the folding bits later, which will require cutting new PVC to be about a half inch taller.

Since you will have access to limited tools, and I imagine time, this half-assed method may work for you. I had Lowes cut the plywood to 35in x 53in. It probably could have been at least 1/2in wider, 53.5, and still fit with out issue. I had to trim the corners at the back of the truck to get it to fit, so you might want to make it 34.25, or just hack the corners off like I did. These measurements are off the top of my head, so you should probably measure it yourself to be sure. I also had to go through the back doors to get it in. 53in is wider than the tailgate opening by a large margin, and actually wider than the diagonal of the tailgate opening. The PVC pipe I believe was cut to 12.25in. It took me about an hour and a half to get installed. I cut corners a bit, as I was in a hurry to get it done before heading out in the woods. I will go back and take greater care eventually. Tools required were a drill with 5/16th bit to create holes for the carriage bolt, a hacksaw for the PVC, and a wrench for the turnbuckles. It could all be done easily in a parking lot! You may not have wanted all those details, but I tried to remember all the things that gave me a bit of trouble, so hopefully you can avoid them in a parking lot.

Pro Tip: Lowes will give you half-off damaged plywood. The guy in the lumber dept helped me find a piece that was damaged on one side, but had plenty of good wood to spare. Ended up getting the higher quality 3/4in paint ready plywood for $17. I figured why not use nice stuff, right? Also, using the thicker plywood, I didn't have to worry about bracing the outside edge on the third-row seat's mounting location, it is very stiff.

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

I appreciate all the detail! that's exactly what I was hoping someone would post

 

[vgreen]

No problem! I'm sure Off-Roader or Grasscat can answer questions as well, but it's fresh in my memory, so if you have any other questions ask away!

Oh, I used 5/16in carriage bolts as well, 7in long. If I were doing it again, I would by 5 or 6in bolts. 7in worked, but it bottomed out a 3 out of 4 of the turnbuckles.