No Build Car Camping Tour! | SUV Conversion

hi I'm Christine and this is Nomad unknown in today's video I'm super excited to be bringing to you a tour of my 2017 subar Forester XD premium that I have kitted out to camp out of and live in for extended periods of time hi I'm Christine after starting life over in 2020 I'm using seasonal work to build Financial Security experience new places and most importantly keep living life as a big adventure come along as I live like a local in desired destinations spend time in nature hiking backpacking and living out of my car and craft the trips of my dreams on a backpacker's budget in 2020 I hit the road and was living out of my car full-time I'm not doing that anymore because I'm doing seasonal work so I'm staying in employer sponsored housing whether that's at ski resorts or national parks different kind of resorts um seven to eight months out of the year but in between my two work contracts I do live out of this thing this is my home during that period of time and so I have addressed all of the systems that I need in order to be comfortably living out of the car I have a super efficient system it is a no build system I can actually completely convert my car back to a regular vehicle within a matter of minutes but that doesn't make it any less effective for the Livin capabilities we're going to start out this video with a walkthrough so I can just show you the general configuration of things because when you're living in a tight space it's important for everything to have a specific home but also to serve multiple purposes so a lot of the components they integrate together in order to build one system of habitat or another and when I say system of habitat I'm talking about the things that it takes to sustain a living environment five elements that I see are key components in supporting a habitat so that's going to be my sleep system my my cooking and eating my hygiene and wardrobe Safety and Security and last of all utilities which is my water and power we're going to take a deeper look into those things but first we're going to start out with a walk around of what I've got going on so let's check it out all right taking a look at the rear of the car this is really where I spend the bulk of my time getting things done I can cook out of here I can use it as a desk um and I also have a tent that connects to the rear of my car so I can be sheltered in elements in this area back here um so taking a look starting on the left hand side this is my refrigerator it is the iceo refrigerator and um I've got a couple of different things attached to it so from The Container Store I have this magnetic pocket which is super useful like right now I just have some paper towels in there but anything in Camp that you don't want to just fly away with the wind and you just need to have really accessible it's just a great little pocket here this is a locker kit a mirror that I used to get ready as well as this little magnetic pocket and I use that um mostly to Coral my phone actually on top of the refrigerator inside this box which is sort of perfectly sized is my Camp kitchen and then wedged right on top of that is a c capible storage box that I will use at Camp often to just like curl different things whether it's trash or firewood or anything like that it's just really helpful for a variety of different things or if I have just loose groceries I can set that up right here on the mattress and just have everything contained So speaking of the mattress here is my mattress it is a 3in memory foam mattress it is a trifold mattress and I have it covered up with a twins size sheet although it's not twins size it is a single siiz mattress um but the twin size sheet fits nicely over it and just taking a look here so it's a gray mesh top and then a sort of bamboo labeled white Underside and then this um actually comes off of it it will zip off and I can wash that but I find it's just much easier to just wash the sheet so that's kind of what I keep on there also it makes it black so it's a little bit more Incognito beside that and actually cut out of the mattress I have the dtic go uh which is an 11 L water container and I do have the spet that goes with that I'll showcase that a little bit later when we go into more detail but I did just cut out a little bit of the mat mattress in order to give this a home right here in the back of the car and I like it in this location because it's mostly where I tend to use it and so it works really well for me to have that there underneath the mattress we have my table and a yoga mat the table is an integral part of my sleep system and it really helps um even out what is otherwise a pretty substantial um differential in where the seat folds and where the trunk starts and it's also super useful so a lot of times what I'll do is I'll just pull the table out like this and I can just use this space for prep and then I can set anything I need on the back of the mattress there when I'm by myself or I can even use this as a desk I pull a little chair up to it and it's really helpful but the table does come out completely and sets up all right going around to the passenger side inside the door I just keep a couple of safety Essentials I've got a lantern flashlight headlamp that kind of thing and then we're taking a look into the foot well of the rear passenger side and there you'll see two black plastic bins with lids those storage boxes just contain some personal effects uh things that I don't necessarily need to get to every single day but they also serve to support the remainder of the mattress that you can see that is resting on it there so we can pull this back and you can see there's how the mattress is partially trifolded and it folds all the way up looking underneath you can see how the table kind of comes back here and connects and really evens out this space a bit more this seat is just folded forward I have removed the headrest of both of the rear seats just to prevent them from getting damaged with all this kind of stuff I have going on here I use this bucket style seat organizer as my nightstand I keep books twinkle lights extra socks anything that I might need while I'm in bed when I'm driving it sits on top of the bed but I flip it around to the front when I'm sleeping but I can still reach around to grab anything I need that is really what makes up a lot of the essential components components of the vehicle we're going to take a look at the other side really quickly looking at the driver side this is kind of my closet and hygiene area so in the door here you'll see that I have toilet paper hand sanitizer a little mini trash can and then on the back of the seat I have a seat back organizer that has a Trel a little shovel um for any restroom needs when I don't have facilities some wipes different assortment of wipes are kept in there down here in the footwell is where I keep my wardrobe and I just have a duffel bag that is full of all sorts of packing cubes I keep them vertically stacked and it's essentially like having drawers so everything is nicely organized inside my packing cubes behind the refrigerator is where I keep my power station so I've got my izer battery and my small solar panel there and off to the side here you'll see all of my window coverings that are just stowed right there but I can also I can push this seat up and I can have a space to sit get ready um I can get dressed in this space kind of just get ready for the day and it's nice to have a space in the back that's available for me to sit work on my laptop do anything like that if I want one key component of making my sleep system work without a buildout is this table right here it's pretty lightweight it's very practical for camping and it's the perfect size for evening out the differential that exists so for my model of Subaru Forester as well as many others in the Years around it and a lot of other vehicles there is a differential in the space between when I fold down the seats and the truck area and you need something to level it out so this table is just the right width and it's also the right length and height to fit that space my trifold mattress is memory foam it is 3 in thick and it does the trick for being comfortable enough for me to sleep on in my car it's actually just the right width for fitting in the space with um half of the back seat folded down I fold down the passenger side which is the larger half of the back seat and this fits into that perfectly now I did make a cutout into it you can kind of tell that right here the cutout is on the foam that is under this cover here and the reason I did that is because it gives space for my dedic go which is my water container to fit between here and the wall of the vehicle it's just a personal preference on where I like to keep that it's by no means necessary you'll also notice that I have a a black sheet on here it is just a twins siiz jersey sheet again that was just an add-on just because I prefer to have it black and it also makes it much easier to clean you can unzip this casing that comes around the mattress and wash it but it's just much easier to do it with the sheet and there we go that's my bed with 45 L for one person my refrigerator provides Ample Storage for all food in order to protect my vehicle from Critters all my food is always stored in hard-sided containers my Camp kitchen setup revolves around a one burner stove supplemented by a smaller backpacking stove for easy things like boiling water of course my Dometic go and the spet or an integral part of the system and I have a camp sink where I do all my dishes I use real dishes I'm also not someone you'll catch cooking in my car that is always done outside whether it's on my tailgate or if I pull the entire table out I found that the biggest game Cher in my hygiene out on the road is adding this battery powered pump I have the dtic one there's a lot of other brands that have have them available um but just being able to do that and have running water game Cher it means I can thoroughly and completely wash my hands I can wash dishes more easily I feel like more effectively um but the handwashing is really the big one um since I'm not out here showering on a daily basis being able to keep my hands clean I think is just really helpful for germ management from keep my getting myself sick or someone else sick um because like right now I'm dispersed camping I don't have access to a proper restroom or handwashing so I'm doing everything out here on my own and being responsible about it and properly washing my hands is going to be the way to go with that um there was a point in time actually I think I still own like an outdoor shower system but I never ever used it in the years that I've been doing this and so it's not something I travel with anymore um if I need to take a shower I will usually um either shower at a gas station or I do pop through and visit family and friends from time to time so that's really helpful in being able to do that um but wipes and some running water and soap will go a really long way for help to help you stay clean um as you saw on that seat back of my driver's side I've got a whole organizer filled with sanitizer hand wipes body wipes um I have everything that I need organized I've got a TR back there so I can practice leave no Trace when I need to use the restroom out in a place where I don't have access to facilities uh and that's just how I manage it and that's how a lot of people are out here managing it it can be done it's not that big of a deal just try to stay clean my biggest safety considerations always come with having a sense of awareness in my environment if something doesn't feel right I don't stay there but an added measure of privacy and security are these window coverings I picked up from Amazon they're customed for my car and they easily attach just using suction cups so the setup is super quick and efficient and I can do it from the interior of my vehicle one final thing to discuss is power supply uh for anyone out living on the road having some power supply for their devices is going to be an essential item so I have been using the same little power supply since 2020 just this little Energizer battery you can see it's not very big and I charge that most frequently either if I'm staying in a house or something like that I'll charge it doesn't charge very quickly or I'll use this solar panel both of these items were purchased off of Amazon in 2020 2021 um and that is what I've been using so my next investment and Improvement in the car will be to get a larger battery I don't know exactly what it is that I want or need right now um I need to do quite a bit more research and what uh is possible for me to realistic for me to have in store in the car um and to use for the needs especially with video editing that I do other than that I feel really happy with my setup there's not much I'm looking to improve upon or change

Channel: Nomad Unknown

Views: 32,632

Keywords: roadlife, camping, car camping, solo female travel, Subaru Forester no build, car conversion, travel vlog

Id: DAmbA4gwxKk

Length: 15min 52sec (952 seconds)

Published: Sun May 05 2024