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- #Subaru forester forum sleeping in the back install#
- #Subaru forester forum sleeping in the back driver#
- #Subaru forester forum sleeping in the back plus#
- #Subaru forester forum sleeping in the back free#
If you’re an organizer like me, you need a system! Aaron custom-built our drawers using materials we had sitting in our garage after our home renovation and a quick trip to Home Depot – scrap plywood, drawer slides, outdoor carpeting, and a few pieces of hardware. It’s amazing how fast the cargo area can turn into a chaotic mountain of clothes and camping supplies.
#Subaru forester forum sleeping in the back free#
Tip: Here’s how we find the best free campsites away from the crowds. On top of the well-made kit, we love them because they’re always happy to answer Aaron’s technical questions and offer expert advice.Ĭost: $500 (Just for the kit – my handy husband installed it himself right in our driveway!) We also installed heavy-duty rear springs (King KSRS-56) that allow us to carry more weight without the vehicle sagging.Īny reputable auto shop should be able to lift your car for you, but if you have the skills you can definitely save some money by doing it yourself! Our lift kit came from Anderson Design and Fabrication. Our Subaru is lifted 2 inches in the front and 2.5 inches in the rear. Lifting the car gives us more ground clearance – which for our purposes basically means we can drive over bigger rocks and and through deeper puddles. This isn’t absolutely essential, but we wanted to make our Subaru Forester camper as offroad capable as possible.
#Subaru forester forum sleeping in the back install#
Step 4: Install a lift kit and heavy-duty springs We chose Continental TerrainContact AT’s (our tire size 225/60r17) and we put them on our stock 17-inch Subaru wheels.Ĭost: $1,000 for five tires from Discount Tire (gotta have a full-size spare!)
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If you can only afford one modification to make your Subaru Forester camper more capable, this is it. Otherwise you’ll be hiking to get cell service so you can call a tow truck to save your tail. If you’re planning to take your road trip vehicle offroading at all, it’s important to invest in the proper tires. This is where the rubber literally hits the road. More car camping inspiration: 9 budget campers tell us how they hit the road on the cheap. You can get a rooftop tent for as little as a grand, or shell out several thousand dollars for the fanciest ones.) We’ve spent more nights out camping now that we have a rooftop tent than we did in all the years before combined!Ĭost: $1795 (Give or take. I was reluctant originally but I’m a total convert now. I know, the price tag sounds steep at first. There are plenty of other options for rooftop tents – Cascadia Vehicle Tents, Tepui, and Yakima are popular ones. Our particular tent will fit on any Subaru that has roof rails (and most other SUVs, trucks, and station wagons as well). We stopped by their warehouse in Bend, Oregon and the awesome guys there helped us install our new tent, walked us through all its special features, and gave us some insider tips (plus our pup had a blast running around the warehouse!) If you happen to be in the Pacific Northwest, we highly recommend visiting the folks at Freespirit Recreation.
#Subaru forester forum sleeping in the back plus#
It sleeps three people (though ours usually only houses two plus a dog). It clamps onto our Subaru’s roof rack and takes less than two minutes to set up – just remove the cover and unfold it by pulling on the ladder. We went with the High Country 55-inch rooftop tent from Freespirit Recreation. Getting a rooftop tent took all the worst parts out of camping! Nowadays we sleep like babies on a memory foam mattress, and we never have to utter the words “Where are the tent stakes?!” I love to camp and spend time in nature, but wrestling with tent poles and sleeping on the ground every just night isn’t my idea of fun. If you’re not in a place to buy a car, use what you have! You’d be surprised how far you can get with a little creativity.) The key to getting a good deal? Patience and skimming Craigslist while you’re watching Netflix. (Of course, your road trip vehicle doesn’t have to be a Forester, or even a Subaru. Our research told us that the transmission in newer Foresters doesn’t handle offroading as well, and older ones weren’t as roomy inside. We went with a 2009 Subaru Forester Limited Edition. (For updates on what we’ve done since our original project, check out Subaru Camper Round Two !) Step 1: Buy a used Subaru.
#Subaru forester forum sleeping in the back driver#
So while it seemed like everyone we knew was converting a camper van and loving that #vanlife, we went another route: We turned our daily driver into an awesome overland vehicle! Here’s how we built our Subaru Forester camper from stock into a road trip machine: We never stopped talking about it – the possibility of exploring off the beaten path and setting up camp wherever we wanted was too enticing. The idea was planted several years ago when we met a couple road tripping through East Africa with a rooftop tent perched atop their Land Rover.