Honda Element Speed Camper Conversion

I've been going back and forth about taking the Element into have an E-Camper pop-up installed, or to find a lightweight camper trailer, or even to have one of the rooftop tents.  Costs for those run from $2,500 to $6,000 and it brings up a whole host of issues from storage, gas mileage, driving ease, etc.  

So I decided to try a quick interior conversion using engineered materials and eventually designed one that weighs ~12-lbs total, and is held in place with zip-ties.  It installs and is removed in less than 10-minutes or 5-mins if you are trying hard enough.  It also replaces the Element "rear seat folded down" issue of being uncomfortable and limiting storage space in the vehicle.  Finally, it eliminates the safety issue the element has when the rear seats are hanging along the windows as this blocks the side views.

The materials purchased at the local Home Depot are a 5-shelf unit (36"x24"), rigid compressed particle board, 2" rigid polystyrene sheeting, thin carpeting, duct tape and some heavy duty zip-ties.  I had Home Depot cut everything to size: the bed size I need is 43" W x 52" L.  At 52", it abuts both the driver and passenger seats folded down (less head rest).

 The head rest is removed on the passenger side in the photo below from my last camping trip - which I slept on the uncomfortable Element rear seats folded down.  Prior to clean-out too - debris left over from moving trees. But this is where my bed needs to go.

 I cut down the shelf risers to give the opening ~10", and it will align the bed to the front seats folded down as shown.  This should fit my 6-ft body perfectly.  I zip-tied the frame together, and then lashed it to the many Element cargo hooks using more heavy duty ties.

This should allow me to remove it in a few minutes - the spare tire is located below the floorboard of the Element - so that is one other reason why I wanted lightweight material.  If this was built out of wood, I would have had to made a new hatch to access the tire.

 The rigid board overlaps the shelving units now turned structural system as the board is 43" x 52" and the dual shelving platform forms a 36" x 48" base.  Not perfect, but the overlap in the width direction is ~3.5" each side, and ~3" front and back.  I'm running one rigid board, but may add the second one to double up the overlap rigidity.

From there I added the carpet - with ends just folded under.  The rigid board just has two small screws in the bed center to keep it from floating on the structural shelf platform.  It doesn't need much, just a slight "pinning" to keep it from floating.

 With the seats folded up, there is plenty of space to shove in a cooler, Rubbermaid storage unit, etc. I'm going to look for a special "under-bed" storage container to roll in and out of the shelf unit below.  That should give a more organized approach to this small area.

The rigid polystyrene board fits right on top of this.  If Durango was a larger town, I could have found a furniture maker and bought a ~4-6" thick polyurethane pad cut to size (I did that about 20-years ago in Kansas City for our first Cherokee).  Overtime this polystyrene will get dented and compressed, but it should provide a more comfortable base padding - and I do have a thinner polyurethane bedding I plan to carry along and put on top of the polystyrene to protect it somewhat.  I used the duct tape to add protection to the board perimeter - no one wants little polystyrene beads all over the place. 

Total cost was $139 and installation took less than an hour.  Complain about plastics all you want, but they make a great lightweight structural material.  I can pop this thing out and put the seats back in less than 10-minutes - and it won't cause a major back injury in the process - or add to gas costs.

The downside is that I did this for the full width of the Element, so I can't store my bike inside like I prefer.  I do have a Thule 2" bumper carrier I can add - and also a rooftop Rocky Mount carrier.  I like the Rocky Mount carrier for security - it takes some work to get up on the roof and defeat the locks, but it covers the bike in dead bugs, costs additional gas to drive, and the front wheel then needs to be stored inside.  The Thule bumper mount just limits (not restricts) access to the rear of the vehicle and makes it easy for a person with a lock cutter to remove the bike. It's not perfect, but it will do.

Future Ideas:   I could perhaps have not cut the risers and gone with a taller platform height - I would then have to add something to the front folded down seats, like a soft duffle bag to even out the sleep space.  Head space would be limited.  If I cut the center of bottom shelf units out - but leave a narrow base in which the risers could rest, I could perhaps slide the bike under here - without the front wheel, pedals, and perhaps seat/seat post.  It then should slide right in, with the handle bars turned.  That would be ideal.  I do have some spare risers, and I suppose a circular saw could be used to cut the bottom shelf units, but structural stability would be compromised.

However, I can always store the bike in side of the Element without the front wheel just laying down on the bed I built - I just need somewhere to put it when I am sleeping.  Thule and Rocky Mounts. address that - choose your weapon.  So this slide-in technique should address the security issues when in areas that need theft concerns to be highly addressed.