We are so excited that you are interested in car camping! It is such a budget friendly way to see the world around you! whether you are building out the back of your car, or laying down the front seats of the worlds smallest rental car there are a few things that you may want to make you stay more comfortable! Although all these things are things you should think about, they are not all necessary. To be totally honest we don’t even have all these things. Just start with what you know you need and work up from there. Try different things out. Maybe tent camping is more up your alley or maybe you decide you don’t like camping at all! Although it is more comfortable with all the things it is more expensive and not worth it until you decide that you enjoy it enough to spend a little more money!
Short Cuts
The Pillow
Your pillow from home
This is by far the most comfortable option but may not be the most realistic if you are flying to your destination!
Inflatable Camping
Travel Pillow
This pillow is inflatable so is gets REALLY small and light and is suppose to be best for backpackers!
Compressible Travel Pillow
This pillow is suppose to be a little more comfortable and feel more like a reel pillow! It compacts to be pretty small but not as small as some of the inflatable ones.
I will not often tell you to buy the more expensive thing but spending a few extra dollars on a good pillow is worth it! Especially because the price of pillows do not vary too much so you might as well get the good one (:
The Bedding
Summer Bedding
The Air Mattress
If you are sleeping in the back of your car in the summer you will want an airmatress! This will give you by far the most comfortable sleep! But, an air matress isn’t always realistic. If you are traveling by plane or your car is to small you will simply lay down your front seats and use a sleeping bag or sheets!
The Beginer
I am just now getting into car camping. I wont car camp too often and I want enough to just try it out!
Dura-Beam Standard Single High Air Mattress
This is what we have! Is it great, No. But it does the trick. The one thing that is particularly annoying is that I have to sit inside And bend up the end of the mattress while Jordan shuts the trunk. Since it wasn’t made to fit in a car it doesn’t fit great but we make it work in our Mazda MX5.
The Intermediate
I think I’ll be car camping more often than most or I want to upgrade my car camping status.
SUV Air Mattress
Although we don’t have this air mattress right now we want this one! The nice thing about this one is that it folds into multiple different formations. you can put it in the back seat of your car to make a twin bed, you can make your trunk into a couch, and you can make a full bed in the back.
The Expert
I want to take my car camping to a whole new level.
SUV Camping Tent
If you really want to go all out build a platform to store boxes underneath and put a real mattress on top! This is what we DREAM of!
And if you want to make your set up even better get a SUV tent to extend your set up! Although we do not have one this is one that I have seen recommended on multiple sites. If this is a little too much for you another good option is to use a tailgate tent!
Sheets
During The summer we just throw on some extra sheets and if its cool enough a blanket.
Tip: We travel every other weekend so we take the sheets off out bed on Friday and replace them with clean sheets. We then take the dirty sheets and put them on the mattress in our car. When we get back those automatically go in the laundry and we have clean sheets on our bed at home!
Winter Bedding
The Sleeping Bag
I know it seems like you should be able to use the same things for summer and winter but that is absolutely NOT the case. The airmatress starts loosing air once it gets below 60 degrees outside. So, instead you will need to use different things!
So I have good news and bad new. The good new is that Sleeping bags can be used to car camping in the summer, winter and also tent camp and they last for a while! The bad news is that a good sleeping bag is not cheap. Especailly one that is designed for cold weather. To be totally transparent we didn’t buy our sleeping bag. My brothers were eagle scouts and gave us their bags. If you need something a little cheaper but still want good quality you may know someone who will let you borrow there sleeping bag or you could buy used! But, there are also plenty of other options! Here are a few of those!
Thermal Liner
Along with your sleeping bag you will need a Thermal liner if it is below 34. This is the one we have and it is the best!! We love it! Below is a cheaper version of the same thing!
The Sleeping Pad
Similar to sleeping bags your sleeping pad can be pretty pricey but as long as a sleeping pad is thermal and doesn’t leak then a budget sleeping pad should do the trick. But, if you do get a cheaper one CHECK FOR WHOLES BEFORE YOUR TRIP. Trust me! Ive been on a camping trip with a flat sleeping pad WAY to many times!
Static V2 Inflatable Sleeping Pad
Insulated Static V2
Inflatable Sleeping Pad
Typically this sleeping pad will keep you fairly warm but when you start getting into the teens it would be helpful for you to get an insulated sleeping pad. The reason for this is that the air in your sleeping pad can get COLD and your air mattress can even become deflated as the air inside the mattress gets cold (the same reason that an air mattress doesn’t work in the winter). Here is the insulated version of our favorite sleeping pads
I would 100 percent go ahead and get the insulated one even if you are only planning on camping in the summer!
What if I have a small car?
If you are in a car smaller than a cross over you can normally still fold those back seats down and your feet will just hang into to the trunk. But in this case you will probably not be able to fit an air matress and should use a sleeping pad both during the winter and the summer.
Also note that often times the front seat can be equally as comfortable to sleep in. I know this seems a lot less like you have a bed but if you are really go- go -going any sleep is good sleep! We use this when we are flying and don’t want to over pack, are using a really small car, or if we are just too tired to set up the trunk. Some of our best nights sleep has been in the front seat of a car.
TIP: If you are looking to spend as little money as possible I would buy the sleeping bag, pad and travel pillow. These are the most versitial objects. You can use them in the summer, In the winter, and when tent camping. The only con to to this is that to me the airmattress is more comfortable and for use it is worth it for an extra 20 dollars.
Electronics
300W Power Inverter
This is a MUST HAVE! I work on homework while we drive, and I was so tired of having to pull over and charging my laptop for 30 minutes at a time that we bought one, and it has been a GAME CHANGER! Not only do I use it for work, but we now can charge our camera batteries in the car and watch movies at night!
Jump Starter
When You sleep in your car often it is just a matter of time before a light is left and your car dies. If you have this jump starter you will not have to wait around for another car to come along but you will be able to start it up yourself!
Portable Power Station
With this you will be able to charge all your things over night while your car is off! This is also a great option if you are a vanlifer or if you are camping somewhere a little more acessible!
Head Lamp
All I will say for this is: ALWAYS HAVE A HEADLAMP! When you need one your REALLY need one!
Miscellaneous
Bug Net
This is more for summer than winter. During the summer you will want to roll down your windows as far as you can but you will also not want the bugs to get in. If you use these then you wont have to worry about any bugs while still being able to get a little breeze.
Window covers
Window covers will give you a little privacy and block out the light! I like these because they do not require a certain sized window. As long as your window has a frame around it you should be fine! If you dont want to spend money on this you can hang clothes of the window too. TBH that is what we do!
Window Reflector
During the summer it can get HOT especially when the sun comes up. This reflector will help your car stay cool.
Fan
Another summer must have. ESPECIALLY IN THE SOUTH! It can get HOT in your car and a fan like this that you can attatch the grab handles in your car then that will help you get a little air flow!