Dodge Grand Caravan camper sleeper for two tall people

[Inti]

Hello Dodge Grand Caravan Stow N Go owners/buyers, have a look at my super-simple and cheap camper conversion that sleeps 2 tall people It is not for living, just for 1-2 travellers with lots of cargo space.

My initial post to old version of this forum was based on the following Google Document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1af1N3xyrlLYU45MgfLrnyNjM0ijAQF-GeK23tvD7_LI/edit
Unfortunately, all images were lost in new forum version, so please just click the above link to see details of my conversion:

 

[Inti]

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[Inti]

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[Inti]

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[vanbrat]

Very nice.

 

[Inti]

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[LoveCareThinkDo]

Very nice. I can sleep that beautiful plywood from here.  Lots of good detail in your description. That should prove helpful to lots of people.

I was able to solve my Caravan's uneven floor issue almost by accident. One 2x4 thickness in the rear and 2 2x4 thickness in the middle, brought my shorter tubs up to the same height as my taller tubs in the front, as you can see here: https://vanlivingforum.com/showthread.php?tid=33524&pid=413014#pid413014

I refined that later, but this is the picture that illustrates the solution best.

 

[Inti]

Very nice. I can sleep that beautiful plywood from here.  Lots of good detail in your description. That should prove helpful to lots of people.

I was able to solve my Caravan's uneven floor issue almost by accident. One 2x4 thickness in the rear and 2 2x4 thickness in the middle, brought my shorter tubs up to the same height as my taller tubs in the front, as you can see here: https://vanlivingforum.com/showthread.php?tid=33524&pid=413014#pid413014

I refined that later, but this is the picture that illustrates the solution best.

Our designs are very different, yours is like mobile home for one person, and mine is for two people and mostly for driving and sleeping, it is absolutely impossible to survive canadian winters in Grand Caravan anyway, so my built is just for cheap summer travels around Toronto where we live, this summer we traveled to Montreal->Quebec City and around Niagara Falls and saved a lot of money on hotels, we mostly used showers in community pools and could travel more than with hotels. 

Our climate is often rainy and I think it's essential to buy rain guards to be able to keep windows a bit open when it rains, I bought WeatherTech® 80476 - In-Channel Dark Smoke Front Side Window Deflectors - they are simply inserted without any tools as shown on video here - https://www.weathertech.com/dodge/2019/grand-caravan/side-window-deflectors/ - although they are not ideal and not quite easily inserted (more videos on Youtube could help) but this is the only thing designed specifically for Grand Caravan that requires no glue and look good. One of mine came with small crack on one end, as a result I have to push this thing with finger a bit before fully closing my window. Just another example of very clever and not very reliable German engineering.

 

[MrNoodly]

Our climate is often rainy...

A potential problem is that there's not enough headroom to sit up. Just about any activity other than sleeping would require getting out of the van -- possibly in the rain.

 

[Inti]

A potential problem is that there's not enough headroom to sit up. Just about any activity other than sleeping would require getting out of the van -- possibly in the rain.

Yes, with my current setup it is impossible to sit straight, although possible to sit in reclined position and play with laptop. We also manage to move between full bed and front seats back and forth, although I admit that that requires some flexibility, especially because we have narrow plastic drawers between front seats and they are too flimsy to withstand our weight. It is possible to put front desk on top of rear desk and then sit straight at the table. That was my idea initially but so far we always preferred to have full bed and use front seats. I have feeling that removing front desk will be useful for transporting bikes only. Also, it is possible to make the bed lower than I did, but that will reduce cargo capacity. 

I was thinking about variable height and the cheapest idea was to somehow use these adjustable items from second-hand store:

https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/de....jpeg?odnHeight=450&odnWidth=450&odnBg=ffffff

but then all my conversion would be much more complicated and less stable, especially in case of road accident. I always prefer to keep my designs as simple as possible. Also, my goal was actually to kick ourselves out of enclosed spaces and connect with nature or at least spend more time outdoors, so far my simple project did exactly that quite well    Of course I don't recommend such design for full-time living, I think it's impossible for two people to live in minivan anyway, but quite comfortable to sleep or have rest while driving long distances. Of course we always stop to have a rest, very always 

 

[Inti]

Also, lowering bed will cause inconvenience with side minivan cup holder area. Right now this area is also good to increase effective width of our bed i.e. we can put there parts of out bodies, blankets etc.

 

[Inti]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Just another guy from winter Canada in Dodge Grand Caravan, read comments on Youtube ... Elon Musk should take him to Mars to rescue from such life... [/font]

[size=small][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][video=youtube]

 

[Inti]

I just want to suggest one more very useful item for vanlifers:
Gro-Company-Anywhere-Blind-Curtain (good for stealth summer blackout and also will serve as additional windshield heat insulation)
https://www.amazon.ca/Gro-Company-Anywhere-Blind-Curtain/dp/B00BKZLWBU - very good quality item - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Gro-Company-Anywhere-Blind-Curtain , I use it all the time when I want to block sun or sleep, you can hang it everywhere to any glass or not textured plastic and even to car paint if you want to use it outside.

And again, soft flooring for vans with low roof: TrafficMASTER Diamond Soft Foot Black 4 ft. x 6 ft. Commercial Door Mat from Home Depot is really soft, easy to clean and durable enough, plus it provides sound and thermal insulation, it also has zero smell, so I highly recommend to buy such roll  -
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/m...yzQhq052KbDWIzYQ5rDnZvY4Cnj1vGWFBfD_o2lt4AGgk

 

[Mr Hibiscus]

Hi, 

I have been getting really bad back pain with what I'm sleeping on. When I had a stick and brick house I had either firm or very dense foam. Are these cushions along with the plywood working well with your back? The bed I'm sleeping on is just wires holding the mattress, I'm at a hotel temporarily but looking for a cargo trailer and planning ahead.

 

[bullfrog]

Take a look at Thermarest Mondoking mattress. We used them on flat plywood base with a sleeping bag because they were a little firm for us. Bob I believe has a video on them.

 

[Inti]

Hi, 

I have been getting really bad back pain with what I'm sleeping on. When I had a stick and brick house I had either firm or very dense foam. Are these cushions along with the plywood working well with your back? The bed I'm sleeping on is just wires holding the mattress, I'm at a hotel temporarily but looking for a cargo trailer and planning ahead.

They work for me and my wife, especially after I covered them with very thick blanket. But it's hard to advice because [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]these cushions can be very[/font] different... and people are different too.

 

[Inti]

Professionally Converted Dodge Grand Caravan Minivan: 

[video=youtube]

 

[nature lover]

Money talks - I walk!

 

[jaybgood]

Hello fellow Caravan owners, I have purchased a 2010 Grand Caravan SE with Stow and Go seating and I would like to build a conversion utilizing the space best as possible, figured with 10 years producing the same vehicle same dimensions hundreds of thousands if not millions of these vans have been converted some using AutoCAD. Hoping to get my hands on an AutoCAD design specifically to save me from doing dimensions ground up. Any files, concept drawings, recommendations or opinions that may help me in my build I would greatly appreciate. Thanks & happy travels.

 

[PeterPiper]

 it is absolutely impossible to survive canadian winters in Grand Caravan anyway,

Said what ???

Hold my beer !!!