Seeking car camp advice

[rDunivin]

I’m from Boston and bought a used S in Florida. Figured I’d drive it up and sleep in the back. Excited to get it, first Tesla.

I went searching and found some mentions of the Exped MegaMat Dou as well as the DreamCase.

Anyone have any experience with either of these or another product they’ve been quite happy with?

thanks in advance!

 

[zanary]

I have and have used the Dream Case four times so far. It’s amazing... a bit on the expensive side but amazing as it’s a perfect fit and very comfortable.

 

[Ostrichsak]

We've done exactly what you're describing four times now (in addition to TONS of other multi-state road trips) and I can offer some advice: As nice as Dream Case and similar offerings are.... good luck getting one on a plane.

Just fly to where your car is, take delivery of your car and then go straight to the nearest Walmart and get the following:

Queen size air mattress (Twin will work if you're solo)
Pillow
Sheet set
Blanket
12v air pump

You're going to want to go to the bedding section and buy the nicest most expensive mattress you can. Don't. The plush ones are too thick for the height between your feet and the hatch. Go to the camping section and get the blue-colored one from Intex I think it is. Should be like $20 total. Same for the blanket as you'll set the climate control inside the car so thinner/cheaper the better for this as well.

That's the basics. That's about all you need to get across the country. The only other thing that would be helpful would be window coverings. You can buy a pair of heavy duty scissors and check their recycled boxes out back for larger panels that you can cut to fit the windows. The sides are probably the most important for privacy with the hatch being the next tier. The sunroof and windshield only matter for light control for the most part. Of course all of this is optional to a small pillow or blanket thrown over your head which is far more convenient although less effective.

I'd highly recommend ordering up one of the queen-size pick-up bed air mattresses if you plan to do this regularly. These go about $80 but they are absolutely perfect for the back of a Model S. You'll find that the queen size air mattress tends to fold in on the sides due to the wheel wells. This only matters mostly if you're sleeping 2-up. Otherwise the twin will negate this. The pick-up one is also multi-chambered which is great for sleeping 2-up and less motion when one party moves during the middle of the night. It's also much thinner which gives you more room to the hatch/roof which is a noticeable roominess.

Before you go to the hatch open your HVAC and enable the option to keep climate control on. Use your phone app to adjust temps throughout the night from that point once you're in the back. You may also want to move your seat backs forward and you can even create a profile called "Camper Mode" to make this easier next time. This part is a delicate balance between being far enough forward to have enough room head to tow and not being too far forward so that it doesn't support part of the mattress and then your pillow(s) is slipping down all night. Once you get it right though it works pretty well.

Walmarts also make great places to park to camp as they don't tend to frown on overnight guests and they're fairly well lit and populated for more safety. Some destination chargers are good too if they're at businesses that close at night and wouldn't mind you topping off while you catch some ZZZZ's.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Not as fancy as some of the options mentioned by others but I have done a lot of camping in my S-60 and just use a Coleman air mattress and 12V air pump from Amazon. I use a folded up bedspread to level the rear compartment to the hump left by the folded rear seat — works well. I leave part of the back seat up, so that I can put my suitcase or other items on the rest of the rear seat. The parcel shelf, camping food box and other gear go in the front seats. The hatchback makes getting in and out using the keyfob quite easy. If it gets cold I can turn on the heat with my phone but unless it gets down to 40ºF or lower, my sleeping bag and fleece blankets are sufficient.

My air mattress setup when I visited Yellowstone in cold, rainy/snowy weather in May:

I've come to prefer state parks for camping since nearly all of the ones I have visited have RV pedestals that allow me to plug-in overnight. I have a TT-30 adapter for "30 amp" service and my UMC works fine on the usual 14-50 ("50 amp") RV outlets. I have camped at a lot of commercial RV parks but state parks tend to have bigger, nicer spaces and the facilities are often as good or better than RV parks. State parks are also cheaper, even for out-of-state visitors.

I did a 6159 mile road trip to the Midwest in October. Of my 13 nights I stayed at two motels, three RV parks, seven state parks and one county park. All of the camping had RV pedestals for plugging in.

Camping at Mille Lacs Kathio State Park in Minnesota in mid October:

One addition to my gear for the last long road trip was an electric water kettle, which allows me to heat water for tea in the morning in less than a minute (and not waste fuel for my little camp stove). That is especially nice when camping in cold weather. I made no restaurant or fast food stops on my Midwest road trip, I just visited grocery stores for food.

For finding camping sites while on the road, both RV parks and state parks, I use RVparky.com. It has useful filtering tools for the sort of area I want as well as helpful user reviews.

 

[markharro]

We bought our MS last month and sadly won't car camping for some time with the current state of the world. I have to say though that I am surprised by a couple of things. Back in the days when I was still day-dreaming about being able to buy a Tesla I checked some of the camping chat and my memory is that people were commenting that the rear seats folded down completely flat and that this gave enough room to accommodate someone of over 6 foot without having to sleep diagonally etc.
What I now find with our 2017 MS is that the seats don't drop completely flat; that there is a bulge; and that there is no-where close to enough length to accommodate my 6 feet 2 inches without my head dropping over the headrests into the rear footwell void.

Am I missing something? I can see that its fairly easy to equalise the levels with cardboard etc but how is a mattress supported over the footwell so that it doesn't droop down? Be keen to hear how others deal with this?

 

[dgpcolorado]

We bought our MS last month and sadly won't car camping for some time with the current state of the world. I have to say though that I am surprised by a couple of things. Back in the days when I was still day-dreaming about being able to buy a Tesla I checked some of the camping chat and my memory is that people were commenting that the rear seats folded down completely flat and that this gave enough room to accommodate someone of over 6 foot without having to sleep diagonally etc.
What I now find with our 2017 MS is that the seats don't drop completely flat; that there is a bulge; and that there is no-where close to enough length to accommodate my 6 feet 2 inches without my head dropping over the headrests into the rear footwell void.

Am I missing something? I can see that its fairly easy to equalise the levels with cardboard etc but how is a mattress supported over the footwell so that it doesn't droop down? Be keen to hear how others deal with this?

You may be too tall to sleep in the S if you want to stretch out full length — I find that I rarely do that. I do use my air mattress a bit diagonally; it is about six feet long when inflated, so perhaps too short for you. The picture of how I arrange it is in post number 4 above.

As for the bump left when the seats are folded down, I use a folded up bedspread to level that gap. It is quite comfortable and I can't feel the drop off at all. Although the front of the air mattress extends a bit over the end of the folded seat, it is rigid enough to support my head and pillow.

If you are going to try to sleep two, one of them your six feet two inches, on some sort of double air bed, then I think you may have difficulty fitting in the back of the S unless you are willing to curl up a bit. I've heard of a double bed being fitted into the back of an S but haven't seen any pictures. The back is a bit narrow — I measure it at about 41 inches (104 cm) wide and 76 inches (193 cm) long, about 12 inches (30 cm) of that unsupported, as you say. If you use a mattress that is not stiff enough, as mine is, to support your head over that gap, you could try a small piece of plywood to provide some extra support; it wouldn't have to be very long since your weight would keep it in place on the folded seats. If using an air mattress, however, I think it should be stiff enough to not need support since the weight of your shoulders will be firmly over the folded seat. (This assumes sleeping head forward; I would find the hatch too low for comfort — too confining — if trying to sleep head to the rear.)

FWIW.

 

[Ostrichsak]

You may be too tall to sleep in the S if you want to stretch out full length — I find that I rarely do that. I do use my air mattress a bit diagonally; it is about six feet long when inflated, so perhaps too short for you. The picture of how I arrange it is in post number 4 above.

As for the bump left when the seats are folded down, I use a folded up bedspread to level that gap. It is quite comfortable and I can't feel the drop off at all. Although the front of the air mattress extends a bit over the end of the folded seat, it is rigid enough to support my head and pillow.

If you are going to try to sleep two, one of them your six feet two inches, on some sort of double air bed, then I think you may have difficulty fitting in the back of the S unless you are willing to curl up a bit. I've heard of a double bed being fitted into the back of an S but haven't seen any pictures. The back is a bit narrow — I measure it at about 41 inches (104 cm) wide and 76 inches (193 cm) long, about 12 inches (30 cm) of that unsupported, as you say. If you use a mattress that is not stiff enough, as mine is, to support your head over that gap, you could try a small piece of plywood to provide some extra support; it wouldn't have to be very long since your weight would keep it in place on the folded seats. If using an air mattress, however, I think it should be stiff enough to not need support since the weight of your shoulders will be firmly over the folded seat. (This assumes sleeping head forward; I would find the hatch too low for comfort — too confining — if trying to sleep head to the rear.)

FWIW.

I think it's doable for 6' 2" w/o going diagonal. I'm 6' tall & I think if I were 2" taller I'd just move the driver's seat another 2" forward than I already do & be fine. If you do the TV tray method & move the seat back all the way forward I bet you could get a really tall person in there w/o going diagonal.