How to Convert Your Honda CR-V to a Camper

The great outdoors are, well, great, but some folks just don’t like sleeping in tents. Wet ground cloths and hauling gear back and forth can get old in a hurry. But if you are a Honda CR-V owner, you’re in luck! It’s not that hard to convert your SUV into a surprisingly comfortable camper that is also fun to drive and gets excellent mileage. If you have an AWD drive model, so much the better.

Here’s the procedure:

1. Remove the back seats. They can be removed and stored in a cool, dry place.
2. Cover bare metal with car mats.
3. Build a platform from 2×2 and 2×3 lumber the size of the area that was taken up by the seats. The height of the platform should be the same as the back of the vehicle.
4. Anchor the frame to the bolts that held the rear seats.
5. Cover the top of the frame with 5/8-inch plywood. Cut the pieces so that one covers the aft section of the frame, and the remaining pieces hinged so that you can access storage space under the frame, in the seat/foot-well area.
6. Pad and carpet the platform. Use carpet remnants that match the sizes of the plywood panels. This will be where you place your air mattress and sleeping bags.
7. Attach a cargo net to the vehicle’s bottom gear ties and the top of the seatbelt anchors.
8. Attach Velcro to the side of the cargo area and attach curtains to the Velcro.
9. Build a small tent to cover the back of the vehicle so that you can leave the back window open. The tent can be fashioned from nylon with mosquito netting to keep bugs from coming through the open back window. Magnets and bungees will hold the tent in place.

Estimated cost is about $200. You should have enough room to stow five gallons of water, a cooler with food, an air mattress, two sleeping bags, a few changes of clothing, towels, toiletries, a solar phone charger/lamp, first aid kit, water purifier and some cooking gear.

Driving a Honda CR-V is already a fun experience. Driving a CR-V camper is a whole new level of enjoyment. If you don’t own a CR-V yet, stop into our Honda dealership and check out our inventory of new and used models. We think the converted camper will have you smiling from ear to ear, so visit us today.