Thanks Mitchell. Glad you like the video I during as well as the new build. Always great to hear from you! Hope you are staying safe and healthy!

@Sage Roddy Thank you so much, Sage! I can always count on you to have nice things to say. You are a really good man.

Sweet man. Glad it was helpful.

Thanks man. Glad you enjoyed it!

Awesome! Glad the videos could be useful. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions (I check Instagram more than youtube)

Thanks. Glad it was useful for ya.

Thank you 🙏🏻

Thanks man! Enjoy your E!

Always some improvements to make haha. Hope you’re well Fred. Come up to Oregon soon!

Dude totally agree. The only reason I got it was because I had a pro deal discount code. Otherwise it would have been way out of my price range.

I’m sure you could work out a setup that works for ya. I don’t have that much experience either.

Thanks man! Good luck with your build!

Thank you! I hope he enjoys the Element!

Lots of good designs out there for them. Go fir it!

Thank you!

Do it!

Thank you!

Yeah one of my favorite parts too.

No worries. I figure that’s one of the few measurements that I should know. Tall people got it bad lol

Glad you like it!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Yeah totally.

Glad it could be useful!

What’s an SUV TENT?

Thank you!

Thank you! I think I’m getting better with each new iteration 😂

Thanks!

Thanks josh. Are you still camping in yours?

@@wildsage On and off. Not as much as you! My offer still stands if you are ever in the Adirondacks again, let me know!

Yeah I’ve found that a larger number of small slats works better because then the gaps aren’t as big.

Thanks for the tips. Not all of those will work in my situation but with a larger rig and more space they would be great. In such a tight space you gotta kind just make it fit.

Thanks hank!

Oh yeah for sure I could use those if my weight needs ever increased for that pullout. I intentionally chose the pegboard Masonite because it’s smooth and the holes would allow for it to not crate a suction to the bottom when trying to lift and pull out. Rollers would eliminate that problem too.

just starting to set up my El. what cooler do you recommend and solar to go with it? do you use a bike rack

I have heard that about later models. That’s too bad. I’m sure there is a work around though. Maybe replacing the seats as you mentioned.

I think I’d cook on the rear slide out instead of inside.. love this setup ❤

Yeah most of the time that I was using this setup I cooked on the tailgate. But I wanted to make sure I had the option to cook inside in case I was rained out or something.

Sweet! Glad it was helpful.

I want a one wheel so bad! Not in my budget right now though.

Thank you so much!

Yeah I hope we can get it going soon! We have a shop to work at now so I think we can make some of the improvements she wants.

Hope it works for ya!

I guess I haven’t thought much about how it would handle when getting read ended. I think for the shelf the bottom would stay put. Those screws are petty firmly in place. But the whole shelf might buckle and the top I’d imagine would shift more. Definitely something to think about.

@@wildsage I may just draw bad luck. I've even been rear-ended while riding in a taxi in a foreign country. (=

Thanks for checking in dude. Yeah I’m fine. I’m staying at a friends to escape the smoke because where I am is beyond the maximum level of the air quality index. Hope you’re doing alright as well.

Yeah I was torn on height. I chose to go just about the seat mount so the bed could be a bit wider. The higher you make the bed platform the wider it can be but then the less comfortable it is sitting. Looking forward to seeing your setup!

I totally get it, I'm a little shorter so the low seat doesn't bother me too much. I just really like having vertical space. I do like the holes in your box.

To be honest I don’t cook inside very much at all. I will more in the winter. Most important is a carbon monoxide/dioxide detector. I don’t have a fan to aid the venting but have thought about it. The software I used is called SketchUp.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you!

My girlfriend uses a funnel in her van and we love it for all this reasons you mentioned.

Hope it was helpful!

The solar panel is attached to the roof rack! 😃

It turns into the backrest for the bench!

Thank you!

Thanks!

Thanks man. To be honest I don’t have the measurements really. I did a rough sketch and then kind of figured out dimensions as I went.

Thank you! She was a lab/cattle dog mix and I can’t think of a better combo. She passed away in February sadly.

No it actually means dog in Turkish!

I’ve thought about it. Thought about some tambour doors.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Sage Roddy I did, I do a lot of car camping in the PNW, I looked at the prices for the foam Company, very reasonable in my opinion… How thick is your foam? Did you get 4 inch or 6 inch? I’m not gonna have it up on a bench but rather on the floor because I’m so tall…

I got 5” my first time and found it to be too thick so went with 3” the second and third times.

Sage Roddy thank you, I’ve used egg crates in the past but wanna upgrade… Elements are the ultimate camping machine!

Fair question. I would have to remove everything to access it. I’m formulating some alternatives to putting it there but for now it would be a major hassle to get a flat haha.

The bottom shelf is pantry and then for refrigerated type goods I just buy fresh or store at room temp. The goal Zero is for basic charging needs (phone, laptop, lights, camera batteries). I unfortunately don’t have exact dimensions. I had a rough plan and then measured as I went. I’m also not near to that vehicle at the moment so cannot measure for ya. I’ve measured some things for other people in the past and I think you might find some details in other comments 😊

Hey Isaac. I’m guessing you’ve got a 2007 or newer. That year they changed it so the seats don’t slide as far forward. My gf has a 2007 that I use now that line is totalled. I had to modify the setup so that my feet just stick through between the seats rather than a whole extension.

I second this.

I can’t quite sit up straight but I can comfortably slouch. If you move the bed lower then it gets less wide because the wall of the element get narrower with the seat mounts. So I opted to make the height just above those seat mounts at the sacrifice of a full sit up position.

I do not unfortunately. I work better in the “make it up as you go along” format so I don’t have much of anything concrete.

@@wildsage Thank you for the inspiration. Very seriously, I, and Im sure A LOT of people would pay good money to get a pdf of the exact dimensions and materials. PLEASE announce if you do that. I

Thanks!

Yeah that inner shelf can be tricky. I don’t have a pattern for it just yet. But you saw my other video that shows I how I made it. Hopefully that helps get you a starting point.

Yeah fair question. If you make it slightly shorter then you lose width space. So I tried to strike a balance of sitting height but not sleeping on a cot size bed with the pup.

@@wildsage I get it width because the farther down the wall you go the narrower the space .

Yeh I’ve heard that later year elements the seats don’t go as far forward. I think the cutoff was 2007.

Unfortunately I’m a terrible planner so it was half planned and half made up as I went haha

Mine has about 230k mi on it. I don’t cook with the towel there. I just have it there so it doesn’t rattle so mu during travel lol.

I believe they are coming back this coming year...

My Honda Element I purchased in 2004 and now almost at 200K best and only car I've ever purchased. It's my every day car and she runs great! NEVER have I ever had to do anything to it. as long as you do the maintenance, these cars will last for ever! =)

Accessing the spare tire is not impossibly but not easy. All my stuff is installed with zip ties and a couple screws. So it’s easy to remove for emergencies should I need the spare tire. The foam for my bed stays there and acts as the cushions when it is in couch mode.

Nope. I haven’t had any issues with it and have experienced some pretty heavy rain too.

@@wildsage thanks

A great garage! Thanks for letting me use it!

Good question. The bed/bench panels that flip on a hinge are more of a hassle than anticipated because of the long cushion You end up having to pull that up to move it and they dont work as easily. I removed some of those hinges and will just slide them in and out instead. Also I made another camper after this one that was a totally different style and like a few different things about that one. Check out that video too. One thing I liked about that one that I would add to this one is that the bed extension piece flips up and was connected rather than a loose piece. It ended up making a really good “lounge mode” when it was flipped up because you could use it as a backrest.

The only plans are the CAD drawing that you see in the video.

I chose the HD 36 foam. It’s not the densest because I found the fenders foams are a little too hard for me. I chose too dense of one on my first build. I haven’t really even noticed the seam down the middle but then again I’m a pretty agreeable sleeper. I don’t need a perfectly cushy bed. I admit the 1000 is kind of a bit much for my needs. I got a pro deal coupon and decided to go a little bit higher than what I actually need so I can scale up when my power demands get a little greater. For sure don’t need the whole battery now. It usually sits at 100% charge.

My girlfriend agrees which is the only reason it has lasted this long 😂

@@wildsage If you're ever in the bay area and want to check out someone else's Element build, lmk

It’s dead simple. Just some pegboard for the bottom and the a back wall made of plywood that pulle everything with it.

Thanks dude. I actually mostly keep it in my storage unit. I sometimes will pull it out for trips. When I do I usually just keep it on the bed until bed time and then I will move it to the drivers seat.

I only do free camping. Sometimes that means stealth camping in a city but I try to go to national forest or blm land and do dispersed camping. I have no toilet in the element. I go outside or if I’m near a town I’ll go to o a grocery store or something. For showers I mostly use my gym membership.

I actually gave this setup to my gf who had an element too and did a whole new setup that’s more optimized for shorter camping trips than full time living. I haven’t use a cooler in my setups for a few years now. I used to use a yeti style but it just took up too much room. But I will say that the little nook behind the passenger seat stays very cool so if I didn’t want something to get hot it could go under there. Just wouldn’t be ice cold.

Yeah I think it is plenty sturdy but the bed would be pretty cramped with two people I think.

This go around I went with 3” foam

I think if you want two people you may opt for one of the setups that has a platform all the way across. You could sleep shoulder to shoulder in a setup like mine but it would be cramped.

Sage Roddy Thanks for the response. Yea, after watching some other videos, it would have be an all the way across type set up. And as a side note to my Element I checked out... no bueno.

Ah darn. Keep looking! Plenty of them out there.

I don’t do recipes very much. I always just wing it. But I like doing really simple one pan meals. Combine things like precooked rice, lentils or beans, veggies, and sausage. Season to taste.

One other question (thank you for replying). Where the bed surface meets the side of the car and goes over the metal mounting points for the back seats, did you do anything there to secure it, contour it, or just lay the wood overtop?

@@CptRetro I contoured it to the side and attached it to the seat mount area with a couple zip ties.

Thanks!

I got them from Amazon. Should be able to find them searching folding shelf bracket.

Mines at almost 250k!

Approximately yeah

♥️