Kipping in a yeti auto.

[skid2]

Hi 

New member.

Living in a fairly rural area in NI. Roads are in fairly bad state.

So we do country coastal roads. And the odd  thrash off a boat up Welsh, English or Frog roads.

Thinking about a Yeti. Dame is certainly not thinking about a Yeti.  Comfort and  a good audio system a must.  (One of the reasons I'm loathe to lose the Merc)

We spend four nights a year in a field in Oxford. Too old for a tent. Could we kip in a Yeti on an airbed. 

Thanks. (And its not a Wah, I'd have thought of something weirder)

Skid2

[Rev Tony B]

Never tried it, but if you fold down the back seats the boot is cavernous (designed by the same guy as designed the Tardis...), so you'd probably be able to lay out an airbed quite comfortably.

Blessings,

Rev Tony B

[Llanigraham]

From experience, no.

Load length, even without the rear seats, is not enough.

[jonceebee]

Like Graham says, I doubt it. The Octavia Estate is ok though I can vouch for that having done it a few times, and before anyone starts, I was NOT out dogging

[KBPhoto]

These (Swiss Room Box) appear to work in the Yeti.

 

There are at least two threads on this forum about them (the video I've seen shows a Skoda Roomster), so it's possible.

[Macdemon]

WOW.....what a BRILLIANTLY CLEVER idea :clap:  

 

And a VERY BIG welcome to you skid2.  :yes:

[Llanigraham]

From the Room Box video, in the Roomster you had to tip the front seats forward.

Load length from the SUK site seems to be about 2.3 mtrs for the Roomster, whereas for the Yeti it is just over 1 mtr.

[KBPhoto]

I checked their compatibility matrix and they list a Yeti 4x4 (?) as being compatible with most of their systems.

[33q]

Hi

New member.

Living in a fairly rural area in NI. Roads are in fairly bad state.

So we do country coastal roads. And the odd thrash off a boat up Welsh, English or Frog roads.

Thinking about a Yeti. Dame is certainly not thinking about a Yeti. Comfort and a good audio system a must. (One of the reasons I'm loathe to lose the Merc)

We spend four nights a year in a field in Oxford. Too old for a tent. Could we kip in a Yeti on an airbed.

Thanks. (And its not a Wah, I'd have thought of something weirder)

Skid2

I know it's cheating but we were in a similar situation when attending a 2 day event involving camping overnight. Mrs 33q absolutely totally and unbendingly refused to sleep anywhere without full ensuite facilities. I explained as well as any man can to a woman that this was not possible with a tent. At least not without major engineering works to a remote field somewhere in Northants . Anyway I did the sensible thing a booked a local hotel ( negotiating a good deal of course) and attended same event, but after breakfast. It worked very well, and not surprisingly a number of the hotel guests were attending the same event. Certainly cheaper than 1800 euros.

[domhnall]

You can sleep comfortably in an Octy estate (have done that for a week) but there's not enough room (IMHO) in my yeti 

[Yety]

I've spent a few nights tucked up snugly in the front passenger seat late last year - not ideal but better than my SJ

 

The only gripe is that the front seats won't fully recline to meet the rear ones, it would be great if the reclining mech could be "adapted", but it's still under warranty.

[900000]

Alas it is one thing the Yeti designers did not copy from the Matra Simca Rancho!

 

 

Also remember most proper campervan conversions involve insulating the entire vehicle as well double glazing to the back windows... So sleeping in a normal car is a VERY cold affair.

[jlwah]

These (Swiss Room Box) appear to work in the Yeti.

 

There are at least two threads on this forum about them (the video I've seen shows a Skoda Roomster), so it's possible.

Nice idea, but where do the staff sleep? 

[KBPhoto]

I've just done a price check on the Swiss Room Box: starts £3200! Yikes...

 

And that's just the bed and table - no water or gas cooker...

[900000]

I've just done a price check on the Swiss Room Box: starts £3200! Yikes...

 

And that's just the bed and table - no water or gas cooker...

 

For £3,200 you can get a very nice used caravan. That's insulated and has double glazing. 

[P6bJOHN]

Buy a roof tent?

http://www.mywayrooftents.co.uk/myway-roof-tents-products/ROOF-TENTS-1/

[Paul52]

Alas it is one thing the Yeti designers did not copy from the Matra Simca Rancho!

 

 

Or the 1965 onwards Renault 16 where not only were fully reclining front seats standard across the range but the seats were so versatile (and comfortable) that the manufacturers actually listed a "double bed" layout as one of about 15 permutations.

[33q]

The 1969 Austin Maxi also offered the double bed option where the back of the rear seat folded into the boot area.

 

Mind you, such was the reliability of some of the cars that the addition of a A frame to make it a caravan may have been an appropriate conversion

[ejstubbs]

FWIW my Dad had a Maxi in the 1970s and nothing ever went seriously wrong with it. He eventually passed it on to my sister and I believe it spent at least ten years in the family, not sure what happened to it after that. I do remember that it seemed to have a fair turn of speed (it was the 1750, with the re-designed gear linkage) and handled well.  My Mum's 1100, on the other hand, was a bit of a dog which had to have its suspension pumped up on a fairly regular basis. The Allegro she replaced it with behaved faultlessly - unlike the Fiesta that took its place, which burned out one of its exhaust valves when I was driving it back home from from college.

 

I did make use of the Maxi's 'double bed' once. We were living in Derby, and I borrowed my Dad's car for a weekend road trip, taking in a party on the Saturday evening in Bristol and then on to Brands Hatch for the British GP on the Sunday. We were picking another pal up somewhere in a leafy Surrey suburb on the way to the GP and - since we would be arriving in the wee small hours - the plan was to "camp" in the car on the street outside his house. We got there about 2am and set about converting the Maxi into sleeping accommodation. Unfortunately this meant moving just about all of our stuff out of the boot and redistributing it around the footwells in order to be able to do the 'double bed' trick. We then discovered that the foot pump for the air mattress made a rather embarrassing farting noise. My pal, who admittedly had had a pint or two (or maybe a little more) earlier that evening, became incapacitated with the giggles, which turned out to be rather contagious so we both ended up rolling around guffawing helplessly every time one of us tried to put a bit more air in. That did cause a few net curtains to twitch, I can tell you (though not as much as pitching a tent on someone's front lawn would likely have done).

 

My main conclusion from that experience, and a few others sleeping in normal car seats, is that ventilation and (as Johann said) insulation are the main issues.  Without the engine running a car gets very cold in most UK overnight conditions (just as cold as a tent, basically) and you get condensation on virtually every interior surface - not just the windows.  Cracking the windows open to improve the ventilation just makes the it colder!  Crucially, though, sleeping in the car doesn't solve the key problem that most of the ladies seem to have with camping ie the lack of en suite facilities (my SWMBO absolutely hates the "walk of shame" to the toilet block at 3am).  One possible answer to that particular problem (other than booking in to a B&B or a hotel) is to wild camp, so there's no-one else about and she can just "go" somewhere behind the nearby scenery.  If you're going to go down that route then you might as well take a tent IMO, since it will undoubtedly be more comfortable then trying to kip in the car.  A few hundred quid can get you a surprisingly cosy set of kit for car camping, including airbed, chairs and cooking facilities - vastly cheaper than that Swiss Army Knife Box affair.

Edited 24 January, 2014 by ejstubbs

[ejstubbs]

Buy a roof tent?

 

According to the owner's manual, the maximum roof load for the Yeti is 100kg.  Two adults would far exceed that (I'm 70kg+ on my own).  A trailer tent might be a better bet - and wouldn't require a ladder! - provided the car was equipped for towing.

 

[Maybe also worth bearing in mind concerns that have been expressed about the risk of paintwork damage due to abrasion from any system which attaches or close-couples fabric panels to the car bodywork.]

Edited 24 January, 2014 by ejstubbs

[900000]

 

My main conclusion from that experience, and a few others sleeping in normal car seats, is that ventilation and (as Johann said) insulation are the main issues.  Without the engine running a car gets very cold in most UK overnight conditions (just as cold as a tent, basically) and you get condensation on virtually every interior surface - not just the windows.  Cracking the windows open to improve the ventilation just makes the it colder!  Crucially, though, sleeping in the car doesn't solve the key problem that most of the ladies seem to have with camping ie the lack of en suite facilities (my SWMBO absolutely hates the "walk of shame" to the toilet block at 3am).  One possible answer to that particular problem (other than booking in to a B&B or a hotel) is to wild camp, so there's no-one else about and she can just "go" somewhere behind the nearby scenery.  If you're going to go down that route then you might as well take a tent IMO, since it will undoubtedly be more comfortable then trying to kip in the car.  A few hundred quid can get you a surprisingly cosy set of kit for car camping, including airbed, chairs and cooking facilities - vastly cheaper than that Swiss Army Knife Box affair.

 

Ahem...  Sleeping in a car is never as fun as it looks.  And for that very reason of condensation and cold the Swiss Army Knife camp box affair is a total and utter waste of money in my book. You cannot comfortably sleep in a non insulated car. Summer or winter. Full stop.

 

In any country bar the UK, caravaning is seen for what it is: a more comfortable way to camp than in a tent (with said 3 AM facilities INSIDE your box - so no walk of shame*). But here caravans are seen as for OAPs only.  Sad.  Go to South Africa, Australia or New Zealand and it is the 30 to 40 year old set that have the most caravans - yet over here this age group all prefer to struggle in tents with kids and all. I have tents mind, and will still use them, so I know they are not really a struggle. But compared to a caravan there is just no comparison. On the day I leave a campsite in my caravan it takes me about 10 minutes to decamp and go - rain or shine. In a tent it is an hour or more of faffing and packing and squeezing things back into bags that have magically become too small overnight for them to go back in... And in the rain - well you have to do it all over again back home when the sun comes out to dry it all. Nah. I know now I'm going to use my tents a LOT less in the future for this very reason.

 

*As a side issue: why is it a walk of shame? All humans do it. Even the Queen. So I really don't see why it is a walk of shame to go to the loo in the middle of the night.   The Russians certainly don't either.

[900000]

And by the way you can get a toilet and a utility tent around it for tent camping if you really, really want to:

 

[g6zru]

And by the way you can get a toilet and a utility tent around it for tent camping if you really, really want to:

 

Where is that located on the 900000 estate, Johann?   That's regal!

 

Fred

[33q]

Well it's OK but Mrs 33Q would not find toilet paper on the ground to be acceptable....perhaps a sturdy chrome stand could be added.

[900000]

Where is that located on the 900000 estate, Johann?   That's regal!

 

Fred

 

That Fred I'm happy to say is a Google Image sourced photo.  I don't own anything like that since I'm happy to walk to the central ablution facilities on any campsite.