Do you want to convert your Honda Civic or other small car to a camper? The first thing you’re going to need to do is build a bed so you can sleep comfortably on the road. This post will show you how to build a bed for a Honda Civic or other small car, including a materials list, step-by-step instructions and a video demonstrating how my bed turned out!

By the way, I wanted to let you know that I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. 

 

How to Build a Bed for Your Honda Civic

This was the first step in my own camper conversion for my 2010 Honda civic. (The 2010 model was 8th Generation, so this will apply to all Civics made from 2006-2011.) In order to sleep in your Honda Civic, you have a couple of options: pull out the front seat and sleep in the front cab of the car (like Rue has done in his Casa de Civic) or put the rear seat down and sleep with your feet in the trunk. This second option is less permanent (and also less work) but presents a couple of challenges:

1. Length of the rear seat and trunk – depending on where your front seats are placed, you will only have about five and a half feet from the back of the front seats to the end of the trunk. This probably isn’t enough room for most people (including me).
2. Height difference from the trunk to the lowered rear seats – there is about a 4″ height difference between the trunk and the rear seat once you lower the rear seats, which is definitely not comfortable.
3. Lack of storage – the Honda Civic is already pretty small, so if you just throw a 6′ piece of plywood in the back to sleep on, you’re going to be losing out on a lot of valuable space.

My solution? Tilt the front seats forward and build a 6′ fold-able raised platform in the trunk to even out the height difference and provide an easily-accessible storage space! This will also allow you to put the bed away and tilt your front seats to a normal position when you’re on the road. This post is a step-by-step walk-through for building your own platform bed for your car camper conversion, including materials and how to assemble your platform bed so you can sleep peacefully in your little nest.

Here’s a walkthrough of the finished project:

Materials and Cost for the Honda Civic Camper Conversion bed:

• 1-4’x8′ 5/8″ plywood – $30
• 2-2″x6″ lumber – $9
• 6-12″ piano hinges – $36
• 1-lb. 2.5″ screws – $8

Total Cost to Build the Bed: $83

 

Plywood and Lumber Dimensions:

If you need to, you can have the hardware store cut the plywood and lumber for you. For the 2″x6″ lumber, cut it to 2 pieces 20″ long and 2 pieces 32″ long. This will form the platform for your feet in the trunk. Cut the plywood to 4 pieces to make the top of your bed:

• 2-2’x1.5′
• 1-2’x1′
• 1-2’x2′

 

Assemble Your Platform Bed:

First, screw together your 2x6s to make the platform for inside the trunk. I used three screws at each join point:

Next, attach the 2’x1′ piece of plywood to the top of the platform so that it hangs over by 4″. This will form the “lip” of the platform to fit over the raised back of the Honda civic rear seats. Use four screws to attach it, then use the hinges to attach the lid of the platform as well as the head of the bed. Notice that the top hinge (closest to the head of the bed) is actually underneath the bed frame so that you can fold the bed up and out of the way:

 

This is what you’ll end up with when you put it in your Civic:

And there you go! For less than $100, you have a ready-to-go and convenient platform bed for your car to camper conversion!