Stop Looking, You Might NOT Need an SUV Sleeping Platform

You’ve fallen down the SUV sleeping platform rabbit hole. You’re comparing different people’s builds, scrolling Pinterest for ideas, wondering what friend has wood cutting machines… but pause for a second. Do you actually need one?

I fell down this rabbit hole myself 2 years ago.

But now, 2 years later, I’ve traveled all over the USA full-time and never installed a sleeping platform in my SUV. That’s one less headache I had to deal with over the last 2 years. And believe me, living in your car brings a lot of headaches with it.

I’m not saying you DEFINITELY don’t need a platform. But I want to provide some clarity on whether a sleeping platform is worth it for you, based on my experience.

Disclosure: This blog has affiliate links, and it’s how I can keep doing what I love. If you book something, I might make a commission with no added cost to you. Thanks for the support!

What is an SUV Sleeping Platform?

An SUV sleeping platform is a plywood structure to sleep on when you go car camping.

The sleeping platform goes on top of your trunk and folded-down back seats.

There are a few ways you can go about it:

1. You can either build the platform yourself or even buy a pre-made one.
2. The platform can be permanent, foldable (so you can put up your back seats), or easy to take out.

And these car camping platforms often have a bit of space under them to store everything in bins that slide in and out easily.

These are all valid points, but they aren’t always true in practice!

Why You Might NOT Need a Sleeping Platform

This is where I’ll lose some of you – I don’t want to waste your time.

If your trunk goes straight down to form a cavity or if the back of your car isn’t flat AT ALL when you fold down the back seats, bad news: you need an SUV sleeping platform.

Good luck going down your rabbit hole! But consider checking out the rest of my SUV camping resources… I’m absolutely sure they’ll be super useful for you.

Keep reading if your trunk and folded back seats make a platform that’s kind of flat.

What does “kind of flat” look like?

That’s my Forester. And, while it’s not the best car to sleep in, I was able to sleep in it for 2 years without a sleeping platform.

When your car is almost sleepable, it’s not about the car – it’s about the bed.

So, let me give you the reasons why I didn’t build a platform to sleep on in my car. Then I’ll let you know what I did instead.

1. The Hassle of Building an SUV Sleeping Platform

Lala and I seriously considered building an SUV sleeping platform for our full-time car camping. But we decided not to do it after some thinking.

First of all, building it would be a hassle, and neither of us is naturally handy.

Though all the videos on the internet make it look easy and doable (like this one), we knew it was going to be a BIG project for us. And it might not turn out very good once we were done with it.

Second, we were living in my brother’s apartment (4 people, 1 bathroom) after having just moved to the US. But even if we lived on our own, where would we find the tools and space to make a platform?

2. The Reality of Storing an SUV Sleeping Platform

Speaking of space, where do you store an SUV platform? Like it or not, it’s a big wooden structure.

Unless you have a house with lots of storage, a shed in your backyard, or something similar, storing the platform is going to be an issue.

3. Would it Actually be Better?

I noticed some things from going down the rabbit hole and watching a ton of videos about building a car camping setup.

Mostly, I noticed that plywood bends a lot.

When you weight one side more than the other, your entire bed shifts.

Plywood also bends and warps a lot depending on humidity and uneven surfaces (like the back of your car). So, how long is your build actually going to last?

Finally, I also noticed the intersections where the platform folds rarely looked perfect in the videos. That’s to be expected. But then why build an SUV sleeping platform if the back of your car is “kind of” flat too?

4. What SUV Camping is Like in Practice

The reasons above are why I decided not to build an SUV sleeping platform. Now, let me tell you why I’m glad I didn’t 2 years later.

Managing Storage while Car Camping

People say one of the big advantages of a platform in your car is the extra storage space. The idea is that you have lots of space under the platform to store things in bins.

I have to disagree.

That type of storage just doesn’t work for longer trips. You’d have to have several layers of bins under your car camping platform, which could get frustrating when you need the one in the back.

Plus, nothing works for storage like your trunk – you can fill it all the way to the top.

And where would my big water jug go? My cooler? Those things don’t fit under an SUV camping platform and shouldn’t be stored in a cargo box for an SUV.

Though I do store all my kitchen stuff in bins (you can read about my full car camping kitchen setup here), I wouldn’t want everything in bins under my bed.

Sitting Up in your SUV

Something I never would have thought was so important to me was sitting up in my SUV.

Think about it – do you want to sleep really close to the roof of your car? How do you put on a shirt while you’re laying down in an enclosed space? How about socks? What if it’s raining when you wake up and you end up spending 14 hours in your car (writing from experience)? What if you want to sit up against your front seat to read?

A platform takes up at least 1/3 of the back of your car. And then you have to put a good mattress on it because the plywood is just as hard as the bottom of your car.

So, your SUV becomes a space to sleep and nothing else.

Since I was living and sleeping in my SUV full-time, I needed it to be a nice space that I loved being in.

That being said, having less space doesn’t matter as much for short trips. You canjust put up with it for a couple of days.

Parking your SUV

The reality of car camping is that as much as you may plan, sometimes you end up getting to a pull-out on a forest road at 10 pm. You park you car and, “Oh, look”… there’s no level ground.

So, you may build your SUV sleeping platform to sleep flat, but parking outdoors is rarely flat anyway. Why even bother?

In the end, my thought is that building an SUV sleeping platform is a waste of space and is STILL just as hard as the back of my Forester. I’d have to get just as big a mattress for SUV camping to put on the sleeping platform, which means even less space!

And those are the reasons I still wouldn’t build a platform in my SUV.

Now let’s look at what you can do instead.

The Perfect Alternative to an SUV Sleeping Platform

This is how I slept in my SUV for 2 years while I traveled all over the US without a sleeping platform:

• Cut some plywood: wait, what?! That’s right, even though I really didn’t want to build anything, we ended up having to cut some plywood to make some extensions that covered the space between the folded backseats and front seats. It was the only way I would fit in our Forester. Thankfully, my brother-in-law has some wood cutting machines (and skills), and we were able to cut out these really simple extensions. We got the idea from this website.

• Neutralize any bumps with sleeping pads: the first layer of my SUV bed is meant to make the back of my car feel flat. My Subaru Forester has a bump where the seats fold, but our firm sleeping bads mostly take that feeling away because they meld around the bump. Make sure you use a firm, 3-inch pad made for camping because they’re really durable, like this one!
• Get a soft mattress: the next layer is what brings the coziness – and I must say, my favorite temperatures to sleep in my SUV are 28° to 38°F. A twin-size memory foam mattress is what we sleep on, and it’s been practical for us because its comfy but it also folds extremely easily

• Layer your bedding: we like having sheets and blankets because you can use the same setup in different seasons (just take layers off as it gets warmer). They’re also easy to wash. We have a full REI setup, which is amazing, but they no longer make it! If this is the way you want to go, you can recreate the setup with all the bedding I listed here. But another option is to get a double sleeping bag from REI. The problem is it’s rated for 20°, so you’d need a different bag in warmer seasons.

If you need a more detailed explanation of my SUV camping bed, read it here!

How it All Comes Together

Our SUV camping bed feel’s flat and super comfy even though the Forester isn’t flat. Plus, it allows us to store way more stuff than if we had a sleeping platform.

At night, all we have in the back of our SUV is the bed, and I’ve honestly slept great in it. And I’m a person who has trouble sleeping!

All our stuff, which is mostly car camping kitchen equipment, goes in our front seats.

During the day, we’re able to easily fold our bed in half, which leaves the trunk open to organize everything and even gives us space to make food in the back of it. Folding the bed like that just makes everything during the day more accessible and less of a hassle.

And, since living out of your SUV is kind of a hassle in general, anything that lessens that makes a big difference.

Finally, you can also roll up the entire bed and store it in any old closet, like this:

That’s a lot more manageable than an SUV sleeping platform.

Overall Thoughts and Takeaways

I’m not saying my sleeping setup is perfect – I’m saying it’s simple and doable.

I said I’ve had great nights in it, but I’ve also had terrible nights. That’s just the way it is with car camping.

All in all, the secret to a good SUV camping setup isn’t the right gear or saying yes or no to a sleeping platform. The secret is that you have to LOVE it. For me, that meant not building an SUV sleeping platform.

Who knows what you’ll end up doing? I hope this was a positive contribution to your rabbit hole. And let me know what you end up doing!

If you’d like to read ALL about how I brought together a setup that I loved, you can read my full SUV camping guide here!