DIY Subaru Forester Camper Buildout

I just built out my Subaru Forester 2015 for car camping / overlanding, sharing all the specs here for anyone who’s interested! The whole thing cost $305 & the exact dimensions should work for any 4th generation Forester (2014 - 2018).

Baseboard buildout.
Shelving / storage set-up.

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Looking good! Love some budget build outs :slight_smile:

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Pretty rad! Great use of space.

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This looks great! I have a Subaru Outback that I have slept in when the weather was poor, but I had such a hassle getting into my supplies. I have been researching ways to improve my experience. I will check out your buildout page!

Edit: Checked out the pages, fantastic! I think my car has the same rough dims.
How tall are you? Or perhaps a better question, did you move the front seats up at all to sleep?

5’5" and I don’t need to move the seats up to sleep! You could get a couple of extra inches if you did.

Every other buildout I could find had the storage underneath the floorboards, so that’s your other option. More storage and width in the car, but a big pain if you want to sit-up inside the back.

At 6’ tall I’ve got an extra 7" to cram into my Subaru. It has enough space, but my shoulders hit the top edge of the folded down backseat while lying prone. No head support or my feet hang over the void which is weird.


I ended up removing the passenger headrests and laying the front seat down to bridge the gap. This was better and I tried sleeping either way. I had to build up my gear on the seat to keep my pillow from sliding away from me in the night. The other way was weird with the slight incline from the seat, but it allowed me to use the back window as a sort of sky light. It was an amusing experience that I think a platform could improve.

Being tall, I can’t sit comfortably in the back of the car anyway, but I was thinking of getting one of those cargo net things for the ceiling so a shorter platform may be all I need. And if I do end up making one, I would need to keep it small so I could store it in my apartment closet somehow. Maybe three or four smaller panels…

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Did the same exact thing with my Subie you did, Dwight. I found if I used the shoulder strap for my clothes duffel to secure it to the top half of the front passenger seat (with headrest removed), the bag (soft with clothes) was enough to pad/support my long sleeping pad.

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