Crash Pad Car Camping

I am looking into building a car camping set-up for my hatchback. I was thinking of a raised platform with my bouldering pad on top, cutting out piece(s) of foam to level the rest of the space, then putting a mattress topper on top.

I have read sleeping on a crash pad will soften it over time and make it bad for bouldering; would this still be the case if I used a mattress topper? Space will be at a premium for me, so would be great if I could get extra functionality out of the pad for how much space it takes open. Curious to hear any thoughts/ideas.

Thanks

M Mingus wrote:

sleeping on a crash pad will soften it over time and make it bad for bouldering

Thanks

Sounds tame compared to falling on it from 6 feet up! I wouldn't give it a second thought.

I got an old bouldering pad from our local gym, cleaned the cover, removed the stiffer foam layer that keeps the pads shape, and have been sleeping on it for well over a year now. It has certainly molded to me and lost its original comfortableness. I don't know how it would be if it wasn't used before me, or if I didn't remove the stiffer layer though. 

Keep us updated on how it goes for you!

Cedric Salvador wrote:

I got an old bouldering pad from our local gym, cleaned the cover, removed the stiffer foam layer that keeps the pads shape, and have been sleeping on it for well over a year now. It has certainly molded to me and lost its original comfortableness. I don't know how it would be if it wasn't used before me, or if I didn't remove the stiffer layer though. 

yeah but would you still use the pad for bouldering?

To clarify: I am not looking to recycle a pad, but use it for both sleeping and bouldering. It is my understanding the stiffness is key to functionality as a pad

Are you living in the set up for a while or thinking about doing it on less frequent weekend/weeklong trips? If it's the latter I wouldn't think twice about it. I've spent a decent number of nights on mine (all weekend/weeklong) and the wear from bouldering outside and on the homewall I'd assume has softened them significantly more than sleeping on them. 

Andrew Southworth wrote:

Are you living in the set up for a while or thinking about doing it on less frequent weekend/weeklong trips? If it's the latter I wouldn't think twice about it. I've spent a decent number of nights on mine (all weekend/weeklong) and the wear from bouldering outside and on the homewall I'd assume has softened them significantly more than sleeping on them. 

Would be living in the set up a while yeah.

FWIW I am mainly a trad/sport climber, would like to have for some bouldering but the pad would see a lot more consistent use for sleep. If I only use for bouldering a handful of times a month would hate to trash a pad that way.

 Between the foam and you lying flat, your weight will be very dispersed. I slept on a couple of pads for two years with various levels of foam, sleeping bags, etc overtop. The pads were just fine for bouldering despite all this. 

Also, is this a sedan hatchback or more of an SUV? Vertical space is hard to come by in a sedan hatchback. I built a platform for a sedan once. I had to spend the night with my face less than a foot from the car's ceiling. I just couldn't get good sleep that way. Just another thing to keep in mind. Best of luck with whatever you decide.

If you’re planning to use the pad, sounds like a good idea, I would just sow a custom cover/ sheet, otherwise it’ll get nasty. If not just buy a mattress topper from Walmart and cut it to shape with a bread knife.

I live in my truck most of the time and sleep on crash pads. I’ve been sleeping on my pads super regularly for the last 3ish years and they still work fine for bouldering. One of them is maybe slightly softer but I wouldn’t hesitate to fall onto it, even off of taller boulders. 

I use my pads in my tent winter camping, they're super insulating, but rarely a great night of sleep. If you're looking for pads, get a triple of some kind that's long enough, trying to puzzle pads together is a pain. I bought a bit of cheap custom foam online to sleep on a couple years back, and keep my pads on the roof in a roof bag (primarily dirtbag and boulder alone, so i need more pads on hand).

Crash pads are super firm and uncomfortable to sleep on, especially for how much space they take up. They're meant to cushion a 10' fall concentrated on a shoe-sized landing zone. 

I slept on a triple mad pad (exactly the dimensions of an outback trunk) as my car camping setup for ~8 years but just switched to a normal 3" thick camping pad and can't believe I wasted so much time with the crash pad - the camping pad gives you so much more room to maneuver in the car (and room to breathe at night without feeling cramped by the ceiling) and is so much more comfortable.

You certainly _can_ use the crash pad, but I wouldn't.

If you are space constrained and don't want to sleep on a crashpad, inflatable pads actually work pretty well for bouldering and take up very little space when stored. Sick sequence and Kalias both make them. Maybe a bit pricey if you are only thinking of bouldering occasionally.

Lots of helpful thoughts, thanks all for the discussion.

Andrew C wrote:

Also, is this a sedan hatchback or more of an SUV? Vertical space is hard to come by in a sedan hatchback. I built a platform for a sedan once. I had to spend the night with my face less than a foot from the car's ceiling. I just couldn't get good sleep that way. Just another thing to keep in mind. Best of luck with whatever you decide.

Sedan yeah, very good point. I was going to try and maximize storage but think I’d honestly have trouble sleeping that way as well.

Sounds like I totally could sleep on the pad, but a dedicated camping pad would be more vertically space efficient (and comfortable). Think I’m leaning towards optimizing for comfort with space and a dedicated camping pad to start, then testing out the crash pad from time to time to see how that works for me

YGD

M Mingus wrote:

I am looking into building a car camping set-up for my hatchback. I was thinking of a raised platform with my bouldering pad on top, cutting out piece(s) of foam to level the rest of the space, then putting a mattress topper on top.

I have read sleeping on a crash pad will soften it over time and make it bad for bouldering; would this still be the case if I used a mattress topper? Space will be at a premium for me, so would be great if I could get extra functionality out of the pad for how much space it takes open. Curious to hear any thoughts/ideas.

Thanks

Curious which hatchback you have because definitions of hatchbacks can very quite significantly.  

How long are you thinking of living on it?  

I think it will mold some, and the topper likely won't change much unless you have an incredibly thick one which seems unlikely for space considerations.  That being said, if you're only carrying one pad, you are likely doing lowballs with relatively safe landings, and if you're doing the more extreme boulders, you likely will have others who can help.  That being said, your mileage may vary.  

Bailey Nicholson wrote:

Curious which hatchback you have because definitions of hatchbacks can very quite significantly.  

How long are you thinking of living on it?  

I think it will mold some, and the topper likely won't change much unless you have an incredibly thick one which seems unlikely for space considerations.  That being said, if you're only carrying one pad, you are likely doing lowballs with relatively safe landings, and if you're doing the more extreme boulders, you likely will have others who can help.  That being said, your mileage may vary.  

Subaru impreza and for duration tbd. Definitely not the most spacious but I love my car and curious if I can make it work

Yes good points, I am mainly interested in lowballs for training purposes so should be fine. I do like the occasional spicy boulder in which case yeah can pool pads

No idea how this compares and I have only done this for trips not living.(take with grain of salt). But I can fit a pad in the little gap between the seats and then sleep in the hatch if my feet go in the wheel well.  I haven’t done both together but I imagine it would work. The other thing you could consider is putting a pad on top of the pad or the pad on top of you.  I did that once because I was cold and it wasn’t horrible.  I have a Prius btw 

Just buy an ExPed Megamat to sleep on.  You will never regret it.

If you are looking for a pad that can do both (serve as a bouldering pad and a sleeping mat), find yourself a madrock R3 pad. Super bulky and heavy, but it way more comfortable for sleeping than a traditional foam-construction organic/Metolius pad. 

On another note: I had a Yakima SkyBox 16 on my Impreza (just sold the Impreza after many years and many miles) and it's super useful. Clamps on the stock roof rack in seconds. Increases cargo space significantly, especially if you're sleeping in it and want to clear up space. Keep an eye out on Facebook marketplace for a deal. 

If you need seating for 4 I wouldn't do this, but if I was living in one, I'd take out the back seat. build a level platform as low as possible (basically just a sheet of plywood flat on the carpet in the hatchback area, and supported flat across where the seat was. It'd take out the seats because otherwise they are higher than the hatchback area (in all Impreza's I've seen) so the platform would need to be higher. Have the platform hinged at the seat area so you could fold it up and use the space where the back seat was for storage. Put all your heavy stuff here (rack, etc.) and put all the light stuff in the roof box.

I have a 6ft bed Tacoma with a camper top, platform and drawers. Two normal size organic pads fit perfectly. Sleeping directly on the pads can be stiff so a 2in mattress topper(can be found for pretty cheap at somewhere like HomeGoods) makes it super comfy, I have slept soundly for multiple week long trips with this setup! Honestly wouldn't worry about the effect sleeping on them might have.