Post by Lisa Petrison on Nov 20, 2011 9:30:52 GMT -5
Following is some discussion about different types of vehicles (RV's, trailers, cars) that may be useful as Mobile Environmental Containment Units.
*
Yesterday I took a look at a Honda Element, to see if it might help in
solving the MECU problem.
It's designed specifically for people who spend a lot of time outdoors
(camping, biking, etc.).
Here are some positive attributes:
1) The front and back seats fold back and join together into REAL
beds (one on each side of the car). They’re quite comfortable too -
good support/padding, long/wide enough even for larger people.
All you have to do is take the headrest off the front seats. It takes
literally 30 seconds. There are two separate seats in front and and
two in back, so you can end up with a bed for one person or two beds
for two people.
2) If you lie on the bed with your head at the front of the car, you
can reach over and turn on the ignition, thus supplying heat even in
the middle of the night.
3) The floors and walls are vinyl and 100% washable. You could use a mop or even a garden hose. The seats are cloth, but water resistant so sponge cleaning would be possible.
4) There is a lot of headroom. It does not feel claustrophobic even
for tall people.
5) Shades can be purchased for all of the windows, allowing privacy.
6) Various seating configurations are possible. For instance, you
could take out one of the back seats and end up with one seat/bed and more storage space.
7) Because it’s almost all vinyl rather than carpet, it didn’t feel
like the “new car smell” was as bad as most cars. (Though granted, my MCS is just about all gone now so I’m not a good person to judge.)
I think all by itself, this would make a great "starter MECU." It would work really well for day trips or short camping trips, for one
or two people. Since it’s a car, it could be parked anywhere (e.g. on
the street or at an RV park).
It’s not perfect for decontamination purposes, but (with one of the rear seats folded back and the blinds down) there would be enough room and privacy for a full change of clothes and (with some kind of big basin to catch the water) maybe a rinse of hair.
However, especially if there are two people who are going to sleep in
it, there’s not going to be much storage space once the seats are
folded down. If it were me, I’d put all my stuff in big plastic bins
that I could leave next to the car at night. No one at campgrounds or
RV parks is going to steal that kind of stuff.
For more room, a cargo trailer of some sort could be added. That
would allow longer trips, since there would be more storage space. If
it were large enough, it could serve as a place for cooking (with a
hot plate, slow cooker and refrigerator) and maybe eating/working.
Maybe even a chemical toilet. I would think certainly you could do a
sponge bath, if it were tall enough to stand in.
A different addition would be a 13’ Scamp or Casita fiberglass camping
trailer. Both Honda and Casita/Scamp say that this car is a little
too small to be supposed to pull these trailers, but lots of people on
the fiberglass RV web sites report doing it successfully. (I wouldn’t
be inclined to go real fast or real far in one day though.) Then you
could have a real bathroom (toilet and shower), a kitchen (gas stove,
refrigerator, sink), and some eating/working space. Plus a good bit
of storage space. (I’d personally still be inclined to sleep in the
car though. Fiberglass sucks up toxins like a sponge, and the trailer
would have lots of stuff in it that likely would be somewhat
contaminated. Keeping a car pristine is easier, and the beds in it
really are comfortable.)
Insofar as people need to buy a car anyway, this seems to me wholly
doable. The Element is about $22k new. Erik says he spent $3500 for his large cargo trailer. A new 13’ Casita/Scamp is (I think) about
$13k. (The 13’ models are rarely available used, but sleeping in the
car makes any factory contamination or MCS issues less of an issue.)
A 17’ Casita/Scamp still seems to me better for longer term living.
But for the vast majority of people, starting with the Element and
then (maybe eventually) adding on a trailer of some sort when needed seems like a much more doable strategy. Regardless of what else you do with it, it’s a pretty nice car.
My Toyota 4Runner is great also. I have a V8 and it pulls like a
dream. But it doesn’t work nearly as well on its own as an MECU (the
seats don’t turn into a bed and there’s not much headroom), and it’s
more expensive. If only the Element had a larger engine, I’d trade in
the 4Runner in a heartbeat.
-Lisa (2010)
*
Several of my guides use these vehicles, and have lived out of them
for months at a time on climbing and fishing expeditions.
Recommended!
-Jonathan Wright
*
Great idea for folks... we had one of these, they are wonderful
vehicles..
-Jackie
*
Somewhere, when I looked at the Element, someone has made a pop-up sleeper on the top of it. Looks bizarre, but if it had some potential as a mini-Meckyoo, could be worth it. But maybe the car and the cargo need to be separate?
lb
*
www.thedarienplan.com/2008/09/video-of-ecamper-in-action.html
This is a video on how the Ecamper for the Element works. Then it turns out that this lady and her husband went with this across the Americas and left behind a travel guide.
-lb
*
Wow the ecamper is awesome! too bad it's 4300 for the mod. Love the idea of a tent with a hard ceiling though.
-Joey
*
The eCamper is interesting. Offhand though, one of the things I liked
about the idea of sleeping in the Element is that I could reach over
in the middle of the night and turn on the heat when needed (if the
seats were folded down so that my head was near the steering wheel).
I wouldn't be able to do that if I were sleeping up on the roof.
I don't know how I'd feel about sleeping up on top of the roof like
that, in general. I'd like to see one.
It seems to me that it would be simpler just to get a small trailer to
carry around my stuff, and thus to have the back of the car as a
sleeping space.
A cool thing about the Element is that it has various accessories made
for it. The idea of having shades on the windows is fantastic. This
tent could be good too:
automobiles.honda.com/element/accessory-detail.aspx?Accessory=ELEME11038
*
The element could be a good place to start with, because just buying the vehicle that will do the towing is a lot to think about. If I got a "Wells Cargo" trailer to tote the basic stuff in, I might even feel downright modern.
-lb
*
*
Yesterday I took a look at a Honda Element, to see if it might help in
solving the MECU problem.
It's designed specifically for people who spend a lot of time outdoors
(camping, biking, etc.).
Here are some positive attributes:
1) The front and back seats fold back and join together into REAL
beds (one on each side of the car). They’re quite comfortable too -
good support/padding, long/wide enough even for larger people.
All you have to do is take the headrest off the front seats. It takes
literally 30 seconds. There are two separate seats in front and and
two in back, so you can end up with a bed for one person or two beds
for two people.
2) If you lie on the bed with your head at the front of the car, you
can reach over and turn on the ignition, thus supplying heat even in
the middle of the night.
3) The floors and walls are vinyl and 100% washable. You could use a mop or even a garden hose. The seats are cloth, but water resistant so sponge cleaning would be possible.
4) There is a lot of headroom. It does not feel claustrophobic even
for tall people.
5) Shades can be purchased for all of the windows, allowing privacy.
6) Various seating configurations are possible. For instance, you
could take out one of the back seats and end up with one seat/bed and more storage space.
7) Because it’s almost all vinyl rather than carpet, it didn’t feel
like the “new car smell” was as bad as most cars. (Though granted, my MCS is just about all gone now so I’m not a good person to judge.)
I think all by itself, this would make a great "starter MECU." It would work really well for day trips or short camping trips, for one
or two people. Since it’s a car, it could be parked anywhere (e.g. on
the street or at an RV park).
It’s not perfect for decontamination purposes, but (with one of the rear seats folded back and the blinds down) there would be enough room and privacy for a full change of clothes and (with some kind of big basin to catch the water) maybe a rinse of hair.
However, especially if there are two people who are going to sleep in
it, there’s not going to be much storage space once the seats are
folded down. If it were me, I’d put all my stuff in big plastic bins
that I could leave next to the car at night. No one at campgrounds or
RV parks is going to steal that kind of stuff.
For more room, a cargo trailer of some sort could be added. That
would allow longer trips, since there would be more storage space. If
it were large enough, it could serve as a place for cooking (with a
hot plate, slow cooker and refrigerator) and maybe eating/working.
Maybe even a chemical toilet. I would think certainly you could do a
sponge bath, if it were tall enough to stand in.
A different addition would be a 13’ Scamp or Casita fiberglass camping
trailer. Both Honda and Casita/Scamp say that this car is a little
too small to be supposed to pull these trailers, but lots of people on
the fiberglass RV web sites report doing it successfully. (I wouldn’t
be inclined to go real fast or real far in one day though.) Then you
could have a real bathroom (toilet and shower), a kitchen (gas stove,
refrigerator, sink), and some eating/working space. Plus a good bit
of storage space. (I’d personally still be inclined to sleep in the
car though. Fiberglass sucks up toxins like a sponge, and the trailer
would have lots of stuff in it that likely would be somewhat
contaminated. Keeping a car pristine is easier, and the beds in it
really are comfortable.)
Insofar as people need to buy a car anyway, this seems to me wholly
doable. The Element is about $22k new. Erik says he spent $3500 for his large cargo trailer. A new 13’ Casita/Scamp is (I think) about
$13k. (The 13’ models are rarely available used, but sleeping in the
car makes any factory contamination or MCS issues less of an issue.)
A 17’ Casita/Scamp still seems to me better for longer term living.
But for the vast majority of people, starting with the Element and
then (maybe eventually) adding on a trailer of some sort when needed seems like a much more doable strategy. Regardless of what else you do with it, it’s a pretty nice car.
My Toyota 4Runner is great also. I have a V8 and it pulls like a
dream. But it doesn’t work nearly as well on its own as an MECU (the
seats don’t turn into a bed and there’s not much headroom), and it’s
more expensive. If only the Element had a larger engine, I’d trade in
the 4Runner in a heartbeat.
-Lisa (2010)
*
Several of my guides use these vehicles, and have lived out of them
for months at a time on climbing and fishing expeditions.
Recommended!
-Jonathan Wright
*
Great idea for folks... we had one of these, they are wonderful
vehicles..
-Jackie
*
Somewhere, when I looked at the Element, someone has made a pop-up sleeper on the top of it. Looks bizarre, but if it had some potential as a mini-Meckyoo, could be worth it. But maybe the car and the cargo need to be separate?
lb
*
www.thedarienplan.com/2008/09/video-of-ecamper-in-action.html
This is a video on how the Ecamper for the Element works. Then it turns out that this lady and her husband went with this across the Americas and left behind a travel guide.
-lb
*
Wow the ecamper is awesome! too bad it's 4300 for the mod. Love the idea of a tent with a hard ceiling though.
-Joey
*
The eCamper is interesting. Offhand though, one of the things I liked
about the idea of sleeping in the Element is that I could reach over
in the middle of the night and turn on the heat when needed (if the
seats were folded down so that my head was near the steering wheel).
I wouldn't be able to do that if I were sleeping up on the roof.
I don't know how I'd feel about sleeping up on top of the roof like
that, in general. I'd like to see one.
It seems to me that it would be simpler just to get a small trailer to
carry around my stuff, and thus to have the back of the car as a
sleeping space.
A cool thing about the Element is that it has various accessories made
for it. The idea of having shades on the windows is fantastic. This
tent could be good too:
automobiles.honda.com/element/accessory-detail.aspx?Accessory=ELEME11038
*
The element could be a good place to start with, because just buying the vehicle that will do the towing is a lot to think about. If I got a "Wells Cargo" trailer to tote the basic stuff in, I might even feel downright modern.
-lb
*