Tested: Sleeping in the Bed Vault

[Cybergirl]

I had a chance to do a real life test of sleeping in the vault this weekend at the Tesla Summer Meetup in Muskegon, MI. The temperatures were not particularly warm Saturday night, so I thought my simple vault vent insert panel would provide sufficient ventilation for a comfortable night's sleep as it has when overnight temperatures dropped down to the 40s and 50s (Fahrenheit) on previous camping trips.

Not true. With outside air temperature near 70F after midnight, the temperature inside the vault increased to an uncomfortable level due to the body heat of two people along with increased humidity. Lesson: Even in modest summer temperatures active ventilation is needed to sleep in the closed vault.

The next night I used the BougeRV A/C to provide forced ventilation. I set the thermostat to 74F and ran it at the lowest fan speed. It controlled the vault temperature perfectly. The sound of the unit was not an issue for me, but my companion found the on/off sound of the compressor relay somewhat distracting.

The loose connection of the short white 4" air intake at the Lexan support panel allowed fresh air to mix with vault air. There was no issue with humidity, and quite a lot of water drained from the unit overnight.

I powered the unit from the campground electric service pedestal, because the vault outlets are inactive when the CT is being charged so I don't know how much battery energy would have been consumed. My previous testing showed a power draw of about 150W. The unit can be used for air exchange only (no cooling). I don't use it for heating the vault in cold overnight temperatures, preferring the use of an electric blanket.

I like to park the rear of the truck under a 10' x 10' canopy for shelter, and privacy. A thunderstorm with heavy rain occurred Sunday afternoon. Afterward, I found the vault to be perfectly dry even with rain draining onto the tonneau cover from the sun roof.

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[GatorCyber]

kind of like an early coffin. I prefer hotels

 

[Outdoors]

How long does it take to set up, and do you leave all the stuff there if you need to leave?
Also do you bring the spare tire you bought as well?

 

[Cybergirl]

How long does it take to set up, and do you leave all the stuff there if you need to leave?
Also do you bring the spare tire you bought as well?

Thanks for the questions . . .

Setting up the canopy takes 10 minutes. I use 2 10 lb weights on each corner to hold it down. Works well and is faster than staking/guy-wiring, especially on hard desert ground. Attaching the wall panels takes about 5 minutes each. Like most things, it gets easier and faster with experience.

We leave the air mattresses and bedding in the vault during the day. I've had no problem with water intrusion into the vault. Most things are left at camp when we leave for any reason. I've never had a problem with theft, but I still run a security cable through the camp kitchen, propane tank to keep them from walking off.

I only expect to bring the spare on off-road trips where getting an unrepairable flat and calling for a tow would be rather inconvenient, not to mention expensive. That spare is gigantic and weighs 96 lbs. Transporting in the vault is not practical in most cases when boondocking off road. I plan to install a rack half over the sunroof and half over the vault to carry the spare. Something like this:

 

[Cybergirl]

kind of like an early coffin. I prefer hotels

It's much roomier than a coffin, but suit yourself.

 

[pricedm]

It's much roomier than a coffin, but suit yourself.

Agree. After sleeping in my Model 3 and Model Y, the Cybertruck vault will be spacious.

Thanks to everyone renting my ski area condo while I sleep in my Tesla and count $$$ instead of sheep to fall asleep

 

[Cybergirl]

I think that having the back end of the truck under the 3-sided canopy didn't help the ventilation either. Previously, the truck was parked in the open so that air was free to flow into the vault through the vent slits.

 

[TWRAPS]

Perhaps a mod of the rear window to make it open/close would be a better way to handle temperature control in the vault. Not sure it exists yet though.

 

[Cybergirl]

Perhaps a mod of the rear window to make it open/close would be a better way to handle temperature control in the vault. Not sure it exists yet though.

I'm not aware of an after market rear window replacement that opens. I'm sure it would help, particularly if a fan was mounted to push conditioned cabin air into the vault. One could activate Camping Mode to warm/cool the cabin air and circulate it into the vault.
The disadvantage is that you're then conditioning a larger space which would increase overnight battery discharge.

I looked into what it would take to remove the rear window. It's mounted to the rear cabin steel structure with a strong adhesive. It doesn't look like an easy install so the work would have to be done by a trained tech. There's also the risk of legal liability if there's no way to prevent the tonneau from opening/closing when the window is open increasing the complexity of the accessory. The tonneau exerts considerable force before reversing direction when in strikes an obstacle which is probably by design to handle ice and snow in the tracks.

 

[Macgyverfever]

This is why I won't be buying a cybertent - your setup is the direction we need to be going in with this truck when camping in it imo; this has huge potential. Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[Woodrick]

I think that having the back end of the truck under the 3-sided canopy didn't help the ventilation either. Previously, the truck was parked in the open so that air was free to flow into the vault through the vent slits.

What about leave the tonneau cover open and using cloth/canvas or something that you can pull back and forth?
Being able to look up at the sky is awfully nice.

 

[Cybergirl]

What about leave the tonneau cover open and using cloth/canvas or something that you can pull back and forth?
Being able to look up at the sky is awfully nice.

I've thought of that, and it's an option when weather is favorable and mosquitoes aren't a problem. I like the security that a closed tonneau cover provides, especially in remote off-road areas and bear country. There's also the stealth benefit of a closed tonneau.

 

[DaBagBoy]

I've thought of that, and it's an option when weather is favorable and mosquitoes aren't a problem. I like the security that a closed tonneau cover provides, especially in remote off-road areas and bear country. There's also the stealth benefit of a closed tonneau.

Hey Cybergirl, Bummed I didn't get a chance to meet up with you on Saturday....my truck was the last to get back there at about 9p so we were on the far left of the video



I'd wondered about using that truck bed as a real bed for some time.....just wish it was easier to get A/C and heat from the cabin / camp mode!

 

[rizvend]

It's much roomier than a coffin, but suit yourself.

With the prices of coffins nowadays at Costco, this might be a good utilitarian alternative. Just add solar panels and give your loved ones mobile access for piped in music.

 

[aeroguy]

Interesting ideas here... not sure about the coffin option, but we have tried camping in the bed first and now cybertent. Found both were great for different reasons and both could use some improvements.

Bed Camping: biggest down side was not being able to keep supplies in the bed every night when we setup camp (daily over a 4-day weekend trip). If we do that again, I’d build a simple plywood shelf on the side rails so you have tons of room under the sleeping area. Of course, you couldn’t sleep with the tonneau cover closed. We didn’t have to worry about bears, having some friendly horses to stand watch, so we just used a tarp and a couple of tent poles to shield against the thunderstorms that happened by that weekend. We had to protect the tarp against the sharp roof peak with a couple of towels, then tie off the corners to the wheels and/or stakes.

We are very interested in adding a duct of some sort from the cab to the bed. We usually leave the pups in the back seat with the AC on all night in camp mode, so it wouldn’t really change much in terms of overnight battery usage to also duct a bit of air to the bed or cybertent. We took out the back seats a while back so i think it’s actually going to be pretty easy just routing a small air duct below the area where the tonneau cover rolls up into. If you then cover up the two can exhaust vents (which are exposed when you remove the back seats), all the exhaust air would be forced through this new duct, so i think it’d provide pretty great cooling.

Another helpful trick we learned, if you want to level the truck using tent mode but then close the tonneau cover: set tent mode, then select jack mode, then exit tent mode. This freezes the suspension in its leveled state.

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