Camping in a Car? That is crazy?! Well not really! Stay with me!
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| Yossarian in Powalgarh Forest |
Despite some hiccups and atleast one scary incident on the return, That first time went exceedingly well! Day 1 did an extreme long haul Pune to Chittorgarh - ~1100 kms via Mumbai. Began driving again at 4am on Day 2 and did another long haul via Sawai Madhopur to Powalgarh which I reached only by 9pm! It was January so it wasn't hot at all - quite the opposite!
I spent the next 12 days in the Powalgarh Forest. 9 days were in various Forest Guest Houses provided to Census volunteers but I managed to wiggle permissions for car camping in the Jungle for 3 days. My first night jungle camping, I was visited by a herd of elephants and a curious leopard while I was sleeping inside. The Elephants kept their distance but the leopard did get a little too close! I was spooked for sure, but after that experience, I
was completely hooked on the idea! 😀
The Maruti Gypsy, which is essentially a stretched Suzuki Samurai with a 12" overhang, is a total Goat off the road but is a total b**** on the road! Bouncy and without any creature comforts, It is not really meant for long haul Highway touring! I had bought a Soft Top Gypsy because intent back then was mainly for Jungle Trips rather than long haul over landing. The Gypsy is certainly NOT an ideal platform for car camping! However I was totally hooked on the idea of Car Camping after this first trip and so I would have to make do with what I had!
I did consider buying a Van and building that up. Very nearly purchased a 2nd hand Mahindra Voyager (unlicensed copy of the Mitsubishi Delica L300)! But it would be an added expense and plus I had no parking space at my apartment for a 2nd car! So I would have to make do with modifying the Gypsy!
The Gypsy Camper was an incremental project – Learnt from each trip and implemented the changes to make it better for the next trip! The first lesson came on Day 1 of camping in the Jungle in Powalgarh - the encounter with the Leopard! That sawing call of the Indian Leopard ringing in my ears was a reminder that I was dangerously exposed under that flimsy canvas top! That was easily fixed! A generous Forest Official donated a spare unused FRP Hard Top which I fitted out on the way back. Throughout the drive back to Pune, I was dreaming of the modifications I would need to turn my daily ride Gypsy into an over landing vehicle capable of doing Ladakh as well as short weekend Jungle camping trips around Bangalore.
Camper v1.0
Decided to take Yossarian for the 2008 annual Himalayan Odyssey - a 32 day, 3200 mile round trip to Ladakh in the Himalayas. Setup for this trip was basic! Removed and Sold off the rear side-facing seats to get a bare rear platform. 1 large backpacking bag to hold my all my clothes and cardboard boxes containing food & supplies for the trip. At night, pulled the driver seat all the way forward, moved all the stuff into the front seats and laid out a thick blanket on the floor in the rear to sleep! Only had a pathetic 12V DC powered Car Kettle so Food on this trip was restricted to Cereals/Oats for Breakfast and MTR ready to eat meal packets for dinner. Lunch during the day was either at a local Tent Dhaba of the kind you sometimes find in Ladakh or Snacks from my stores. Very Basic setup, but it Worked!
Took the Spiti Route to Ladakh in 2008. Night halts in Chittorgarh (Rajasthan) and Ropar (Punjab) were beside a Dhaba. But once in the mountains, I was camping beside a Fresh water source like a River or stream. My first night camping in the Himalayas was at a place called Thagse, enroute to Spiti Valley. Camped out in the car for 23 of the 32 days on this trip. The only place I stayed in a Hotel was in Leh Town. Ton of fun and saved a lot of money!
That first over landing trip was a huge learning experience! First lesson - It got really stuffy sleeping inside the cabin at night! Cracking the window helped improve the circulation but created other problems. The Gypsy cabin has ZERO weather insulation! It was way too hot in the plains (dry heat) and way too cold in the mountains! Plus it got really dusty inside the poorly sealed hard top of the Gypsy! Time for a serious upgrade!
Camper v2.0
Version 2.0 was the biggest upgrade! Summary of changes made in v2.
- Completely upgraded the Electrical System with Dual Battery, Inverter and Vent Fans.
- More durable Storage Solution.
- Creature comforts like a Steering Wheel mounted Table, Cabin lighting and Ceiling mounted 22" TFT TV for entertainment - all sourced from Amazon/Ebay.
- Cabin & Window Insulation greatly improving comfort for Sleeping at night.
The project suffered from what we call "Scope Creep" in Project Management! What started as a Dual Battery upgrade project to enable fitting Vent fans grew & grew in scope! So instead of heading out Jungle Camping every weekend like we usually did, my off-roading gang met up every week to help me with the Build! We all had full time jobs so this took way too long! So much so that in 2009, I had to take my Bullet motorcyle for the annual Ladakh trip! Camper 2.0 build was finally completed only in Nov 2009!
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| Prepping cabin for the Cabin build |
2008 trip had taught me the need to have some kind of venting in the cabin for air circulation which would make Sleeping inside comfortable. The Vent Fan would have to run through the night. However the Vent Fan we found online would require cutting a 12×12 inch hole in the FRP roof which I was hesitant to do. "M" came up with the idea of using Electric fans used in Gaming Computer builds. These are not regular Computer Fans – Gaming Fans have a higher CFM value of 90+ and are really silent! They also have 3 pins so theoretically can be controlled by an Arduino/Raspberry-Pi based controller. I never got around to actually build the controller and connected the fans directly but it is Possible to do it!
Much more expensive though – regular computer fans come for 30-60 Rupees. Good Gaming Computer Fans start from Rs.600! EACH! I bought 6 of them and fitted them in between the Fiber sandwich walls of the Hard Top – 4 in the rear(2 suck-in + 2 exhaust) and 2 on the B-pillar for cross circulation - all controlled by a single switch on the B-pillar.
Before fitting the fans, also sealed up the cabin to the best
of my ability! Glued 2 layers of insulation material, High Density Foam + 3M insulation sheets on floor, walls & roof. A 3rd layer of Rubber on the floor and Cloth on the roof & walls. "M" helped – a little! His wife made 4 insulation covers using 3M sheet covered with some kind of Nylon material used to make all-weather tents for covering the Glass Windows and the Front windshield at night. These could be mounted with magnets on the windows and not only provided privacy but also helped keep both Heat & Cold out! The Gypsy is a moving mini greenhouse with those giant glass windows - these covers helped a lot!
Next was adding the Vent Fans. How
do you run the Fans through the night without draining our battery? We needed a Dual Battery – one primary battery for the Car and a secondary camping
battery. The idea is to Run all the camping gear off the secondary
Battery. This way even if we exhaust the Secondary Battery while
camping, we will still be able to start & run the car off the primary!
The
original idea was to use an inverter battery for the secondary battery. However
I got a really good deal on the Car Batteries – So both Primary &
Secondary were regular “Amaron Green” brand 90ah batteries mounted on the Left and Right side under the bonnet.
For breakfast, used another trick suggested by "M" – Dry Poha! Make (dry) poha like usual but without onions and carry this in an airtight box. Take a bowl of this stuff, pour a little hot water, cover the bowl and 3 minutes later you have HOT poha! Healthy, nutritious and cheap! The MTR packets were only backup on this trip. Drinking water was from a 20L Can replenished at intervals on the way. Drinking water was a big challenge always and had to be carefully rationed!
BBQ idea
Bought a cheap "Cement gamla” of the kind used by construction workers and used that as a makeshift BBQ. The idea was to buy Chicken/Beef on the way and marinate it in a sealed plastic bag. In the evenings, light up a bit of charcoal in the gamla to BBQ the meat and that would be my dinner along with a stiff peg of Old Monk Rum! The test runs during Jungle Camping trips around Bangalore went somewhat ok - the Jeeper buddies who came along were experienced in that sort of thing.
Working the BBQ when I was solo in the freezing Himalayas however was another thing altogether! I had zero experience in BBQ-ing and the whole thing was a disaster! The first time I tried BBQ was at a place called Gue near Tabo in Spiti Valley on the 2010 Himalayan Odyssey. The meat did cook through but it had a distinct petrol stink!
My BBQ game got better over time though. Chicken is ok -quick to do but Beef we have to pressure cook the chunks first - takes time on this makeshift BBQ! Took years to get the hang of it! Never did BBQ on Ladakh trips after 2010 and BBQ was restricted to our weekend Jungle trips after that!😊
Storage & Bed
In
2008, the Cardboard boxes holding Groceries disintegrated by the time I
reached Leh, scattering their contents all over! So for v2 bought 10x plastic “Simtex” brand Ice boxes I got for
cheap from Karol Bagh in Delhi. Each of these boxes measured approx 12" H x 24" L x 18" W.
Bigger boxes were available, but the ones I chose, were perfectly sized to fit in the Gypsy cabin! 10 of these plastic boxes fit perfectly in a 4-2-4 layout in the rear cabin These boxes not only provided durable storage but also doubled up as a base for my mattress. Surprisingly good! I sold these 10 years later for more than what I had paid for it – they were still as good as new! Kept food insulated but also more importantly – everything was free of Dust! Cabin gets REALLY dusty driving in the Himalayas! It was also modular. I could remove boxes as I went along as long as I followed a sizing rule. For eg, when I bought the Dometic fridge, it replaced the Cooler Box immediately behind the Passenger seat allowing me to access the Fridge contents from the driver's seat. The Chuck Box replaced the 4 cooler boxes in the Tailgate area when it was ready.
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| v2 Layout |
I am 5' 11", so there was enough space for me to stretch out. Two people was more tricky especially since HE was 6' 4". But we could make it work! And to answer that other question in your mind - YES, we can do *stuff*!
Overall the v2 setup was a HUGE upgrade! Everything worked perfectly including the “Vent Fans”. The insulation also made sleeping inside more comfortable both in the Hot Plains and the Freezing Himalayas. Only problem was the BBQ setup. Kinda-sorta worked but setting it up and getting a fire going in the Himalayas in the evenings after a long, hard days drive was more of a challenge than I had imagined! Wood was not really an option so used charcoal. I had Zero experience with this so the meat always had a distinct petrol stink!
I also originally thought it would be nice to sit outside the Gyp in the evenings, do the BBQ and have my Rum+Meat watching the night sky! Bought a nice folding chair+table from Decathlon for this! Good idea in theory, not so much in Practice! Realized this the 1st time I tried to do this between Nako & Tabo in Spiti Valley. Day time temperature in the summer months is 10-20°C but after 7pm drops drastically down to Sub-Zero in many places! Also it gets really windy in many places like Spiti or Rhongo! I hadn't really thought this through! 😂 It gets freezing cold after 6pm and the freaky winds don’t help either! That didn’t quite work. So typically, I would park the Gyp and get into camping mode by turning the Gyp rear cabin into my bedroom, prepare my drink and food and have it inside either on the “Bed” in the rear cabin or on the Drivers seat with the Steering wheel table.
PS: Another important learning - When parking the car at the Camping place, ensure it is completely level and well secured. It should not place any undue stress on the gear box while parked. Learnt this lesson the Hard way! This can be more of a challenge in practice than it seems! But you got to be careful.
Camper v3.0
v3 Layout
v3 was more of an incremental upgrade to get real food on camping trips. Bought a 2 burner propane Gas Stove (Everest make). The stove was an impulse purchase on a US trip. "M" had an epiphany on seeing my latest purchase and used his DIY skills to build a Chuck Box to house it! The Chuck box was custom built in M’s garage to perfectly fit the stove and fit exactly on the rear tailgate of the Gypsy replacing 4 of the cooler boxes at the tailgate. When folded down, it served as one end of my bed. Had to cook with the Tailgate open. Bought a Frying pan and the smallest Pressure Cooker I could find and sourced a propane cartridge from Gurgaon. Another important learning – At altitudes above 8000ft ASL, it takes 15-20 minutes to just get water to a boil to make tea! So you absolutely need a pressure cooker to cook in the Himalayas!
Worked
PERFECTLY! Now I had real food on the road! Omelettes & Sourdough Toast for
breakfast. Dinner was Chicken Pulao if i managed to find some Chicken on that days drive or usually just Dal-Khichdi for dinner!
Supplies last in the mountains without refrigeration. Atleast I didn’t face any problem. Spinach & Leafy vegetables tended to wilt quickly at high altitudes. But
Carrots, Potatoes, French beans, Onions and Green Peas held out quite
well. I bought Sourdough bread in Simla and Leh Town and they lasted
for 3-4 days each time without any problem. Never put Bread in the Car Fridge if you have one - dries it out! Wrap it up in Paper instead. Eggs have to be stored
carefully though as the roads get pretty rough.
This v3 setup stayed for 8 years till the Gypsy was sold – 6 trips to Ladakh apart from numerous local weekend Jungle ghooming trips to Masinagudi, Kutta etc.
A minor change was the addition of a Dometic brand 35L 12v car fridge in 2012 which replaced one of the 4 storage boxes immediately behind the passenger seat! Fridge was a HUGE upgrade! Cant think of building a car camper without it now!
What would I change if I had to do it all over again?
Camper 4.0 – Gypsy to Toyota 4Runner
Gypsy
is not an option in North America! And I wouldn’t advise anyone buying
Gypsy or Jimny again even if it was available! There are much better
options out there! If i could go back and do this all over again, i would have probably bought a Mahindra Bolero SL as used that as the platform for the build. In 2024, Mahindra Bolero Neo and the Scorpio-N (Classic) could be the best platforms to do it today! Look for a Body-on-Frame type rather than Unibody car as the base since Ladder-Frame offers better rough roads abillity at the expense of on-road driving comfort even without 4WD. 4WD is good to have but not really essential for Ladakh unless you are planning on going REALLY hard core! And FYI - AWD is NOT 4WD! When I say 4WD i mean real 4WD with Low Range.
For North America, I would do this with a Ford Bronco
or Toyota 4Runner or Honda Passport as a platform.
Other upgrades?
– Roof Top Tent: Borrowed one for my last car-camping trip and loved the idea! Not very expensive, very well built and very compact when folded down. Major cons are the road noise at higher speeds and the changed dynamics with all the weight on the roof. The road handling on the Honda Passport especially is distinctly weird with a roof top mounted Tent so rethinking this approach. Plus sleeping inside the car is definitely safer than the RTT.
- another huge con of the RTT is that it is not really "stealth" anymore! The Gypsy could be parked anywhere and it wouldn't stand out at all! A car with a Roof mounted tent attracts attention!
– Chuck box idea in v3.0 was a stroke of genius! Worked perfectly! But every week when I went out Jungle camping, I would have to carry the heavy box down to the car - not easy when going solo!
So this time, Instead of making one large chuck box sized to fit the rear tailgate, I think I will build a permanently fitted box platform with Drawers of wheel well height in the rear tailgate area which will hold all the kitchen supplies and also serve as the base for the mattress. It would have a hinged fan fold thingamajig on the top which would open out over the folded down 2nd row and provide a flat surface from the tailgate to back of front seat - approx 76" x 44" total. Easy to switch between daily driver mode on Weekdays and Jungle Camper on weekends! 😊
One challenge with tailgate
cooking setup is that we have to cook with the rear tailgate open. Not a
worry normally, but this can be a challenge when camping in windy
conditions above 10K feet like in Ladakh. Though I never had a
problem, I was always paranoid about cooking in the tailgate area with the gas
tank so close by. The Gypsy gas tank was RIGHT there at the tailgate! Also our curry smells get into the cabin!
I saw a Wheel Table on a 4runner at a campsite in Canada which mounts over the rear wheels. It may be better to move the stove from the tailgate to the Wheel Table while cooking.
- The storage box/platform will also have space to fit a deep cycle inverter battery here instead of an AGM battery under the bonnet. Deep Cycle batteries are more efficient for Camping use than AGM batteries. But it is unsafe to mount these under the bonnet because of the heat issues which is why we use AGM batteries when mounting in bonnet. Making space for 1 or even 2x 100AH Deep Cycle batteries in the Cabin Floor at the Tailgate would make the setup more efficient.
- In the Gypsy Camper, i had connected the Secondary Battery to the Alternator using a $12 "Isolator Fuse". That worked reliably for over 8 years but there are more modern ways to do this same thing. More on this topic in a future post.
– 240V Inverter was NEVER used on the Gypsy! Orig idea behind adding it was to be able to work while traveling. In practice it was NEVER used! Not once! And it only added to the complexity of the wiring harness we built!
– Need to devise some better solution for Drinking Water management. Biggest challenge!
- The build in 2008-2009 took way too long! The build project suffered from classic scope creep so for almost 18 months, the Gyp was never used in the way it was meant to be used! No Jungle Ghooming trips at all! Wont be making that mistake again! Plan out the build and do it all at once and thats it! No more building and rebuilding business!
In Closing – Car Camping is a great fun idea! Just remember to be safe doing this in India. When in the plains, stick to car camping at highway side Dhabas/Restaurants like Kamat. Parking anywhere else at night could attract unwanted attention! I learnt this the hard way on 2 occasions - Guna in MP and Chamarajpet in the South.
In the mountains, It is a good idea to park next to a fresh water source so you dont have to use your drinking water supply to wash up. However, be very careful about doing this in the Himalayas. Water bodies in the Himalayas can suddenly change course without warning! Had a bad experience in Lhosar once and another time in Zanskar – got scarred for life with that! 😂
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| Yossarian at our "secret jungle hideout" on the Karnataka/Tamil Nadu border |
Drinking
Water management has been one of the biggest challenges when
car-camping for longer trips like a 3000 mile Ladakh round Trip. Might not seem so,
but it is harder than it looks! Something to fix in v4.0!
Glossary of Terms used
Dhaba - A dhaba is a very basic roadside restaurant in South Asia. They are usually found in plenty on highways and are very popular with long haul truckers serving the same role as Truck Stops in the US. Since many truckers are from the state of Punjab or Rajasthan, most Dhabas serve quintessentially Punjabi food including meat dishes. Most Rajasthani Dhabas OTOH tend to be Purely Vegetarian.
Jungle Ghooming - "Jungle ghooming" is a combination of the words "jungle" and "ghoom". "Jungle" is a typically British-Indian word referring to a wild area with dense vegetation, especially a tropical rain forest. "Ghoom" is an old-fashioned South Asian word that means to "wander around stealthily". eg. "I am planning to ghoom around Arapaho Forest next week".
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