Lola wrote:Nope, nope, and a TENT???
I can understand why you don't think your girls are not ready to sleep on their own yet now that I know their ages. Not sure why you find a tent so surprising in itself. I'm moving away from tents not so much because they're so much effort to set up (they're not) but simply because a mattress is more comfortable and we often camp without the kids, so we don't want a bigger setup. We had the popup when we had 5 kids living at home and do not miss it...although the couple we gave it to are loving it with their 3 kids that mama doesn't want out of her sight. My kids sleep in tents now, or the back of the truck...actually, in jungle hammocks since that is what we tend to use - see
http://www.hennesseyhammock.com .
You might also try leaning the front car seats back and using them as beds for the girls once they're old enough for you to feel comfortable with them not in the camper...but I'd still chock the wheels just to make sure. If the child seats are in the way, they might be placed in the trunk or the galley of the TD or even the roof of the car if you have a piece of plastic to put over them .
Check out the VW hammocks that came in the campers...they attached crossways to brackets on the walls. Seems something like that might work until they got big enough to sleep in a tent of their own and could be removed when not needed. You might even be able to do something similar inside the car with ropes or ratchet/canoe straps. Of course, as suggested, you could always custom-design your TD...maybe give up something now for space for the girls (bottom kitchen cabinets perhaps) then add that back in once they move out into a tent. I know I plan to make my cabinets removable (not for that reason) but you might consider that, then move what you need to out to make their bed crosswise.
See the thread on slide-outs to see what I mean. I might have to do something like this myself when the grandkids start camping with us...once we have grandkids that is
The Scamp isn't such a bad camper either if your car can pull it (it's a bit heavier than a teardrop); I was looking at getting one of those when I found teardrops and dropped the idea of a scamp like a hot potato. The idea of a real mattress and not trying to squeeze inside or sit at a dollhouse-sized table just appealed to me...plus the fact that my wife's planned new car still can't pull it but it can pull a TD.
Nah. They're almost 2 and almost 5. The back seat of the car is solid carseats. Since they are small, though, they probably can squish in a smaller space than a regular human, and then when they don't fit anymore, could be booted to a tent.
Of course, if I'm going through the effort of setting up a tent, we probably all would get in it. I don't mind tents all that much. Maybe I just need a chuckwagon?
