Feel free to skip my introduction if you are not interested or don't need to feel relatable. I've included this just so other can see that we're not all peace loving hippies that live in vans. Also, I'm not a writer so my post might be painful to read through.

An Introduction

A little about myself; I'm 29 years old guy who is in rough shape. I'm 240lbs, sitting at only 5'10". Working on this daily through diet though. Unfortunately, I eat out nearly every day so I generally order about 400-800 calories worth of food a day and live off that. I also smoke, which not only makes my SUV smell like an ash tray, makes me looks a little more rough around the edges. I'm trying to get comfortable in my new living arrangements before I decide to quit.

I work as a remote project manager for an online based company for 4 years now. I'm eternally grateful for my ability to work from anywhere with an internet connection, but didn't realize this until about a year ago when I decided to make the jump to move into my 2007 Honda Element. Not having to pay rent has made my wage look MUCH larger in comparison than when I was paying bare minimum for a slum lord's quadplex apartment. Honestly, I was only paying 380 a month for a decent little quarter of a house. I was happy with it, until I found out about the black mold. I left a few months after that revelation.

Like I said above, I love to play video games. I've just recently picked Final Fantasy XIV up again. It's an MMORPG that has taken a little too much of my time. I've started to cut back, but it's just so rewarding. Before FFXIV I played a bunch of Rocket League and Borderlands 2. I used public Wi-Fi where ever I could. Mostly at Starbucks, but sometimes I'd roam around businesses and residential areas and see what Wi-Fi signals I could pick up. Not having a dedicated ISP as a gamer is a big deterrent to the lifestyle and I'm sure I'm not the only gamer that has ever wanted to move into their vehicle and live freely.

I departed from my rented apartment on the second of February, back in 2016. It was around 3am, and I just dumped all my Craigslist furniture I couldn't sale on the side of the road. I was exhausted from packing everything I wanted to keep in a few Rubbermaid totes, but very excited to be behind my steering wheel. I've never rented again since then.

Fast forward after I've traveled the states for about 8 months, I decided to come back to my home town for the winter. I had ideas. I had plans. I wanted to convert this SUV with a few bins of my personal items and the sleeping bag laying flat on the floor of my SUV into a luxury camper (sans bathroom unfortunately...)

My Ideas, My Plans, Our Goals

This section will outline my plans and guidelines on how I want to outfit my 2007 Honda Element. This section is the entire reason I'm making this post. Any input, be it good or bad, is appreciated.

My 2007 Honda Element

My goal is to outfit the area behind the front seats into a comfortable living area. This includes an elevated platform to sleep on, with ample storage. I'd like the bed to have some sort of functionality to be able to turn into a chair with back support. I have plans for these, but they are not finalized and are not currently functional. Optionally I'd love to have a sink with hand pumped water, but I'm not sure I'm up for that task.

How My Honda Evolved

Let's talk about my current setup. http://prntscr.com/e6l974 This is a screenshot of the design of my current bed in SketchUp. This bed was made in 3 segments to allow for easy relocation when I clean out my car every week or so. Each segment is about 1'8" x 2' x 6-1/2". That means I have about 6 feet to stretch out before my feet hang off the end. Once the bed is extended, the width is 2'5". This is more than comfortable to sleep on with a camping mat and a sleeping bag. It's very firm, but I love a firm bed. Unfortunately due to a design flaw in my drawing, the center console where the e-brake and cup holders are in my car, the back of the bed rests on top of the center console. I've remedied this by rotating the bed platform directly behind the passenger seat to the side to look like this: http://prntscr.com/e6ldqo As you can see, there is no functionality for using the bed as a chair with a backrest. Here is a photo of the bare frame without any bedding. http://prntscr.com/e6lked I later went through and added this plastic netting to the bottom of 2 of the sections like this: http://prntscr.com/e6ll03

I hate throwing out a perfectly working setup, but I've found I'd really like a seat in the back and I'd also like to remove the extending functionality of the bed to just keep it constantly extended to about 2 feet instead of having to slide them in and out as needed. I found myself sleeping on the narrow frame most often out of laziness.

Electricity and Me

So, here is where the "gaming" part comes in. To be able to play video games on a laptop, you need batteries. Batteries require a large chunk of space. Here I have 140AH of batteries in an elongated milk crate: http://prntscr.com/e6llgk . In addition to the batteries, I have an inverter and a solar charge controller. Both are larger items I've stored under the bed for now. I'm not happy with the batteries being out in the open and would love to have them under my bed, and in my latest mock-up I've added space for them. Thanks to this community, I have a much better understand of how all these components talk to one another. Here is my current electrical setup: https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/19Bx7qO_NtQdk5iwQS5SVhl36gB-AX3uu2sX0z__VL6c/edit?usp=sharing As a bonus picture, here is what 2 160 w panels look like on top of a Honda Element. http://prntscr.com/e6ls3t

My New Bed Design

http://prntscr.com/e6lplx Pictures are worth a thousand words, but unfortunately, this isn't a complete mock up. The part that hinges into a bed doesn't have any way to stay erect. The grey squares are the batteries. Here is another shot from the front corner: http://prntscr.com/e6lsxr The grey rectangle on the box to the right is the charge controller and the small dark grey box to the left of that is the inverter. The white box in the center is nothing really. I forgot to take it out... Each segment is about 2'2" x 1'9" x 7".

So what do you guys think? Have anything else to add to the design? Any comments or critique about my battery bank or bed frame? Any brilliant ideas on how to optimize my space even further?

TD;LR I talk about my motives, my bed design, my electrical setup, and my new bed design.^help