Before there was #vanlife, there was Honda Element life. The #hotelement was our first taste of being on the road and sleeping wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted. It came about, as so many things do, after a life-changing loss. Joe’s dad passed away in 2017. We had been saving our pennies and planning to temporarily relocate in order to help his parents through his dad’s illness, but it wasn’t meant to be. He passed more quickly than anticipated and we were left with time off and savings for a plan that never came to fruition.

I had only camped one day in my entire life at that point, but I suggested to Joe that we build a camper and take some time off. Let’s recreate that first conversation:

Kim: “You know, we could build a bed in my car and drive around the country for a month or so. The dogs could come.”

Joe: “No.”

I had plenty of dirty hippie and/or rock climbing friends that travelled in vans, although at that point #vanlife wasn’t the Instagram sensation that it is today. We didn’t have the money for an actual van, nor any idea of whether we would love or hate it. I was ready to let the idea go when Joe began to warm up to it.

In a matter of a week, we had done all of the research and building we were going to do – we had a functional micro-camper and we hit the road.

This trip was the spark that began our journey – we certainly wouldn’t be here without having built the #hotelement first.

Joe’s father was a journalist, he spent a large part of his life either writing or teaching about writing. Joe’s mother is a writer as well. The two kept a blog called 2roadsdiverged, where they would share their different perspectives about trips they took together. As Joe and I built and travelled in the #hotelement, we shared our journey on their blog. We never intended for anyone other than family and friends to read it. However, if you’re thinking about building out a smaller vehicle (especially if your smaller vehicle is a Honda Element) here’s an excerpt from our 2017 blog on how we did it:

So you want to turn your Honda Element into a #hotelement?

Well, you’ve come to the right place. Read on for a handy-dandy guide, complete with photos! This post will have a lot of details, so Kim (purple text) and Joe (green text) will be working on it together. Our hope is that if anyone is wild enough to try this, all of our research will be in one spot (you’re welcome, hippie). Should any of the following text be confusing, we’ve linked two video tours of our Element at the end of the post. Two things to note:

All of this is merely suggestion, it’s what’s worked for us.

This stuff is EXPENSIVE. We hit up a lot of sales (including a perfectly timed REI Garage Sale for a cheap Thule) and did a ton of bargain shopping. We don’t suggest you pay full price for almost anything on the gear list.

With that said, let’s get started!

K: Step one! Know a bunch of dirty hippies or rock climbers. They love this stuff and will be your most valuable resource. Don’t know any? Start eating Non-GMO/organic, drinking kombucha, and using essential oils. Hit up a drum circle. You’ll be on your way in no time.

J: My step one was to figure out where I was going to build our #hotelement. I chose my garage. Step two was to remove all non-essential equipment from the space. I skipped this step and made a giant mess, which will be waiting for me when we get back home.

Phase 1: Research

K: OK for serious – I started this project with a ton of research. Well, as much research as I could get done on the clock while at work. Pintrest and Google searches were helpful in narrowing down the type of build we wanted to do. YouTube tours were my holy grail.

Phase 1 Summary:

• For our build, we made the following overall decisions:
  • Full bed: driver and passenger seats would lie flat to accommodate tall person. Back seats would be removed.
  • Roof cargo would be necessary.
  • Bed platform would have to be tall enough to fit all kitchen and guitar cargo underneath.
  • Window treatments: blackout panels, Reflectix, and mosquito netting all would be priorities.
  • We would have to buy a ton of stuff…we don’t camp.

Phase 2: Build

K: I highly recommend you marry a carpenter that owns both a table saw and a chop saw.

J: As a carpenter, when I design something like this I tend to start by looking at specific challenges I’ll face.

K: I’ve been told I think catastrophically, so this is me in my element (HA IN MY ELEMENT). What if we get a flat? What if we get into an accident? What about clothes for the memorials? HOW DO I CHARGE MY PHONE? We had a lot of topics to address.

J: Let’s start with the bed. It consists of two main components – understructure and bed platform. I used 3/4” ply for everything. Understructure started with a box running crosswise.

This box is not flexible or hinged, it’s secured with ratchet straps to the backseat floor anchors. From this box, all other supports are hinged. This way we can easily access the spare tire. I based the storage compartment measurements off what we planned on storing (guitar, books, water jugs), but these compartments can be any size.

K: Height of the bed platform was also determined by our storage underneath – specifically, the guitar and the stove. Our platform is 15” overall, with 14 ¼” clearance underneath.

J: The bed platform (top) has two pieces – one piece that is secured and unmovable (attached to the box) and a second piece that is hinged to both the other top piece (piano hinge) and the structure below (loose pin hinges). To secure the hinged portions and eliminate road noise, bungees attach the bed platform to the two rear tie-downs. I painted all of the structure and put cheap outdoor grill matting on the top of the platform to protect our mattress.

K: Structure built! High five! Extra points if you color match the bed structure paint to your car trim…which Joe did. I hear that Ikea has mattresses which exactly fit the width of an Element. We found that our futon mattress did as well, and saved money by using what we already had. Ikea was our Plan B.

J: We were left with empty space between the guitar and the bed platform. I installed two drawers for kitchen utensils and dishes to utilize the space.

K: We tried to keep the rest of our kitchen supplies near the back of the car so cooking would be convenient. We ended up storing our clothes and packs towards the interior, with our food/cooler/stove/dog food to the rear.

J: Let’s talk storage. Our biggest challenge was transporting our clothes for my dad’s memorials.

K: We discussed several options, and decided we couldn’t properly transport formal clothes without some type of rooftop cargo box. This space has proved invaluable. Initially purchased specifically for our suit/dress/shoes, it’s become home to our cold weather gear, extra dog food, and a catch all for rarely needed supplies (tool box, extra Reflectix, portable dog crate etc.).

One of our hippie van dwelling advisors (thank you, Karolina) suggested cargo netting for the interior of the Element as well. We purchased two bicycle cargo nets and used sash cord to rig them to the interior roof. The nets reach from the rear of the car to just behind the front seats. We’ve found this space to be most useful holding our bath towels, pajamas, and basically anything you’d need going to bed or waking up. Also great for keeping paper towels easily accessible.

J: I found the door storage pockets convenient for human and dog toiletries.

K: One of our biggest and continued challenges was/are the windows. We experimented with several options for blackout panels and mosquito netting. I’ll cut to the chase – Reflectix was by far the fastest and most effective way to block the windows. We started out with black duvetene around the Reflectix. It was fabulous – total blackout, basically no gaps. And then we slept in the car for the first time and realized how heavily duvetene is fire treated.

J: There was a smell issue.

K: I was able to sleep about two hours before it made me sick. The covers we had so lovingly sewn were torn up and thrown away not even halfway into our first night. Perfect blackout product, completely unusable. We haven’t worked on a better blackout solution yet.

Mosquito netting was one of the items we ran out of time for. We purchased several cheap dollar store mosquito nets and cut them to window size with about 2” of excess on all sides. When we want to sleep with the windows open, we throw the netting up with some magnets. Each net is stored in each door’s storage pocket. There are definitely better solutions for this, but we haven’t had time to find them.

J: Once we figured out how to blackout the car, we had to figure out how to light it.

K: I had two runs of battery operated LED wire string lights that I had purchased for my office at Christmas. I zip-tied the battery packs to the “oh shit handles” over the rear seats. The lights wound to the rear roof tie downs and back to the driver/passenger “oh shit handles.” BOOM! Done. It was enough light and we each had a string for our own side of the car. It was probably the fastest project undertaken on this build.

J: Fans and a power supply turned out to be total necessities. We found a fan that could be powered by both battery and USB. One has worked for us, but two would have been better. We also purchased a GoalZero Yeti 150 power supply to charge our phones and laptop on days we don’t drive.

K: This power supply is awesome because you can charge it with 110V (normal outlet in your house), 12V (cigarette lighter), or add a solar panel. In theory, this is the perfect solution for our power needs. However, it’s brand new and doesn’t seem to be keeping a charge very well. Further investigation into this will happen when we get home. 2021 UPDATE – the unit was replaced because it wouldn’t keep a charge and worked great for a year or so. At some point after that, it melted down while charging. This filled our house with a chemical smell so bad that we called the gas company. They were the ones that found the source of the smell, by that point the unit was overheating and bulging. We got it out of the house ASAP and haven’t gotten another product from them since.

Phase 2 Summary:

Make sure your bed structure is flexible enough you can access your spare tire, and secure enough that it won’t go anywhere in case of an accident. We based our entire build off our cargo needs. Various window coverings are a must. A power supply isn’t necessary, but sure is (should be) awesome.

Phase 3: Gear List

We only recommend products we use ourselves and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links from which, at no additional cost to you, we may earn a small commission:

Kitchen:

• Stove – Coleman Classic Propane Stove (2 burner)

• Cooler – Stanley Adventure Cooler, 16Qt

• Water storage – WaterBrick 3.5 gallon (with spigot)

• Dog food – OXO Good Grip POP Containers

• Various bins, dishes, cookware, and kitchen utensils – either previously owned or purchased to fit our drawer size

Bed:

• Grill matting – a cheap version, available at any hardware store

• Mattress – standard futon size with washable cover (we already owned one)

• Sleeping bags – Kim: evrgrn Crash Sack Joe: Deluxe XL Warm Weather

• Previously owned sheets, pillows, one heavy blanket

Storage:

• Roof – our Tuhle came from an REI garage sale. It doesn’t look like it’s available, but this one is similar Tuhle Force XT (Large)

• Interior ceiling – Topeak bicycle cargo net (2)

Electronics:

• Power supply – GoalZero Yeti 150 Power Station *2021 UPDATE from above: ours failed while charging – was hot and bulging when we finally found it. It was a great product for about a year, but we wouldn’t recommend it.

• Fan – Honeywell Turbo On the Go Fan

• Lighting – Cheap Walgreens battery operated LED strings

Windows:

• Windshield – ACE Hardware Solar Shield reflective mylar sun shade

• All other windows – Combo of Reflectix and black fabric

• Windows capable of opening – dollar store mosquito netting

Safety:

• Fire Extinguisher – First Alert Rechargeable

• Carbon Monoxide detector – Kidde Battery Operated

• First Aid Kit – Sportsman Series Big Horn Medical Kit

Misc:

• Chairs – Joe: Moon Lence Outdoor Ultralight Camp Chair Kim: Compaclite Oversize Folding Chair

• Bath Towels – Gaiam Microfiber Yoga Towels

• Dog Crate – Nature’s Miracle 26” Port-A-Crate

• Tool Kit – made from our own tools, including screwgun, pliers, multi bit screwdriver, channel locks, electrician’s scissors, mat knife, super glue, assorted bed hardware, webbing, carabiners

Phase 3 Summary:

Buy whatever it is you think you need, these are just the items that worked for us. We feel that we’re using everything we have and that we are not missing anything major.

Our #hotelement video tours

Sleep Mode:

Drive Mode:

Final thoughts

K: I did the majority of the research, and Joe did the majority of the building. He did an amazing job and will be accepting future offers for Honda Element conversion work (ha). I’d recommend giving yourself more than 4-5 days to do a project of this size. We probably wouldn’t have needed the Thule if we didn’t have the guitar and formal clothes, so look for it on a Craigslist near you soon. A 45° sleeping bag is surprisingly warm (good to 28° so far) with one Yorkie added. Overall, the build was pretty fun – I got to exercise skills I haven’t used in 15 years (turns out, I do remember how to thread a bobbin). Our Element has been super comfortable, I’d call our build a success…just don’t ask me about going to my first REI Garage Sale.

J: This type of construction and problem solving plays to my strengths. I got that from both of my grandfathers. I took over the construction of any prefab furniture at the age of 12. My father had almost endless patience, but it was no match for cheap pressboard and allen wrenches. I have a great appreciation for the efficiency required for a trip like this to happen. There isn’t much room for clutter. Just about everything must have a place and it must be in that place. Now I just need to spread that into my garage…

Any questions about our #hotelement build? Are you planning on building out an awesome Honda Element micro-camper? Let us know in the comments!

~ Until next time, The MLVL