The last big upgrade for my Honda Element was to build a bed platform to use for car camping. I worked on this a little bit at a time over about a month. I was inspired by designs from other people, but ended up just sketching out something that I thought would work for me.

I wanted it to be exactly the size of a twin mattress. Also wanted enough space for storage underneath, but not so much that I would feel cramped with limited space from my head to the roof. I got a trifold, 4-inch mattress on Amazon. The platform itself would be in two sections, with one section folding down over the front seats when set up as a bed.

First building the basic structure:

Not pictured, later I ended up adding little metal braces everywhere for more support. Screws alone did not hold the legs in well. It was too wobbly and would even come disconnected. In hindsight, I might’ve been too worried about minimizing weight. I used pretty thin pieces of wood, mostly pine.

I sanded everything, stained it, and added hinges:

Testing it in the car, fully extended and folded up:

I plan to do another coat of polyurethane later. By the time I was ready to use it, I felt like it was really only about 90% done. You can also see some screws poking out from the hinges, which I covered up with several layers of tape after these photos were taken.

Here’s the final bed set up, plus a shot inside at night from camping at the Davis Mountains State Park:

Overall, very happy with my little micro camper. I learned a lot during the first trip and there are some obvious things to improve for next time. I’ve collected the posts in this series in a category on my blog here.

Another upgrade I made to my car is to add the weBoost Drive Reach Overland antenna on top. It essentially takes whatever cell signal it can find and rebroadcasts it inside your car. The antenna can rise several feet over the top of the car, picking up distant signals that the iPhone’s built-in antenna can’t reach.

I knew I needed something like this after my trip to Colorado earlier this year. I still needed to work but I was sometimes without any cell coverage. Starlink would be great but it’s a pricey $150/month. The weBoost is just a one-time cost without an ongoing subscription.

I attached it to my roof rails, keeping it rotated so it’s parallel with the roof and turned off most of the time. It’s easy to flip it up when needed at a campsite. The wires are a little all over the place right now. I’m considering drilling a hole in the roof but not ready to make that leap yet.

It works as advertised. I first tested it in the city where I had 2 bars. I turned it on and right away had 4 bars. Out in the Davis Mountains, I had 0-1 bars and with the weBoost that jumped to a reliable 2 bars.

Of course, it’s not magic. If you are too far away from a cell tower, there’s nothing it can do. But I’m amazed by it. It’s a game-changer when you’re just a little too out in the middle of nowhere.

Between trying to sell our house, moving to a new place, and keeping up with actual work, I’ve managed to squeeze in some time here and there to work on my car. I recently put new OEM cross bars on it and our old rooftop box. The Element’s roof has a really nice design that makes this easy, with bolt holes under a little plastic panel.

Here are some photos:

I’ve also finished building the bed platform that’ll go in the back to make the car a micro-camper. That’ll be the next blog post in this series.

There are a bunch of things I want to add to my Honda Element to make it my own. I just finished the first upgrade: CarPlay. I didn’t really know what I was doing but somehow stumbled through it. It is a huge improvement compared to the 15-year-old factory radio.

Documentation online is a little inconsistent for this kind of upgrade. I wasn’t totally sure if the parts were correct until they arrived. In the end I used these:

• Sony XAVAX1000, 6.2-inch media receiver. Simple, clean design with an actual knob. I think it’s discontinued but Best Buy had one.
• Metra 70-7863, stereo wiring harness. With RCA cables that go to the Sony unit. Ordered the wrong kit at first, then found the right one at Custom Sounds in Austin instead of waiting for shipping.
• Metra 95-7863, plastic dash kit. I was honestly shocked when this arrived and it was the right shape. It was hard to tell from the online photos.

If you are reading this in the future to upgrade your own car, note that I have a 2008 Honda Element SC. I don’t know if these parts would work perfectly with earlier or later models, or the EX or LX trims.

First step, disconnect the negative on the battery. Finding the right socket wrench in our garage took nearly as long as anything else.

With a little plastic removal tool, I popped up the faceplate around the radio. After that it’s easy to unscrew the old unit and take it out.

I stripped the wires on the new Sony unit and connected them to the appropriate wires on the Metra wiring harness. I didn’t have any fancy wire connectors so just threaded them together, twisted them, and wrapped in electrical tape. I went very slowly and think it turned out fine.

Finally, all that was left was to install the unit. I screwed everything in and popped on the new plastic covering. Some of the original wires from the car weren’t used so they are just dangling hidden inside. Hopefully they weren’t too important!

I also fed the microphone wire down to the floor so it can attach on the dashboard or behind the steering wheel. Haven’t totally figured out the best place for it yet.

Very happy with this upgrade overall. I probably should’ve had a professional do it, but I learned a lot. My car feels like it belongs in this decade now.