Since we're posting current camper vehicles, might as well let y'all see mine. Pulled the tools out of my work truck, and threw a quick platform and an old futon mattress in. Total cost so far is <$50, mostly for the purchase of the appropriately-sized storage totes and the 4x8 platform.
Gonna give it a test run with me and the two younglings (8&9y/o) for a couple days. If it works well, I'll take the setup on a longer camping/national parks trip.
I had a carpet kit in my old Ranger and it worked well as a sitting and sleeping area as well as space for storage. Especially for one person. My sister had the same for her small truck. The problem is head room. I'm 5'10" and found that it was very uncomfortable even sitting. A taller shell/topper would have been better. I generally slept in a fairly tall tent and just used it to sleep in occasionally or in bad weather or if I was somewhere I felt unsafe. The van was the same same set up but soooo much better.
Not my former truck but similar:
Thankfully, my canopy is about 3-4 inches taller than the cab, and that extra height is going to be invaluable. Ideally, another 12-18 inches of height would allow me to sit and change inside. Or, if I was alone, I could use a twin size mattress and lay it on the actual floor instead of elevated on the platform.
But a new canopy/she'll would cost nearly as much as the truck itself, so not really in the (free-ninety-nine) budget.
Yes more then 2 is way too many! Little tents for the munchkins maybe? Or one of those attachable tents that enclose the rear part of the shell. I like the Flip Pak myself with its roof top tent but a van would be best. Although I have been looking at a very minimalist small hatchback set up like the one @shadowmoss posted above but with less stuff. BF has a truck that could convert easily but I like to go off solo often so having my own vehicle is more practical. So far I'm still car less so looking at every option. Right now the small van and tent combo is winning.
Reporting back after a 2night/3day trip with me and the two kids. Drove to a national park about 3-4 hrs from here, and camped on a BLM land dirt road pullout (i.e., free). Spent all day in the park, then overnight on BLM land. TBH, I wasn't expecting more than a mediocre user experience-- bad sleep, inconvenient setup to cook/prepare food, no shade, etc.
But it turned out.....it was great! It only took
maybe 30 min from pulling up to all tucked in. The mattress was comfy. There was enough room for us all (not much extra, but not cramped). Super convenient to access pretty much all our stuff as we needed it. 10/10 would do again. We camped in a no-trees area, but it wouldn't be any trouble at all to bring hammocks for nice nights in areas with trees around. A more posh stove than my free-99 dumpster-found ghetto setup would make packing nicer, but that's just minor details. As an unexpected plus, my little Ranger ended up getting 25mpg vs the barely 20ish I was expecting.
ETA: it was also
really nice to be able to pack two big coolers and not worry that they're taking up too much space. We were able to eat very nice-- brought some watermelon (cut at home), had granola for breakfast, sandwiches for lunches. I even brought enough firewood/etc for a small campfire, which we didn't use at all, due to fire restrictions.
A minivan with the stow-n-go seats sounds like it would be a great/easy camper setup for a single person to double as a grocery-getter/friend-hauler.
