Prius as a Recreational Vehicle, Part 2: inexpensive floor mat/sleeping cushion

After you have the 4 plastic egg crates and 17" x 48" piece of 3/16th inch plywood prepared for extending the floor so that you can sleep in the back of a Prius, you might want to consider a closed-cell foam pad for more comfort. Start by purchasing two sets of "Anti-Fatigue Foam Floor Mats" from Harbor Freight (on sale in August for $10 each set). Each set has 4 roughly 2' x 2' squares that have interlocking edges. Put the first set together and then lay the original Prius carpet floor mat over them, aligning the edge of the carpet toward the rear seat back with the top interlocking edge. Using the carpet floor mat as a pattern, trace around it with chalk or white soap to mark the outline. That step is represented in the attached picture. Using a utility knife, cut around the outline and you have a foam mat that almost perfectly fits the cargo area when the rear seat is raised. (If you stop here you will have a nice cargo area foam mat for $10.)
To make the forward section of foam mat for the Prius Recreational Vehicle, install the cargo area mat, then remove the rear seat headrests and lower the rear seat until it is flat. Move front seats all the way forward and install the 2 stacked egg crates in each of the foot wells between the rear seat and front seats. Install the 17" x 48" sheet of plywood flat on the egg crates just behind the front seats and ahead of the edge of the rear seat back. Assemble the second set of four interlocking foam mats. Carefully measure the distance from the forward edge of the cargo area mat to the front seat backs and cut the assembled mat to fit that space. Preserve the notched back edge of the mat so that the forward piece will interlock with the cargo area mat when installed and form one large contiguous piece of foam mat for sleeping. Happy camping!

 

Step 1 finished: the cargo-area mat has been cut out and installed with the rear seat in its normal upright position.

 

Step 2 finished: after trimming the two rear corners and trimming away the excess length of the newly-installed set of four mats, the result is an interlocked foam mat reaches from the rear edge of the cargo area to the backs of the front seats. this extended mat can be used as a sleeping pad while camping in the Prius Recreational Vehicle!

 

Ahem. Er, in this case she had to endure a week of looking at airplanes, airplane bits and pieces, and listening to lecture forums on power plants,wings, propellers, GPS and other navigational systems, etc. Thus the bribe had to be rather large and does involve a cruise from New York to Quebec to see the fall foliage in the northeast. But think of all the money I saved!!

 

Since the foam mats cut easily with a standard utility knife, it took about 90 minutes to lay out and interlock the pieces, mark the rough outline with a piece of chalk, and then cut it out. I am keeping the piece in the rear trunk area installed but have removed the front section and stored that with the camping gear as I like to have the rear seat backs upright for daily use. I am new to this forum and have not figured out how to post a link to the first installment of "Prius as a Recreational Vehicle where I describe using the plastic milk crates and a 17 x 48 inch sheet of 3/16 plywood to create a large, fairly even sleeping area in the back.

 

Um, my icon picture for this forum is me lying in my back of our Prius with my head just behind the rear seat. (Picture is sideways.) My spouse took the pic from the hatchback opening and yes, I have really, really big feet but I still fit in even with the hatch closed.

 

Just to update you: the Harbor Freight anti fatigue mats insulated really well but were a bit stiff for sleeping on in our view. So we shifted to long Yoga mats laid side by side in the back, and each Yoga mat is topped by a narrow 1-2 inch inflatable air mattress that we already had amongst our camping gear. That combo worked well during our trip to Alaska last Summer, where we camped in the car maybe 20 days total.
The one advantage to the Yofa mat + small air mattress approach was that it all rolls up for storage in the back while traveling. So we could easily put up the back seats for traveling, which required some disassembly using the Harbor Freight fatigue mats. Suggest you sleep at least 1 night before taking a long trip as different folks prefer different "firmness" for sleeping.
If you want to see our current setup I can post more pics.
Happy camping!