2006 Sprinter Conversion - For Work or Play

[PaulJensen]

My Ride...

(above) 2006 Mercedes Benz Sprinter

(above) 140" Wheel Base - High Roof...

(above) The roof racks are welded from a Hobie Cat Trampoline frame...

(above) Bolted through marine grade silicone, to the roof support cross members...

(above) Welcome to the inside...

(above) Both doors are insulated and the factory cardboard panels are replaced with FRP panels...
Both doors also have supplemental chrome pulls...

(above) I added a 12 volt outlet to the wall...
That's a 300 watt converter on the side of the cabinet...
Those are 6" Polk speakers...
The wire shelving is 12" shelving cut down to 6"...

(above) 12' of rope light...
Behind all the FRP is 1/2" styrofoam...
Same with the carpet on the ceiling...

(above) The 110 outlets are wired to an extention cord...
For use at a jobsite or camping in a friend's driveway...
In winter, I'll use a ceramic heater when I driveway camp...
That's a chrome over the door robe / towel holder near the ceiling...
The door pulls mounted on the wall are simple tie-downs...That one is for a folding chair...

(above) The cabinets are faced with Radiata Pine...
Full extention hardware...
Drawer boxed are Baltic Birch Ply...
The larger drawers are sized for Rubbermaid Totes...Easy to switch from tools to toys...
Twin barrel bolts keep everything closed...

(above) Surf is play...
Board up to 9' go here...
Up to 12' go on the floor...
My surf website is: www.hollowsurfboards.com

(above) Moving forward...
The ice chest is low tech beverage storage...
That's my trash bin behind the passenger seat...
Another robe holder near the ceiling...

(above) That's a stainless steel top, with a wood lip to keep thing from going over the edge...

(above) Coffee shop under the top...
I use an iso-butane compact camping stove...
The switch is a power cut-off for the faucet...

(above) The drop leaf table is my cooktop...
Behind the drop down you can see the cutting board...
There's my fire extinguisher...
Finally, another 12 volt outlet and a 100 watt inverter mounted on sticky back industrial Velcro...

(above) Behind the drop down you can see the cutting board...
There's my fire extinguisher...
Finally, another 12 volt outlet and a 100 watt inverter mounted on sticky back industrial Velcro...

(above) The curtains are simple store bought black cotton...
A shower rod is screwed to a roof support crossbar...

(above) I re-worked the console...

(above) Looking forward...

(above) My green 3" foam sleeping pad is bungee corded to the sink wall...

Update:

The '06 is still running great...The only thing of significance I've had to do is replace the front glass due to two big rock chips and another one that ran...

I made a change to the way water gets to the sink...One day the faucet switch had something shift forward on it and the pump ran the water out of the tank below the sink, then ran dry until it died...R.I.P....

Being one who appreciates idiotproof, I came up with a gravity fed water supply system...See below...

(above) What we have here is 4" PVC water pipe, epoxied at the seams and mounted using a combo of SS hose clamps (with washers and bolts through the side wall) and HD Zip-Ties looped through the factory cut outs on the wall...The red plug at the top is where it fills...I use a one gallon jug to fill it...I could use a potable water hose, but the jug works fine...The red plug does make it air tigt so I drilled a tiny hole in the cap to allow venting, with no sloshing overflow...

(above) The capacity of 4" pipe is about .6 gallons per lineal foot...I have about ten feet of pipe there and with the elbows and tees, gives me about seven or eight gallons of water...

(above) The faucet is a simple PVC ball valve...The water flow is a hard smooth 3/8" diameter stream...Not wimpy...

Above the pipe you can see a pigtail light bulb...A 23 watt compact fluorescent (100 watt incandescent equivalent) in a simple plastic base...It is plugged into the small inverter at the back of the van...The amount of light it puts out exceeds all the other lights in the van combined...Not something I want on all the time, but it's nice to get a lot of light when you need it, without putting a huge draw on the battery...

New and not shown:
Zodhi Propane On demand Hot water Shower...
Flushing PortaPoti...

This link is the Sprinter on an extended road trip in 2010> http://www.hollowsurfboards.com/2010CaliforniaTripReport.htm

Paul Jensen

 

[Harald Hansen]

That's a nice setup! Welcome to ExPo!

 

[bstory]

hitch and step source?

You have an extremely neat and personalized Sprinter. Congrats!

My husband and I also have a 2006 140" high top and would love to have a combination hitch/step for the rear of the van.

I assume yours is a hitch but could't quite make it out. Source?

Fair winds and big waves.

 

[Ronct110]

Paul,

Like the setup - keeping it simple yet functional (like the gravity fee d PVC water supply setup among others). Also nice clean interior wood work. WTG.

Mind if I asked - what did you use to secure the cabinets on the wall of the Sprinter, and was the carpet on the ceiling standard outdoor type you can get @ your typical hardware store e.g. Lowes... What did you use to secure the carpet on the ceiling.

Thanks Paul for answering my Qs. I am toying with the idea of starting a camper van project and looking into OEM replacement carpet and headliners (old ones are worn/sagging/dirty); expensive! Or you gave some ideas of using alt materials. Perhaps put a similar gravity feed water/sink.

Also like pictures and story to the link you posted! Can't wait to read about your upcoming trip to Japan and Australia. Thanks again!

 

[PaulJensen]

I assume yours is a hitch but could't quite make it out. Source?

Factory hitch...The step I'm using now is something I got at Harbor Freight...It cost around $22...

 

[PaulJensen]

Mind if I asked - what did you use to secure the cabinets on the wall of the Sprinter, and was the carpet on the ceiling standard outdoor type you can get @ your typical hardware store e.g. Lowes... What did you use to secure the carpet on the ceiling.

Also like pictures and story to the link you posted! Can't wait to read about your upcoming trip to Japan and Australia. Thanks again!

All the casework was attached to wall mounted plywood cleats...The cleats were screwed into the sheetmetal with self-tapping screws...Everything is still as solid as when it was first built...

The ceiling carpet is a nylon indoor carpet...I used it for insulation value and noise control...Underneath the carpet is 1/2" styrofoam...The foam is glued to the metal roof with latex tile adhesive, and the carpet to foam is also glued with the latex tile adhesive...

Here are links to the Japan trip >>>> http://www.hollowsurfboards.com/2010JapanTripReport_000.htm

and Australia >>> http://www.hollowsurfboards.com/2010ComboynePlateauAustraliaTripReport.htm

and more Australia>>> http://www.hollowsurfboards.com/2010SapphireCoastAustraliaTripReport.htm

Additional trip reports can be found here >>> http://www.hollowsurfboards.com/links.htm

 

[Deleted member 9101]

Awesome build man, love the cabinetry!!!!

 

[mog]

Very nice build. I sure like your water system, simple and very modern art-ish.
Also the cabinets are great, in both looks and function. Your sure kept the interior open, which is great for hauling stuff, and keeping a sense of space.

I've seem quite a few Sprinter vans were people have added the Mercedes logo badge to the steering wheel. If the airbag deploys in a crash, wouldn’t that be shooting a metal badge right at your head, or does it deploy differently then what I’m thinking?

 

[bugnout]

Very nicely done. minimalistic and functional

 

[mhiscox]

I've seem quite a few Sprinter vans were people have added the Mercedes logo badge to the steering wheel. If the airbag deploys in a crash, wouldn't that be shooting a metal badge right at your head, or does it deploy differently then what I'm thinking?

I've got the same setup on my Sprinter and I'm sure that someday the emergency room doctor will ask why I have 3-pointed star tattooed on my upper chest.

Seriously, the emblem, at least mine, is lightweight plastic and, being lightly attached to the steering wheel cover with double stick tape, it probably will never really rocket at explosive speed toward your brain. I've no doubt, however, that you'd be a tiny bit better without it.

Of course, you'd be safer not driving at all, so it's really just a risk management issue. In my case, constantly looking at an embossed ram's head on my fine German truck seemed the bigger evil.

A very nice and clever conversion, by the way.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Nice build, I really like the cabinets!

 

[4x4x4doors]

IIRC, if the airbag deploys, the cover bascially moves aside so that the bag can deploy. So you'll need to work out some other method for instant tattoo/branding.

Seriously, nice build

 

[PaulJensen]

Camping Set-Up…

We got away to Eastern Washington for some sun and fun…
Below are some photos of our camping set-up…

(above)We pulled into our first camping site and set things up like this…
The trailer is placed, then the canopy gets attached, raised and staked…Next the tables and chairs come out and the party is on…

(above) The canopy is simple…
A 10’ x 12’ white poly tarp sandwiched into a 5/4 x 4 cedar board on two sides…The trailer side has a pair of metal clips to hook onto the rings mounted to the roof of the trailer…

(above) The other side has 3/4” galv. electrical conduit for legs…A pair of ropes staked out hold everything fast…This campsite is known for the middle of the night, storm force winds, so I strapped 7 gallons of water to each leg…And I put bungees on the corners as shown above…That really made a huge difference in the hard gusty winds…Basically they act as wind shock absorbers…

(above) At another location I added this tarp extension to keep the late afternoon sun at bay…

(above) We set up our sites like this every night for eleven days on this trip and we just got back from a four day beach trip with the same set-up…We must be doing something right since so many campers came by to see exactly how we had everything so squared away…

 

[Deleted member 9101]

You my friend, are a genius!!

 

[CYi5]

Fantastic Sprinter; love what you've done!