Sprinter

I drove up to Montana this week to visit my folks and work on the Sprinter. My dad has lots of wood working tools and I thought it would be a good opportunity to spend a little time with my parents and try my hand at customizing the Van.

First I had to remove all the side panels.

Then I cut up pieces of foam and filled all the spaces.

In the larger spaces and on the roof, I used guerilla tape to hold the foam in place. I wrapped the panels in a thick fabric and screwed them back in place.

I didn’t have panels for the roof so I bought 1/8 inch sheets of mesonite and I’m cutting out pieces. The hard part has been trying to get the screws in without getting them all tangled up in the fabric. This is much more difficult than I thought, but Dang at custom vans in Salt Lake wanted to charge me $4500 so I guess it’s worth it. I’m hoping to get the bed and bike storage built before I come home.

-k

About 4 years ago, I bought some photo equipment in Montana. My neighbor who owns a large chain of clothing stores offered to loan me his sprinter van to pick up and haul the machine back to Utah. I was amazed at how well it handled and how good of gas mileage it got. Ever since then, I’ve been obsessed with sprinters. For me, they are the perfect biking adventure vehicle. I’ve been pricing them for years, dreaming about how I would customize MY van. They’re tall enough that I could put the bikes under a bed in the back and there would still be room for a bench seat and a small kitchenette with burners, a sink and a fridge.

Two months ago, my dreams became reality as I entered the market to purchase a van. I kept a search going for vans in my price range, and I would get 2 or 3 new listings each day. Most were located on the east coast and all were older with lots of miles. Although the Mercedes diesel motors are said to last for 3ook plus miles, it’s hard to find older vans that won’t be prone to lots of additional expenses. Three weeks ago, an 07 van with under 9000 miles came up in my search emails. It was priced the same as vans that I was looking at with 90,000 miles. I called that day and put money down. Heather and I got tickets and flew to San Luis Obisbo the very next day and drove it home.

It’s a 144″ wheelbase cargo.

We packed an air mattress on the plane and slept in it on the way home. We’ve only had it for a few weeks, and we’ve already camped in it 6 or 7 nights. I put a futon in the back and strapped an old counter from my store to the side, and we have an instant camper van. It easily made it to the gooseberry, little creek and guacamole trail heads… twice.

Here is what I’ve done to it so far.