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So, when you look at a Sprinter, remember that to get it just to a half-*** DIY camper you're talking another $15-30K depending on what you do and that's turning your own wrenches.
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Err, I'm just catching up. Love your build.
I just wanted to throw in that I got mine done for under $6K. It's not a 4WD. I have the 2012, 2500, 170 which is 2WD. Spent about $40K on the van.
It’s built out with two 6’ long wheel boxes (over the wheel humps and about 2.5 feet tall) that provide storage and bed support. The bed is on plywood slats that sit on top of 8 foot long by 2” by 2” angle AL that is mounted on top of wheel boxes and to the walls. There is a queen futon mattress on top that is unbelievably comfortable.
The wheel boxes take the load, while the walls add lateral stability. The wheel boxes are about 6 foot long, so about 2 feet of the AL rail on the bed’s head end does not have as much load support – but ONLY when the bed is positioned to the rear of the vehicle. See, my bed is set up to slide forward and aft and lock into either of those locations. Why? Well, when the bed is forward, the back two feet of the van serves both as a garage and as a shower room. And when the bed is back, the “Great Room” is quite a bit larger.
The shower is a constructed from a 10 ft long, 1” copper pipe shower hoop that holds a regular shower curtain (actually, two) and the hoop attaches to the ceiling via carabineers that clip to eye bolts that are strategically attached to a couple of the ceiling ribs with ¼ 20 Plusnuts.
When we’re not using the shower or the garage, the shower collapses against the D-side back door (by unclipping the forward carabineers) and hangs out of the way. When we need the shower, the bed is slid forward and the shower is clipped up.
Now, if we want to use the garage for the bikes, I have 2 boards that span side-to-side across the rear, from angle bracket to angle bracket. Yes, those same angle 8 foot long by 2 by 2 angle AL brackets that the bed slides on and yes, the same two feet that hang off the rear edges of the wheel boxes. The two boards that I speak of slide into a pocket under the bed platform when they’re not in use. They’re ¾ inch plywood, about 6” across and the width of the van. They have some fork locks bolted on, and the rear wheels are bungeed down.
So, shower down, bed forward, and bikes inside. Now, the bikes normally “live” on the Thule rack on the back, but if it’s raining all day, or if we’re parking somewhere where we don’t want the bikes seen, we just convert the van to have its garage and put them inside. (Sorry that I don't have pics of the bikes inside)
The mattress, as stated before, is a futon mattress. So I built a big piano hinge section across the bed and the bed lifts up, folding in the middle, to turn into a couch. It’s held up with motorcycle tie-downs that hook into more of those strategically located eye-bolts in the ceiling.
So, there’s the shower, not taking up any real room when not needed, a bed, a couch, a garage, and way more Great Room space most of the time.
I have a modest house electrical system with a 100AH AGM, a 600W Pure Sine Inverter, a 4-stage charging system that takes care of both batteries when sitting (shore power) and when driving, recharges/floats the Coach battery. There’s a shelving system that’s also convertible, and other accoutrements (such as a luggable loo!). The van was completely Damplified and well insulated with closed-cell foam. Nice fabric was used in conjunction with Reflectix and coreplas for the walls. The ceiling is coreplas with stained birch accents/supports. Almost every bolt that holds wall panels or ceiling panels is an eye bolt for clipping stuff up. We have a 19” LCD TV that normally lives in the kitchen at home, but gets put into the van on an articulating arm when we’re on the road. There’s LED lighting throughout.
And my build was under $6K. And it’s a really functional and stealth camper.
A look at part of the wheel boxes:
Shower carabineer set up:
Shower down, bed in back:
Shower down, couch up in back:
Shower up, couch forward:
Under the back of the couch:
For even more info, here’s a link to my cheap, but really functional build:
http://sprinter-source.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27992
