JacobCarmichael
Member
Hey everyone, I have my 2016 Mercedes sprinter van for sale. It is a 2.1L 4 cylinder, and has 28,085 miles on it. I purchased the van new from the dealership and have been the only owner. The van is converted about 90%, all the hard stuff is done! Just add your own kitchen cabinet or couch and you’ll be off to the races! I am going to break down the information on the van below, but I am sure I will forget something so please let me know if you have any questions!
Here is a link to more pictures!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12am430kmF1k2gjuJxMxB6FJQfc9xj2DO?usp=sharing
The van itself:
The van is a 2016 model year Mercedes Sprinter 2500. It has the 2.1L 4 Cylinder engine, with a 7 speed transmission. The van currently has 28,085 miles on it. The service intervals on the van (including oil changes) are every 20,000 miles according to Mercedes, but I did an oil/ filter change at 10,000 miles just to be safe. At 20,000 miles the van was serviced by Mercedes Benz of Lynwood (A dealership that sells a lot of sprinters/ has a great service center which is very familiar with working on sprinters) at 20,000 miles for the “A” service. The van is a 144” Wheelbase, and a cargo model. The van has a stock backup camera, cruise control, power locks and windows, as well as a built in navigation system. Included in the sale are 4 keys for the van.
Insulation:
The van is insulated with very high quality materials. The first thing that went down was RAAMmat sound deadening. This is a butyl sound deadening product, and with very good reason. Most cheap or low quality sound deadening that goes into van conversions is asphalt based, and off gases toxic gas for years, putting your health at risk The butyl RAAMmat product does not. Second I insulated with 3M Thinsulate. This insulation is non toxic, and hydrophobic, meaning it will not trap water and cause rust or mold. After the Thinsulate there is a small air gap and then a radiant barrier. I used a product which uses real foil instead of plastic like reflectix. The floor was insulated using minicell foam. All the grooves/ ridges in the floor were filled, and then a continuous layer was put down between the van floor and the plywood floor. Along with insulating the back on the van I spent a large amount of time insulating the cab portion of the van as well. The headliner, floor, and door panels were all removed and insulation was put behind in similar fashion to the back of the van. This dramatically reduced road noise!
Bed:
The bed was a kit manufactured by Overland Sprinters. It comes are 3 aluminum bed panels, and 2 steel rails. I fabricated 2 additional steel supports that span the window cutout of the van to support the bed rails between where they are bolted on the ends. This support piece is hidden by the wall. In addition to adding the support pieces for the rails on either side I welded on brackets to the bed panels, both to secure them to the rails, and to secure the plywood to the aluminum panels. The connection between the bed panels and the rails is something I spent some time coming up with. It essentially is a system where the bed panels are allowed to float and twist, so that no undue stress is put on the van walls, or the bed as the van body moves and twists while driving. This method makes it so that none of the connections will be strained and fail over time, and also results in a system that doesn’t make any noise.
Cabinets/ Shelves:
The overhead cabinet and the headliner shelf are both made out of wood. The cabinet is bolted into the wall and the ceiling of the van using rivnuts, and the headliner shelf is secured using a combination of bolts/ rivnuts along the top, and support brackets from below. Every seam between two pieces of wood in both there cabinets was glued with wood glue, screwed together, and then the interior seams were laminated with fiberglass/ resin. This allowed me to use relatively thin plywood, while resulting in an extremely robust cabinet. Both the cabinet and the shelf can hold a good amount of weight.
Walls/ Ceiling:
The walls are covered with marine grade plywood. It is fairly thin to keep the weight down, but is extremely solid and secured well to the van walls using rivnuts and bolts. The ceiling is covered in cedar tongue and groove, and give the van a nice smell.
Electrical System:
The van has a 100AH Lithium BattleBorn battery. This seems like a small amount of power, but because lithium batteries can be safely drained much lower than lead acid or AGM batteries the amount of usable power is equivalent to a 200AH bank using those other types of batteries. Charging the battery are two 100W Renogy solar panels on the roof. These are secured in placing using nice brackets which utilize the factory roof rails, so there are no holes drilled in the roof to mount the panels. The charge controller is a CTEK D250s Dual, with the Smartpass Unit. This takes the input from the solar panel (as well as from the van when it is running/ the starter battery is full) and charges the battery. The system has a Victron battery monitor and shunt which provides you with all sorts of useful information like battery percentage, time until the battery is dead given current usage ect. The system powers 8 LED lights in the ceiling, and the roof fan (A MaxxFan Deluxe, with smoke lid). I have used this system to power the lights, fan, an ARB fridge, 2 phones, 2 smart watches, and a laptop for extended trips with no need to limit power usage.
Cosmetic Stuff:
It came with the stock silver steel wheels, but I purchased some aluminum sprinter wheels and had them professionally powdercoated black. The bottom of the van is vinyl wrapped in black 3M vinyl. A hood rock deflector, and wheel arch flares from TerraWagen are install on the van. The front windows are tinted with high quality 18% tint, which not only darkens the window, but dramatically lessens the amount of heat you feel through the windows when it is sunny.
Fasteners:
There is not a single sheet metal screw in this entire van! Sheet metal screws are wonderful if you are a large van conversion company trying to make money building out vans, but pretty terrible if you plan on using your van for more than a few years. Everything in this van is secured via through bolting, or Rivnuts. The correct rivnuts were used for the wall thickness in each application, and all hardware, from the rivnuts, to bolts and washers is stainless steel. All the connections either utilize a nylon locking nut, or loctite, so that road vibrations will not cause them to come loose over time.
Swivel Seats:
There are swivel seat bases from EuroCampers installed on both the driver and passenger seats. It cannot be understated how much these open up the useable space in the van! Along with the swivel seat bases I installed shorter seat pedestals. I am 6’2’’ tall and even at my height the stock seat pedestals with the additional 2” from the swivel seats made the driving position feel high, and once you turned the seats around they felt higher still! The lower pedestals essentially return the seat to the factory height with the swivel adapters installed.
Garage area:
Under the bed is a “garage” area. There is L Track installed in the floor and on the walls. This is a super study, an convenient system to secured whatever you want, it is the same stuff they use to attach seats to the floor in airplanes! The floor and walls are covered with chemical resistant coin flooring, and all the edges are nicely trimmed out with aluminum! It is extremely easy to clean out this area, just a quick run through with a broom and any dirt your brought insides with bikes, climbing gear, or anything else is gone!
Details:
Every piece of wood is coated with paint or some other finish on all sides to prevent mold, rot, or other issues. Every hole that was drilled was painted, and all the metal fragments cleaned up to avoid rust. The trim holes along the side of the van (which are known to leak) were sealed using a layer of sealant from the outside under the clips, and a coating of FlexSeal from the inside. The ceiling fan and cable passthrough for the solar wires are both installed using a sandwich method to through bolt them instead of using sheet metal screws. The window installed in the sliding door is an opening CR Lawrence T-Vent window. Also included are a set of very nice, custom made insulated window covers!
I spent two years slowly working on this van and putting extreme effort into every step to make sure it would last for decades to come. I have seen many friends with westy’s, sportsmobiles, and other company’s conversions have issues with their interiors, so with this van I put a huge focus on longevity. If you have any questions about the van, or I failed to mention something please send me a message! Thank you for your time, and have a nice day!
Edit: I am asking $66,000 for the van.
Here is a link to more pictures!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12am430kmF1k2gjuJxMxB6FJQfc9xj2DO?usp=sharing
The van itself:
The van is a 2016 model year Mercedes Sprinter 2500. It has the 2.1L 4 Cylinder engine, with a 7 speed transmission. The van currently has 28,085 miles on it. The service intervals on the van (including oil changes) are every 20,000 miles according to Mercedes, but I did an oil/ filter change at 10,000 miles just to be safe. At 20,000 miles the van was serviced by Mercedes Benz of Lynwood (A dealership that sells a lot of sprinters/ has a great service center which is very familiar with working on sprinters) at 20,000 miles for the “A” service. The van is a 144” Wheelbase, and a cargo model. The van has a stock backup camera, cruise control, power locks and windows, as well as a built in navigation system. Included in the sale are 4 keys for the van.
Insulation:
The van is insulated with very high quality materials. The first thing that went down was RAAMmat sound deadening. This is a butyl sound deadening product, and with very good reason. Most cheap or low quality sound deadening that goes into van conversions is asphalt based, and off gases toxic gas for years, putting your health at risk The butyl RAAMmat product does not. Second I insulated with 3M Thinsulate. This insulation is non toxic, and hydrophobic, meaning it will not trap water and cause rust or mold. After the Thinsulate there is a small air gap and then a radiant barrier. I used a product which uses real foil instead of plastic like reflectix. The floor was insulated using minicell foam. All the grooves/ ridges in the floor were filled, and then a continuous layer was put down between the van floor and the plywood floor. Along with insulating the back on the van I spent a large amount of time insulating the cab portion of the van as well. The headliner, floor, and door panels were all removed and insulation was put behind in similar fashion to the back of the van. This dramatically reduced road noise!
Bed:
The bed was a kit manufactured by Overland Sprinters. It comes are 3 aluminum bed panels, and 2 steel rails. I fabricated 2 additional steel supports that span the window cutout of the van to support the bed rails between where they are bolted on the ends. This support piece is hidden by the wall. In addition to adding the support pieces for the rails on either side I welded on brackets to the bed panels, both to secure them to the rails, and to secure the plywood to the aluminum panels. The connection between the bed panels and the rails is something I spent some time coming up with. It essentially is a system where the bed panels are allowed to float and twist, so that no undue stress is put on the van walls, or the bed as the van body moves and twists while driving. This method makes it so that none of the connections will be strained and fail over time, and also results in a system that doesn’t make any noise.
Cabinets/ Shelves:
The overhead cabinet and the headliner shelf are both made out of wood. The cabinet is bolted into the wall and the ceiling of the van using rivnuts, and the headliner shelf is secured using a combination of bolts/ rivnuts along the top, and support brackets from below. Every seam between two pieces of wood in both there cabinets was glued with wood glue, screwed together, and then the interior seams were laminated with fiberglass/ resin. This allowed me to use relatively thin plywood, while resulting in an extremely robust cabinet. Both the cabinet and the shelf can hold a good amount of weight.
Walls/ Ceiling:
The walls are covered with marine grade plywood. It is fairly thin to keep the weight down, but is extremely solid and secured well to the van walls using rivnuts and bolts. The ceiling is covered in cedar tongue and groove, and give the van a nice smell.
Electrical System:
The van has a 100AH Lithium BattleBorn battery. This seems like a small amount of power, but because lithium batteries can be safely drained much lower than lead acid or AGM batteries the amount of usable power is equivalent to a 200AH bank using those other types of batteries. Charging the battery are two 100W Renogy solar panels on the roof. These are secured in placing using nice brackets which utilize the factory roof rails, so there are no holes drilled in the roof to mount the panels. The charge controller is a CTEK D250s Dual, with the Smartpass Unit. This takes the input from the solar panel (as well as from the van when it is running/ the starter battery is full) and charges the battery. The system has a Victron battery monitor and shunt which provides you with all sorts of useful information like battery percentage, time until the battery is dead given current usage ect. The system powers 8 LED lights in the ceiling, and the roof fan (A MaxxFan Deluxe, with smoke lid). I have used this system to power the lights, fan, an ARB fridge, 2 phones, 2 smart watches, and a laptop for extended trips with no need to limit power usage.
Cosmetic Stuff:
It came with the stock silver steel wheels, but I purchased some aluminum sprinter wheels and had them professionally powdercoated black. The bottom of the van is vinyl wrapped in black 3M vinyl. A hood rock deflector, and wheel arch flares from TerraWagen are install on the van. The front windows are tinted with high quality 18% tint, which not only darkens the window, but dramatically lessens the amount of heat you feel through the windows when it is sunny.
Fasteners:
There is not a single sheet metal screw in this entire van! Sheet metal screws are wonderful if you are a large van conversion company trying to make money building out vans, but pretty terrible if you plan on using your van for more than a few years. Everything in this van is secured via through bolting, or Rivnuts. The correct rivnuts were used for the wall thickness in each application, and all hardware, from the rivnuts, to bolts and washers is stainless steel. All the connections either utilize a nylon locking nut, or loctite, so that road vibrations will not cause them to come loose over time.
Swivel Seats:
There are swivel seat bases from EuroCampers installed on both the driver and passenger seats. It cannot be understated how much these open up the useable space in the van! Along with the swivel seat bases I installed shorter seat pedestals. I am 6’2’’ tall and even at my height the stock seat pedestals with the additional 2” from the swivel seats made the driving position feel high, and once you turned the seats around they felt higher still! The lower pedestals essentially return the seat to the factory height with the swivel adapters installed.
Garage area:
Under the bed is a “garage” area. There is L Track installed in the floor and on the walls. This is a super study, an convenient system to secured whatever you want, it is the same stuff they use to attach seats to the floor in airplanes! The floor and walls are covered with chemical resistant coin flooring, and all the edges are nicely trimmed out with aluminum! It is extremely easy to clean out this area, just a quick run through with a broom and any dirt your brought insides with bikes, climbing gear, or anything else is gone!
Details:
Every piece of wood is coated with paint or some other finish on all sides to prevent mold, rot, or other issues. Every hole that was drilled was painted, and all the metal fragments cleaned up to avoid rust. The trim holes along the side of the van (which are known to leak) were sealed using a layer of sealant from the outside under the clips, and a coating of FlexSeal from the inside. The ceiling fan and cable passthrough for the solar wires are both installed using a sandwich method to through bolt them instead of using sheet metal screws. The window installed in the sliding door is an opening CR Lawrence T-Vent window. Also included are a set of very nice, custom made insulated window covers!
I spent two years slowly working on this van and putting extreme effort into every step to make sure it would last for decades to come. I have seen many friends with westy’s, sportsmobiles, and other company’s conversions have issues with their interiors, so with this van I put a huge focus on longevity. If you have any questions about the van, or I failed to mention something please send me a message! Thank you for your time, and have a nice day!
Edit: I am asking $66,000 for the van.
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