Back in a van-FINALLY or Overland-ish style build: take 2

[coguzzi]

Back to making dust for the sprinter finally, cabinet face/doors for the cabinets already built. Got my foam pulled out as well as a the roll of fabric ive been saving for quite some time for this project. final dust making stages and sewing (plus huge list of final details)--the end game

 

[coguzzi]

the supervisors making sure i do a good job on the last cabinet for this build, or they are wondering when we are finally going on the road!?!?!

between the 2 builds i had going on i feel like ive been building cabinets for months (which i have). gonna de-dust my shop and put all those tools away for a while. getting there

 

[coguzzi]

So FIONA is finally done, well done enough anyway, i have plans to develop something new for interior and exterior rear doors but time is short right now and rather just finally use her. Fiona is the result of a fairly extensive build for us with 1750 hours into her, but still follows our belief of simplicity in design and systems. Took way longer than i wanted on this one since i had several other projects in the mean time that pulled me away for several months. Made for longer term travel with 2 humans and 2 dogs with storage for all the toys. You know, this Colorado boy REALLY needs to escape Quebec for a while--looooong while.

DETAILS:
Redarc Manager 30 Battery Management System
2x Volthium 200ah self heating lithium batteries (2x for redundancy) with Bluetooth
350 watt roof mounted solar
Dometic RTX2000 12V Air Conditioner
Truma Combi 4 heater/water heater with undermount propane system
Propane Range/Oven
AC/DC Refrigerator
Elevator Bed, electric of my own design
Convertible Interior Shower
Outside Shower at rear door
Safe for valuables/passports/laptops etc
3M Thinsulate insulation, 4 season
Amp Research Power Step
Viair 450C air compressor with 3 gallon Aluminum tank and 3 ARB air ports
Remora Roof Rack
Roof Deck made in collaboration with Flagwerks
Thule Awning with Rigid Amber Scene Light/white rear flood light
Van Compass 4.3 suspension upgrade
BlackRhino wheels with Goodyear Duratrac 265/70/17 tires

couple post of pics since limited how many i can post at once. complete set at our FB page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057598833148

 

[coguzzi]

 

[coguzzi]

NOW, time to go enjoy this van

 

[Farfrumwork]

Love the color scheme!!

Now, get the F*#% outta Quebec for a while!!

 

[coguzzi]

Love the color scheme!!

Now, get the F*#% outta Quebec for a while!!

working on it, long-ish story on that one dealing with Mercedes and service A being due for time not milage (with under 200km on it) and satisfying warranty

In the meantime, details details. The vertically challenged wife 1.0 legs grew tired pretty quickly as touching the floor with her feet wasnt the best (see a lot of complaints about this), and since the lil dog rides in her lap all the time---enter platform box with bonus more storage


and ive been using it to get to my local mountain bike trail, so made the interior L-track bike mount. now i can just keep my bike inside ready to go vs putting rack/bike on my jeep everytime. bike does fit with bed down as well if i drop the seat.

 

[SoCal_80]

Nice build!


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[Johnboyy]

Love it, great colour scheme. My wife might be wanting a similar step when I put a swivel in our van

 

[Spencer for Hire]

its always fun when things progress to the point that you can ACTUALLY see progress. so much of van building is small little details no one ever sees or thinks about, but still need to happen. that brings me to a point of van being mostly insulated (still have some work to do in areas, and other strategic areas get doubled up once i make sure i have enough thinsulate) and the finished floor is installed. I've done a few different ways for a sprinter floor and this is my favorite (transit floors are different still). it can breath underneath (which i feel is important), and is insulated but not the 6" thick floors like you see a lot of people over think. and not a million screws going through the body, just glue

some 8mm glued down in the ribs, but not filled to breath
View attachment 788630
minicel in the other voids and some cross stringers in 1/2" RB glued and stapled
View attachment 788631
1/2" foam
View attachment 788632
finished ply glued and stapled on top of that, then the sheet vinyl glued, rolled and weighted down for a few days. Ecologic fire wood makes a great weight (scrap ply underneath it for distribution). good thing i have plenty of it around prepared for next winter already
View attachment 788638
bingo, dont forget to seal the edges in urethane
View attachment 788644

walls are next which is when things really start to get exciting

Very nice! What is the top black of the floor made of? Thank You.

 

[SoCal_80]

Great interior and love the rack.


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[coguzzi]

Very nice! What is the top black of the floor made of? Thank You.

it is vinyl

 

[coguzzi]

Trial by fire, i now have 4000km/2500 miles and 14 nights in the van. i was kind of under the gun to finish it and go help my mother in Wisconsin who fell down the stairs and banged herself up pretty good. Nothing like finishing something and jumping in it for a long trip-ha. BUT, i can report everything worked perfectly, nothing caused any issues, have no "change items' on my list. And I am 100% believer in the Van Compass 4.3 suspension upgrade, no floaty boaty sprinter going down the road as most are--a must do upgrade IMHO.

taking small country roads thru Quebec and VT (also adirondacks of upstate NY) came over a hill to a taco stand in the middle of a farm field, you bet i turned around and went back!


This sadly is also "overlanding", sometimes you just need to do what you need to do


I found every single Sprinter in North America, all parked at holding lots in Elkhart Indiana, you know, the capitol of prefab RV @#$%. this was the second lot I saw and both had hundreds of sprinters parked


The heartland, think i put on a few pounds being back to where i grew up (before i got smart and moved to CO then foolishly to QC).


next trip in a few weeks to Nova Scotia.

 

[Farfrumwork]

Cheese curds, fish fry, New Glarus, and Sprecher?

 

[coguzzi]

Cheese curds, fish fry, New Glarus, and Sprecher?

brought back my import allotment (24-12oz) of new glarus and wife is happy. fish fry, ol fashioneds, polka, proving WI curds are better than QC, frozen custard at Kopps, butter burgers, beer brats--did the whole thing