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Chris & Justine

@yvrsprinter

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Building out our 2014 144" Mercedes Sprinter!⁣ 🚐
#YVRsprinter⁣
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📍Vancouver, Canada
🙋🏼‍♂️ @loomin⁣⁣
🙋🏻‍♀️ @yujustine⁣⁣
🐶 @lucy_the_pittybull

POSTS STORIES REELS

After a year and a half of ups and downs, our van “Sven” is finally “done”, with the exception of a few things like our indoor shower (which requires warmer weather for the adhesive to set) and some minor trim bits!

Our original goal was to be using it by last spring, but we quickly realized with our ever-changing plan that would not be possible. We decided to take our time and do everything properly to avoid “upgrades” in the future. ⁣
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We installed a robust Victron Energy electrical system with a 2000w continuous inverter, solar panels, shore power and alternator charging. We have heat and hot water produced by a single diesel system which is connected to the main tank. This makes us a single fuel system. No propane. No carbon monoxide as we cook with an induction cook top. We’ve got 2 showers (indoor/outdoor), onboard air, 360* exterior lighting, an Isotherm fridge/freezer and much much more. ⁣
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As well as being comfortable, it had to be aesthetically pleasing to us. We are inspired by Scandinavian design (hence the name “Sven”) and love clean lines and contrasting finishes. We used a variety of new materials that we have never worked with before to achieve this. ⁣
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This has been one of the most time/effort/emotionally, and financially consuming projects we have ever taken on, and we did it all by ourselves. Although I have a background in automotive repair we had to learn a ton of new skills along the way and it’s pretty surreal to see it come to fruition. COVID threw us some curve balls: we were robbed, faced mechanical issues which stopped us dead in our tracks, and trying to find the hundreds (if not thousands of hours) to work on it while we both maintained our full-time jobs was a challenge. ⁣
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This weekend will be our shakedown trip to see how everything functions as a unit. Shortly after we will be taking it out for the first “official” voyage. Stay tuned for a full van tour where we will go over some of the unique systems and features not commonly found in a 144” Sprinter!
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Thanks for all the support along the way! Several of you helped us out more than you will know and we truly appreciate all the supportive DMs and creative suggestions! by @yvrsprinter

Modelling and fabricating the trim panels for the rear doors has been very time consuming and challenging. I started by taking photos of the doors and then using fusion360 i sketched a design that can be used on a laser cutter or CNC router. ⁣⁣
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After 5 or 6 renditions of each panel prototyped from cardboard, I finally had a shape that was accurate enough to cut from wood.⁣⁣
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The finished product is made from lightweight 1/4” birch plywood and it’s wrapped in the same wool blend fabric as our headliner shelf. They are attached using M6 rivnuts and countersunk stainless hardware like everything else in the van. This gives a nice cozy feel to the “headboard” of our bed. ⁣
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#sprinter #sprintervan #sprintercamper #sprinterconversion #sprintervanconversion #vanconversion #vanlife #mercedes #mercedessprinter #homeiswhereyouparkit #victron #offgrid #camper #campervan #diy #fabrication #yvrsprinter ⁣ by @yvrsprinter

Made a bit of progress this weekend. The grey water tank is installed. It’s a 16 gallon custom tank made by a local company. I wanted the tank to fit nicely under the van so that it did not reduce ground clearance or have any edges that could get hung up on objects on forest service roads. ⠀
The skid plate/mounting bracket is 1/8” aluminum and it’s held on with 4 M8 rivnuts and 2 brackets I made that mount to the factory gas tank bolts. The gas tank bolts are short so I used the spare seat bolts I had that were replaced when installing the seat swivel. ⠀
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We also installed the water pump, accumulator and the heat exchanger. This style heat exchanger will allow us to get heat and hot water from a diesel heater. This allows us to stay as a single fuel vehicle and avoid issues that come along with using propane. by @yvrsprinter

We have a ceiling and lights! ⁣
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This weekend we finally tackled the ceiling. In an effort to make it look as clean as possible, we looked into alternative fastening methods. ⁣
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3M dual lock, which is basically hardcore Velcro was used to provide a screw free and very clean looking installation. It’s insanely strong too. 1” of this stuff can hold 2 lbs and each of the 3 panels used about 170” of the stuff.⁣
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The ceiling panels are 1/4” birch plywood which keeps the weight and cost down. I then whitewashed and sealed it to match the headliner shelf I made a couple months ago.⁣
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We are pretty happy with how well it all lines up and the overall look. It’s nice to see the interior finally start to take shape! by @yvrsprinter

Spent the afternoon on my back under the van installing the Webasto Thermotop C. This system will provide heat and hot water. I will make a detailed post down the road once it’s all up and running showing how it all works! by @yvrsprinter

One of the most useless features of the Sprinter is the overhead console. Its such a waste of space. The dome light is dim, and the sunglasses holder is too small to hold sunglasses in a case. Let's face it... we can do better.⁣⁣
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I decided it needed a lighting upgrade and a place to put the switches that control all Sven's exterior lights as well as his cab lights. I finally had a use for an extra pair of moveable 12V led puck lights from IKEA that I saved renovation a few years back. I questioned myself multiple times throughout the years why I was hanging on to them. I'm glad I did because they are perfect. They are bright, efficient and you can aim the light wherever you need it. ⁣⁣
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I also decided to add a red LED light for night time use. You know.... for those times you are looking for something in the van but you're in the wilderness and its pitch black and if your dome light turns on 5000 mosquitos and moths fly inside the van. Not to mention that you'll be temporarily blinded by the new LED dome light because your eyes are adjusted to the night sky. Plus it looks cool as hell to have your van lit up all red like it's some sort of tactical command center. ⁣⁣
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The main reason for this little fabrication project was to create some space for a switch panel for all the exterior lights. Sven has 360 degree lighting to make sure you can see all around your campsite even on the darkest of nights. The switch panel has 6 switches: Front, rear, right and left exterior lights can all be controlled independently. The other two switches control the red led mentioned above and the dome light. The front LED exterior lights are made by Hella and are actually flood beam light bars and feature a dim "DRL" mode which is controlled by the switch panel also. ⁣⁣
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I fabricated this new overhead console by hand from 0.125" aluminum. I had originally intended to make it from carbon fiber but decided to keep it "simple". Getting the contour just right took some time but it ended up fitting perfectly and I finished it off with some nice black torx fasteners. by @yvrsprinter

Update: Our van was broken in to a couple weeks ago and we are still recovering from the situation. The thieves managed to steal our Victron solar charger and damage our inverter. They also stole a ton of tools and even our fuel pump for the Webasto heater. ⁣
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This has been an unfortunate setback but luckily we were insured and will be covered. In the mean time we have been piecing our electrical system back together and tackling other projects while we wait for parts to arrive. ⁣
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This gave me some time to rethink our electrical system and simplify it even further. I have added a pair of blue sea 40a breakers to the main positive bus bar that the Victron MPPT charger and the Victron Orion DC/DC charger will connect to. I got the MPPT up and running and we are super happy with it so far! The Victron connect app is super detailed and very handy! ⁣
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After the unfortunate theft from our vehicle we also decided to step up our security game. The first step was removing all valuables from the van. This should have been a no-brainer but I overlooked this and it cost us. We have also installed a serious alarm system of which I will not go into specific detail for security reasons but I will mention that we now have global alerts via satellite as well as GPS tracking and 24/7 live video feed from anywhere in the world. Excessive? Maybe. But I wish I had this a few weeks ago. ⁣
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⁣ by @yvrsprinter

Van build update: ⁣⁣
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We had an appointment to have the Takata airbag recall done on the van. If you have a Sprinter, you should call your dealer and see if this applies to you. I'm actually surprised this was not dealt with before we bought Sven since it's a safety issue. ⁣⁣
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The floors are now fully insulated and we have installed most of the trim that was removed during wiring. Planning on insulating behind the head liner this weekend and reinstalling the headliner! ⁣⁣
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We have developed a very slow coolant leak. Apparently this is common on the OM651 engine. There is a plastic coolant pipe that develops a small crack. I've recieved the parts and will install this soon. Luckily the parts were very cheap.⁣⁣
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And last but not least, we have to drop the fuel tank to install an auxiliary fuel line for our Webasto Thermotop C which we are using for our hydronic heating system. Dreading this messy job. ⁣⁣
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Stay tuned! ⁣⁣
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With most of the wiring complete, we decided to start insulating! We started with the floor.⁣
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The floor will be approximately 1.5" thicker once complete which means 1.5" less headroom for me. An unfortunate byproduct of insulating it but we want this to be a four season camper so it was necessary.⁣
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We started by removing the original wood floor. It was in excellent condition and it's already the perfect size and shape so we are reusing it as our sub floor. The foam insulation we chose has an unbelievable rating of R7. This is unusually high considering most 1" foam is around R4-R5. It was super cheap too which is nice. ⁣
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After removing the original nasty tar paper sound deadening, I chopped 8" from one of the panels to make a channel under the floor. You will see why in a later post. I then made up some cedar "floor joists" that will support the weight of the floor so the foam doesn't get compressed. This is important because if you compress the foam, it loses its insulating ability. ⁣
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I then screwed the cedar to the bottom of the wood panels and used construction adhesive to hopefully prevent squeaky floors. After that, the foam was cut to size and taped down with some foil tape. I finished it all off by using a router to cut the holes for the original tie down points. This will mean the whole floor is held down without screwing through the sheet metal and is removable if we ever need to pull it up. We will finish it off with some vinyl planks when the van is nearing completion. by @yvrsprinter

We finally finished installing our hand built roof rack!⁣⁣
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It's made from 3/16" aluminum and aluminum extrusions. Our van didn’t come with factory roof rails so I decided to make my own. The rack is light weight, versatile, and fits our solar panel with room to spare. ⁣
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It’s attached using M8 rivnuts and stainless hardware in the factory holes. I made a jig on the laser cutter to use as a guide for my router with a flush cut carbide bit. It took forever to cut out all 40 of those oval holes but I got it done! We then sent everything to 𝘘𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘰𝘢𝘵 in Richmond for coating in semigloss black. ⁣⁣
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Final assembly was very satisfying after all that hard work! by @yvrsprinter