The bed panels and rails that we ordered from Overland Sprinters have arrived, and now we need to fit them to the van. Continue reading “Bed panels have arrived!”
Bed panels have arrived!
Removing the cup holder from underneath the passenger bench seat
Our Sprinter came with a cup holder under the three-person crew bench seat. It’s made of plastic, it doesn’t hold cups well, and it stops us from being able to push a milk crate sized container under the seat, so we took it out. Continue reading “Removing the cup holder from underneath the passenger bench seat”
Walls are in!
We’ve fitted the fabric and bamboo walls into the van. They are held in place with flanged l-track. The van is starting to look more civilized. Continue reading “Walls are in!”
Removing the bling
We don’t ourselves as Mercedes drivers. Mercedes don’t seem to see Sprinters as Mercedes-quality vehicles either. We don’t want to have the Mercedes bling all over the outside of our van.
Running cables into the back doors
Mercedes don’t make it easy to “borrow” their cable runs that go from the van body into the doors. We wanted to put power cables through into the rear doors for powerful work lights. It was more effort than it should have been. Continue reading “Running cables into the back doors”
A slide-out drawer for bike access
We’ve been living with some regular bike stands in the back of the van, but they are hassle to use. Every time we drive anywhere we have to clamp the bikes down with a cargo strap.
Longer term, we plan to add a drawer with built-in bike racks and fork mounts. Pulling the drawer out will give us easy access to load and unload the bikes. Continue reading “A slide-out drawer for bike access”
Contact adhesive: foam to wall panels
I realized I’ve never sprayed with a proper spray gun before, only with rattle cans. I’ve also never worn a NIOSH organic vapor mask before. Wow. What a difference! Continue reading “Contact adhesive: foam to wall panels”
Victron Energy electrical system
We decided to install electrical components that would talk to each other as a system, so that we can control everything from one location rather than crawling around in the back of the van.
Victron Energy make a series of products that are sturdy, well engineered, and have been proven in home and marine installations for several years. They are a Dutch company but they sell worldwide. Continue reading “Victron Energy electrical system”
Moving the factory interior lights
Crew vans come with interior (courtesy) lights in a line down the center of the ceiling. We removed the headliner, so they were dangling loose for a while. We didn’t want to cut holes in our new ceiling for them in the same place, so we moved them.
The biggest issue we thought we’d face is that the light closest to the front of the vehicle has a three-way switch on it: On-when-doors-open, off, on-all-the-time. Without that switch, the lights just wouldn’t function.
Poking around in the van when we were running cables, we found that there’s an identical plug sitting loose behind a light-shaped cut-out in the metal above the rear doors. Continue reading “Moving the factory interior lights”
Taking a trip – using the van how it was intended
We finally got an opportunity to use the van for a biking trip. Maybe we were being overambitious to think we’d have it finished by now. Despite living out of plastic tubs, the trip was loads of fun.
The inside of the van still looks like a spaceship. All reflective aluminum foil with the odd loose wire dangling down. But we do have an insulated floor, an electrical system, a diesel heater, a bench seat in its final (third row) position, and a roof fan.
We loaded the mountain bikes in to the back, a cooler in the front (easier to strap down than the TruckFridge that we will finally be using), the dog crate next to the cooler, and a couple of bags of clothes under the bench seat.
Then we set off for Bend, Oregon. It’s a lovely biking destination and we hit town near the end of the season but with great weather and wonderful trail conditions. Four days of riding wasn’t quite enough, but it was sufficient opportunity to test the van out and also to stock up on some local beer.
On the way down we stopped at Stonehenge. It’s a monument we’ve meant to take a look at several times in the past. Somehow, with the van, taking a detour just felt more appropriate. No need to worry about leaving the bikes on the roof rack because they were locked safely inside. No need to worry about the dog because the roof fan would kick in if the inside temperature got too high. A great opportunity to take in some local sights.