Sprinter prototype layout

The old van ended up pretty much to plan minus some luxury items built-in, which were replaced by off the shelf portable items.

The new van is 1100mm longer.

• I can turn the queen bed to sleep length-ways without smooshing it in.
• A proper 900mm x 700mm (standard small size) shower fits behind the driver seat.
• Seats are reduced to 500mm wide which fits an automotive bucket seat.
• The table is reduced to 650 long instead of 900mm and will probably lift against the wall again.
• The fridge is modeled to scale on a 12/24V camper fridge found at Jaycar.
• I expect to use a 300mm wide two burner stove top similar to the cheap Divanti brand stuff.
• The sink will be whatever fits in the remaining space of about 500mm.
• A large access sliding door to the storage area under the bed will be repeated.
• Cupboards above the driver may or may not happen. I like how open this van is.
• Bed cupboards are 300x300mm for the full 2030mm length of the bed.
• Space under the bed is ~900mm tall again to fit bikes. The Sprinter is ~100mm taller than the old van.
• Kitchen overhead cupboards are 1350x400x400. Under-sink cupboards are whatever fits.

Old Transit van design. Sideways shortened bed.

Tiny-house Sprinter van. There are NO vans on planet earth with a build like this that fit EVERYTHING and has no "transforming" furniture to make stuff fit. Literally none. This will be a first on planet-crazy-humanz.

Beginner level cosmetic fixes: mudflaps

The previous owner was kind enough to repeat the same failed kludge fix repeatedly on the right rear mudflap, and leave me with the beginners level fix that should have been done from the start.

This guy had slammed in x9 different sheet metal roofing screw holes into the rear fender over many failed mudflap repairs...why repeat the same failure so many times?? The guard was torn in half, and the roofing screws used had a smaller washer-head than the original screws. Just so bad. So Tradey'.

So I gave it a different level of beginners kludge repair, one that will probably last the remainder of the van's lifetime.

The broken pieces were kludged together with some truss-strapping I'd found on the side of the road years ago, and pop rivets. I gave them a squirt of black paint, and found some fresh screws with pan-head-washers and sprayed those black and re-mounted the whole thing. It's a massive kludge, but I don't expect it to ever fail. Some tyre cleaner/blackener makes it look fresh again after install.

ps: mudflaps are a RoadWorthy component in .au.

The rear step guard went back in this afternoon as well. I'm almost done with the basic cosmetic fixes and clean-up, then will move on to the heavy mechanical repairs after I get a windscreen crack fixed this week some time.

Quick n dirty drivers seat upholstery fix

The Sprinter drivers seat was heavily damaged. I've ordered some cheap seat covers, but the damage needs preventative measures.

- Some hemming tape was heat sealed to the upper fabric with a piece of denim.
- The mess was brought together and hand sewn with basic back-stitches at ~5mm spacing.
- Color in the mess with sharpie. Contrary to the camera image, it looks better colored black in real life. (there was a mix of blue, grey, and black surfaces prior).

...very kludge, not pretty, better than exposed foam...it'll do. At $1300 for a replacement seat, the prior owner gets minus 1000 points for disrespect of their own tools.

Some seat covers will make the eyesore go away.

Sprinter tow hitch light refurb and misc fixes

A rear impact had pushed the rear step up into the path of the back doors making the opening and closing procedure a bit of a scrape-fest. I loosened everything off and reseated it and fixed the problem, but there was just enough rust that I decided to remove the whole thing and give it some attention. The trailer wiring harness was also destroyed so I tucked that out of the way to fix later.

Like the previous van, I had to use a 2metre breaker bar to get the wheel nuts off all round. Everything got anti seize grease, and now regular humans can perform a tyre change if required.

Stuff removed, power wire brushed, pressure washed, rust treated, sprayed gloss black (not shown), plastic step got some heat-gun reshaping, and everything was reinstalled. The doors now swing freely and the wheels are now removable with van tools.

It was a stinkin' hot 38'C day yesterday. I got up at 5:30am and worked 'till 11am then spray painted late in the evening and finished reinstalling everything this morning.

Images in no particular order, and not really with an audience in mind, they're more reference shots for me.

Old van gone, new van arrives.

So the old van sold...and I bought a replacement project.
Old van: 2004 Ford Transit, Long wheel base, mid-height roof (updated to high), 2.1L turbo diesel with over 560k/km's on the clock, manual, no cruise.
New Van: 2011 Mercedes Sprinter, Long wheel base (1100mm longer), full height roof (100mm taller), 2.1L turbo diesel with 260k/km's on the clock, auto, has cruise.

It's a little rough and needs lots of cosmetic touch ups, but so did the Transit. I paid a premium and most certainly did not snag a bargain. It was a concrete cutting tradey vehicle, and was not loved at all *except* for a complete Mercedes Dealer service history right up to the current date. People like me don't care. People who want to buy a camper however...need these cosmetic assurances.

Garrick and I pulled 300kg of steel trash out of the rear of the van, then I spent several days rough-cleaning it to the point where I can *START* actually cleaning it properly so I can set a zero-start-point for the van and begin planning the camper phases. I've treated all the surface rust with phosphoric acid, then given it a splash of some Rust-Guard paint primer. It'll all be covered later, but now I don't have to deal with rust plague on my shoes every time I step in there. I'll clean up the cab soon.

Garrick is working on a tiny arcade cabinet. He's got some joystick, button, and screen hardware ready to install after he gets a nice gloss finish completed on the case.

Mindy sent some pictures of Oreo being a cat. :)