Adventure Van -> Truck Camper -> DIY.Roamer

Yeah, just saw your project over in Duke's Vans thread. This project started there too. In fact, I suspect Duke's thread was responsible for a lot of Geek's motivation to buy the sprinter in the first place.

Like any Geek project, this one quickly grew to the point that it needed its own thread, for fear of completely taking over the vans thread!

Dang. I think you already bought something.

Anyway, these are the shit: long lasting and very quiet. Great price for these things, too.

I can't believe I've put 10,000 miles on the thing already



I stopped by the dealership and had the 10K service done.
They have a few Sprinters in stock if anyone's looking




They also had this $220,000 piece of gull-wing-goodness there for me to drool over while I was waiting

We were going to go snowboarding today and work on the van tomorrow but it is windy today and not tomorrow so we switched days.

I started the day by building the rail for the right side mounting to the van...

First cut the 8 foot rail down to legth and then mark the location of the 6 holes:


Using the drill jig drill the 6 holes:

...they end up coming out perfect thanks to the jig.


...and voila. The other rail is mounted to the van (again with a little bit of knuckle busting to get the nuts on the backsides.


Cheryl spent the day cutting and gluing luxury liner pro into the slots... she's doing a great job (compare this to the photo above.. which has the black damplifier vibration damping only.. and then below the mass loaded vinyl and closed cell foam glued on):
right rear

left middle


I decided to change something in my cabinet design... the rear panels have to be assembled the way that they are because of the door hinge access... but the front panels do not have to be this way:



...by "this way" I'm referring to the fact that the closest corner has a full height vertical, but the wall side has a vertical that is inset in the two horizontals.
I don't have an option in the back but in the front I can make things look better..

In the back.. the vertical is inset to allow the door hinge to fit:


So, I pulled the panel...


..and am now making it with parallels. Looks tidier



I then cut out a piece of LLP...



..and laminated the inside.


I now have one very quiet cabinet wall

I built the vertical walls for the right side cabinets as well.. but I'm waiting on UPS to show up with the end connectors so I can put it all together.

They are supposed to be here Monday along with the live hinges for the bed platform that bridges the gap.

Still looking good, keep up the pics and the good work!

I was thinking about chassis flex and how the wood will handle that...creaking and moving? And moisture/fluid spills? The wood does look incredible though! I think I would have gone with an indoor/outdoor carpet. Lighter and better sound absorption as well.

The bed platform will be carpet as will the walls below the upper cabinets and above the lower cabinets.

I've been driving around for a week with the floor in it (though I removed it today to protect it) and the van is silent - not a sound/creek anywhere. Everything is precision fit and nothing is able to move (I'm putting a lot of effort into making sure). As of the moment.. the only "creek" I have is in the swivel of the seat I'm sitting on.. haven't figured out how to get rid of it yet

The floor is currently composed of the vans sheet metal, then damplifier, closed cel foam, mass loaded vinyl, plywood laminated with fiberglass, and then the hardwood on top of all that.
Pretty much no sound comes through the floor anymore

The luxury liner pro will be even a bigger part of this when the back of each cabinet is laminated with it (the floor already is).

It is more like 2 plates.. one over the other.

There is an acentric post in the middle connecting them and then about a foot in diameter there are little roller wheels that the chair's weight is on as it rotates.

I haven't looked into if it is a roller wheel or the central post that's squeaking... but I'll get to it eventually

These are the only photos I currently have.. I'll try to get "innard" photos another time

Ironically.. I think it runs on delron wheels.. I have to take a closer look. For all I know the squeak could be one of my mounting bolts not being snug

I have a torque wrench.. the german instructions didn't come with a torque spec

These -- http://www.brakeproducts.com/ajax-uj/p29.htm -- will do in a pinch.

How many taps do I own... and you think I could find an M8 1.25?



nope.. off to sears (where the guys are also getting to know me by name...)

When we got back from snowboarding I was happy to find some of my connectors had arrived... specifically my end connectors.

When making a 3 way corner junction... you need a bit of a trick to be able to do inset panels like I'm doing in that any connector hardware you use is going to block up one of the tracks.

These guys to the rescue



It is a way for you to connect an intersection without an external bracket.

First you tap the end of the piece you are going to bolt into:


80/20 is super easy to tap thanks to the design of the holes.. the cut material just falls through while you cut.. no need for "back and forth".



Next.. I take the jig I bought:


and mount it flush with the end and then run the drill press all the way through


This gives me a hole that is in perfect alignment with the threaded hole in the end stock.


Why do I need this hole? For allen wrench access to tighten the two pieces together






You tighten it down and you have a firm end connection


with only a minor slot intrusion



When doing a piece that slides into another, you can "preload" the extrusion


slide it in.. then snug it down on both ends.

Doing things "right" takes time.

When I did the first panel a few weeks ago... it was "close". I was just "throwing it together" but it came out so nice I thought I could live with it. It turns out my opening was just slightly bigger than the exact width of 6 of my boards I put it together with spacers and gaped it even on both ends: nobody would ever notice.

But it was bugging me.

So I took it all apart and did it again... right.

With the new end connectors I had to notch the wood to go around them. No big deal... 30 seconds with the dremel

..and voila


Insetting both ends and I had a great fit:


However, after insetting the proper 4/10ths, the gap was significant on the other end.

8/10ths of an inch significant.

So I fired up the table saw and went after making just the right size 8/10ths by 21.1" piece with 4/10ths routing on 3 sides... and then notching it so that it'd fit around the end connector as well. Ended up being quite a complicated little strip.

...but the effort was worth it






The results: One "perfect" panel. (or perfect enough for me )





...now only 2450852408x10e23 to go.

I have what looks like exaclty the two same tap sets... A Craftsman Metric and a Hanson/Ace standard

I'm curious what your added weight estimate/goal is for the project?

It looks incredible, and I'm sure it will be awesome when you are done, but you are definitely adding materials (notably all the sound dampener and the solid wood) that are not the lightest...

Knowing how thorough you are, I'm sure you have thought it through carefully when you made your build-out decisions.

But at first look, it makes me think about Colin's mantra...

Good question.

The sound damping is significant. 468lbs was the shipping weight (I'm not sure if we'll use it all). This is weight I have no problem justifying considering the 3+ hours I spend in this thing every weekday and considering the impact it has made on overall comfort of the vehicle. By the time we are done this should be an exceptionally quiet van and that is important to me.

The wood is amazingly light because the hardwood is actually planed quite thin.
It is 10mm thick (we considered some stuff that was a full 25mm thick.. it was gorgeous but it was just too heavy :eek1 )
It is actually significantly lighter than if we'd used plywood or particle board like the "van builders" do (i.e. sportsmobile, etc).

All of the 80/20 with connectors, etc I'd imagine is going to come out about 300lbs by the time everything is done.
It is the "light series" but it is still quite significant. the ULS (ultra light series) would have likely been adequate but it isn't available in the smooth finish that I prefer.

After you throw in other items like the 75lbs in seat swivels, house batteries, fridge, stove, sink, etc etc.. it is surely going to add up.. but I have no idea what the total number is going to be.

I'm not sweating it though.. if you look at those "full RV" conversion sprinters that sell for $100K+ - it'll be significantly lighter than any of them could ever hope to be. The van is definitely up to the task.

It was 5440 lbs when I started with the van stripped. I'll weigh it after it is done.. and then I'll weigh it again after we store 1000 lbs of snowboards/snowshoes/flygear/mountainbike gear/dirtbike gear/ etc in it If you consider the 170" extended van is the same powertrain/engine/etc.. and it starts at ~6200lbs.. I have 800lbs before I'm "up to zero" for what mercedes produces "stock" (how's that for self-serving logic).

With sprinters, the general consensus is that the "weight penalty" on gas mileage is not too significant compared to aerodynamics. Putting things like roof racks, nerf bars, etc on the things tends to really impact the mpg numbers. I'm guessing that the flarespace would cost the van ~1mpg.

My mileage has changed slightly more than 1mpg due to the AT tires.

Interesting link...I noticed that it specifies less torque for a lubricated bolt...can anyone explain to me why that is the case? I've actually read on forums where people say just the opposite?

With the lubricant it takes less rotational force to reach the required longitudinal tension as you have less friction to overcome?

Just a guess