144" Passenger Van to Adventure Sprinter

We decided this week that our research will never really be done so we're taking the plunge to start the conversion of our 2015 144" Passenger Van into a multi-use vehicle.

How it will be used:
1. Daily driving vehicle
2. Towing vehicle for trailer+car
3. Camping for short and long trips as well as at the track.

Requirements:
1. Sleeping - two adults 5'4" and 5'9" with a real mattress that doesn't have to be made up every night. Room for golden retriever to sleep (on floor hopefully)
2. Eating - storage for food including cold storage, minimal indoor cooking for rainy days, storage for cooking and eating equipment, covered outdoor space
3. Living - water containers, blackout shades, screening, potty, solar outdoor shower, lighting, indoor dining for 2
4. Dog - harness, bed, food
5. Electronics - laptop(2), fan, phones, ipad, microwave, hotplate, hotpot
6. Other Storage - trailer ramp extensions, track gear, climbing gear, books, games, personal care items, outdoor cook stove & fuel

Good luck! Looking forward to your build.

Sent from my C6833 using Tapatalk

We are using our 144 in a similar way. So far, we haven't added anything major, just a portable potty, air mattress and a cooler, but we are loving it. 4500 miles and 9 states in 2 months and wouldn't change a thing.

Best of luck in your adventures.

Maiden Voyage

The first thing we did to the van was to remove all the seats. A nice surprise for me is that the rearmost seat was bolted to the wall so we found two additional places to attach things without tearing apart the wall coverings. Although we initially thought we'd leave in the front bench, it turns out that just leaves too little living space in the rear. We also opened the 'emergency' window behind the driver. The dealer has assured us that careful use of the window is completely ok.

We too took our van on an initial one week camping trip with everything in milk crates attached to the D-rings in the floor. I also purchased several fabric bins. One holds my purse and other travel items, the other snacks.

And we quickly added two old bathmats to the back for the dog. He's in a harness - something we quickly realized was necessary. Turns out the vinyl flooring is REALLY slippery. The harness is attached via climbing rope to a D-ring but that is only a temporary solution. Seems we need to add some sort of less slippery flooring to our list too.

Fortunately, we took screen headnets because the mosquitoes were brutal during the night. Thus, the addition of screening to the list.

Research also revealed that adding a refrigerator is not for the weak of heart. We don't plan to often stop at places with RV hookups so we'd have to run the refrigerator off the battery. Instead we plan to get a better cooler and see how that works.

Progress:
The leg fittings have arrived so today is the day to mark off the lengths on the c-channel and take it to the metal shop tomorrow for cuts.

Today I found the vinyl that I'm going to use to wrap the plywood base as well as the top of the platform for two reasons:
1. We're going to buy a sleep number mattress that requires you have a protected base for warranty purposes
2. I want to pad the front and back to minimize bad bumps from ducking underneath to store or retrieve items.
Next up is figuring out how to attache them. The vinyl will also extend over the side rails to help with ratttling. I'm thinking of putting eye hooks into the plywood platform and grommets into the vinyl and running a cord to snug up the top. Because the vinyl will go over both the plywood and the metal channels I don't want to staple gun them to the bottom of the platform. We still have this idea that we might want to be able to take everything out of the van and put the seats back in.

Also got one cabinet quote last night for the two 36" x 18" x 33" cabinets that we want. It won't be much cheaper than modifying commercial cabinets but they will be what we want:
1. base lowered to the floor (no kickplate) so that we can use u-bolts to attach them to the seat brackets
2. non-standard height so we don't lose any of the window
3. drawer glides adjusted so we can bolt the rear side of each cabinet to the bed frame and not have interference

Picked up a bunch of fabric samples and ordered stronger magnets for the curtains that will cover the windows that have metal frames. The 1/8 x 1/8 x 1/4 aren't strong enough. Ordered 1/4 x 1/4 x 1 (https://www.apexmagnets.com/1-x-1-4-x-1-4-bars-blocks) which will fit into the seam binding channel that is already on the curtain.

Platform:
Channels are marked and ready for cutting. We used 5/6 of the channels so there's one left over if we have an oops.
As well as trimming the channels, the rails that run along the side of the van will have holes drill so they can be attached where the rear bench seat was previously attached. 2/4 base fittings also need to be trimmed so they can fit up against the wheel wells.
Can't wait to start the assembly!

Initial Platform Design

This weekend we successfully installed our bed platform.

Phase 1 - Install steel channels - Cooper B-line with fittings
Phase 2 - Install plywood platform base - bolted to the channels
Phase 3 - Install vinyl cover - bolts covered with tape and front and back covered with batting before vinyl attached with cleats to underside of platform

We celebrated with our mattress purchase.

Of course, looking at the van, we realized our cabinet configuration was going to take up a great deal of living space so it's back to the drawing board to perhaps put one of the 2 cabinets under the bed platform.


I'm still trying to figure out how to size photos on my Mac you can see progress on our site
Sprinter Adventures

Good progress and good website as well Triplealpha.
Keenly following what you put up

we are also turning a 2006 passenger van into a camper. All interior paneling and roof paneling out. screened windows expected soon. insulation and wiring research underway. thanks for the coverage of your project.

Re: Maiden Voyage

Triplealpha said:

We also opened the 'emergency' window behind the driver. The dealer has assured us that careful use of the window is completely ok.

Click to expand...

Great info. Could you share how you opened this window and has it been working for you? i think you have to break pins to open it (?) - if so, what have you replaced the pins with? Thanks for all the great info of our build! (I just got a 2016 4x4 passenger and have been living in it the past two weeks with all seats removed and love it.)

Re opening window: we did indeed break the pins. They aren't needed to keep the window closed as the handles lock it close. We're being careful with opening it and have used a wheel chock to keep it open - to be replaced as we go forward. I'm also going to make a scree to cover that window but not sure of the design yet. Stay tuned