Okay folks. Here's my conversion in progress. As I've stated in another thread, I bought a 2008 2500 long bed/high roof on EBay for $33,001.00 with less than 3000 miles. This included sprayed in foam insulation, plywood paneling and the 6 'Winnebago style' windows and 2 for back doors were included in the deal but weren't installed. Sportsmobile wanted over $5000.00 to install them but the conversion company I bought the Sprinter from did it for $2000.00. I believe I saved over $20,000.00 over dealing locally on this Sprinter. The owner of Midwest Coachworks in Ohio had bought this van to convert for another customer who couldn't complete the deal so with the economy, he auctioned it off in early December. Around the beginning of this year, we worked out a deal for him to do a custom conversion for me.
So far, thanks to weather, etc delays, we've got a dinette in the rear raised about 24' to be able to access stored totecases, etc from the rear or inside by raising the seat cushions on dinette. There is also a shore power panel near the front of dinette on driver's side along with a power converter, 2 batteries, inverter, etc. In front of dinette on driver's side is a shower then a 76" gaucho sofa/bed in back of driver's seat. On the passenger side in front of the dinette, we are building a kitchenette with a convection microwave, 4 cubic foot refrigerator, sink with hot/cold water and holding tanks, some of which will be mounted underneath as needed but they will be heated.
We've already changed the badges to MB and will do a woodgrain dash kit in it. We've installed a 15k btu central AC/heat system that works of a remote control and a superfan in roof. I may do a remote control superfan later on. We're going to put some hard wood floors in it instead of carpeting.
The stereo will be a Kenwood Excelon DNX8120 as seen at:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113DNX8120/Kenwood-Excelon-DNX8120.html?tp=144&avf=N
It has 2 USB lines coming off the back that I'll run into the glove box to connect 2 500GB external hard drives to. I have one HD with about 64,500 MP3's and another with ~ 600 .AVI movies on it. When I convert the movies to .AVI, they only take up about 750-1000 MB per movie. I think I'll be able to watch these movies through the dash unit. It also has built in Bluetooth and I'll set up the back up camera for it.
We're installing an 'in motion' satellite dish on the roof. Pricewise, it was only about $400.00 more than the stationary model. This allows me to listen to the XM radio stations I normally have at home through DirecTV without having to pay for another XM radio subscription. It will also be connected to a 26" Toshiba flat screen TV with built in DVD player mounted in back of passenger seat. This TV will be stored for travel.
The generator that we're installing is:
http://meps.com/products_details.aspx?PRODUCT_ID=4
It runs off the Sprinter diesel engine. This way, I'll have one less engine, etc to maintain and gives me more room in the back of the van without having to cut into the walls/floor and should provide smooth power for laptop use.
I plan to install a Jotto desk for my laptop and run a video line up to 26" TV to use for my monitor along with a wireless mouse and keyboard for use while on Gaucho sofa. I could have set satellite dish up for a modem also but will probably use a datacard for laptop instead.
So far, thanks to weather, etc delays, we've got a dinette in the rear raised about 24' to be able to access stored totecases, etc from the rear or inside by raising the seat cushions on dinette. There is also a shore power panel near the front of dinette on driver's side along with a power converter, 2 batteries, inverter, etc. In front of dinette on driver's side is a shower then a 76" gaucho sofa/bed in back of driver's seat. On the passenger side in front of the dinette, we are building a kitchenette with a convection microwave, 4 cubic foot refrigerator, sink with hot/cold water and holding tanks, some of which will be mounted underneath as needed but they will be heated.
We've already changed the badges to MB and will do a woodgrain dash kit in it. We've installed a 15k btu central AC/heat system that works of a remote control and a superfan in roof. I may do a remote control superfan later on. We're going to put some hard wood floors in it instead of carpeting.
The stereo will be a Kenwood Excelon DNX8120 as seen at:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113DNX8120/Kenwood-Excelon-DNX8120.html?tp=144&avf=N
It has 2 USB lines coming off the back that I'll run into the glove box to connect 2 500GB external hard drives to. I have one HD with about 64,500 MP3's and another with ~ 600 .AVI movies on it. When I convert the movies to .AVI, they only take up about 750-1000 MB per movie. I think I'll be able to watch these movies through the dash unit. It also has built in Bluetooth and I'll set up the back up camera for it.
We're installing an 'in motion' satellite dish on the roof. Pricewise, it was only about $400.00 more than the stationary model. This allows me to listen to the XM radio stations I normally have at home through DirecTV without having to pay for another XM radio subscription. It will also be connected to a 26" Toshiba flat screen TV with built in DVD player mounted in back of passenger seat. This TV will be stored for travel.
The generator that we're installing is:
http://meps.com/products_details.aspx?PRODUCT_ID=4
It runs off the Sprinter diesel engine. This way, I'll have one less engine, etc to maintain and gives me more room in the back of the van without having to cut into the walls/floor and should provide smooth power for laptop use.
I plan to install a Jotto desk for my laptop and run a video line up to 26" TV to use for my monitor along with a wireless mouse and keyboard for use while on Gaucho sofa. I could have set satellite dish up for a modem also but will probably use a datacard for laptop instead.