2007 Short Wheelbase High Top Urban Stealth Camper

thebitmaster

Active member
-- Installing Hein's Roof Adapter

Yesterday I put on Hein's adapter with the recommended 3M Window Weld, one of the nastiest and most effective glues I've ever seen.

First I cleaned the area with rubbing alcohol, scuffed it with a Scotchbrite pad, then hit it with the alcohol again. Then I taped off the area:

20170712_211315.jpg

Then I put the 3 lines of glue on the bottom of the adapter.

20170712_211108.jpg

I squashed it into place carefully all the way around, then used a double-gloved hand and a little extra glue to fillet the edge to the tape:

20170712_212230.jpg

I sat up there and fried mosquitoes with my zap racket for 15 minutes, then pulled the tape to get a clean edge. It worked nicely:

20170712_214109.jpg

I then let it sit and cure overnight.

-- Machining the Aluminum Frame

I finished machining the 1/16" aluminum frame to prevent the plastic flange from breaking like Dave did. I traced out the long sides using the flange itself to get the curves and the hole locations. I cut it with a Dremel, drilled it with my press, then used sandpaper to smooth it a bit.

Cutting out the curves

Drilling the screw holes

Once I had the longer sides with the curves done, I bolted them on and used them to measure the shorter flat sides:

Measuring and marking the flat sides of the frame

The result was pretty clean:

The finished aluminum frame
 

thebitmaster

Active member
-- Installing the Maxxair Deluxe Flange with Aluminum Frame

Today I finished the flange install!

This is my work environment , currently with heat indices consistently above 100 oF. :drool:

Here I am perched up there trying not to fall and kill myself amidst the solar panels, tools, and mosquitoes.

Right after it started to get really hot, I realized the screws that came with the fan were too short. The addition of Hein's adapter and the aluminum frame required at least 1 1/2" screws, so I had to ride back into town on the scooter to get those.

Half of my screws are going on top of/inside the roof rafters, so I was only able to make a wood frame for the sides. I used 1 1/8" square sticks 14" long of recycle cedar. I then clamped them on underneath in position, then added some duct tape to make sure they wouldn't stray.

Back up top, I temporarily inserted the fan flange and the aluminum frame, then drilled the holes through the roof and wood to make sure everything aligned correctly.

I cleaned everything with rubbing alcohol again, waited for it dry, and applied my butyl tape.

I proceed to insert the fan flange and gently clamped the wood pieces in place so they wouldn't push out when I put the screws in. I set my drill to the weakest tension setting and put in all 16 screws until the drill stopped driving. At that point there was probably about 1/4" still showing of each screw.

I upped the tension setting on the drill and then carefully tightened the screws, trying to keep the tension even, until I saw the butyl tape oozing out the join. In one place the tape must have been too thin and nothing came out, so I smashed more into that section to make sure it was sealed.

I then used the tip of my .7 MM engineering pencil to neatly cut off the excess butyl tape and get a clean edge.

Finally I snotballed the whole thing with Dicor self-level sealant. Once I got both edges of the aluminum and all the bolts, the aluminum was almost covered anyway, so I went for the gusto and covered the entire surface from the outside edge of the flange plastic all the way down past the clean edge of the 3M Window Weld on Hein's adapter. If I hadn't also used it to install my solar clamshell, I would have been able to do this entire job with only one tube of Dicor. I was forced to open a second tube to finish covering the aluminum on top.

I'm was concerned that the extra aluminum and Dicor might mess up the interface closest to the outside edge? I did not leave a gap of any kind between the rim just outside the rubber gasket trough. However, I just screwed the fan on, and it looks ok.

Seen here from below, I put my Ryobi 18v fan on it hoping to dry it a bit faster.

And here's the fan installed with the white cover:

I tried both fan covers, and I'm *still* not sure which I like better. I decided to go with the white for now, but will take the smoke with me to try in the field.
It's got about 24 hours to dry before I drive to Bryan to see my girlfriend.
 
Last edited:

jackbombay

2003 158" shc
I have a 200 AH AGM battery and 250 watts of solar panels and a 45 quart truck fridge, the fridge does use a fair bit of juice when I'm in warm places that don't cool off overnight, the fridge draws 2.5 amps when running. BUT, there needs to be pretty consistent cloud cover before I feel the need to dump some juice into the house battery from the alternator. I also charge cordless tool batteries off my house battery a fair bit which is a fair bit of juice as well, that is point of consumption that most people don't have. IMO 400 watts of solar will be plenty.
 

thebitmaster

Active member
First Short Road Trip:

I headed to College Station, home of my alma matter, from Austin today, about a 100 miles trip. The dicor had had about 24 hours to dry, and was exposed to one short rainstorm on the trip. No leaks that I can see, but I also can't get up onto the roof right now for a closer examination.

I managed to get the solar panels plugged into the charge controller and battery pack before I left. I was getting about 75 volts off the panels while charging, which is 18V per panel. I was a bit disappointed to see only slightly above 20 A going into the batteries in full sun at noon from my four 100 watt Renology panels. Texas in the summer is about the best case scenario one could hope for testing-wise. Theoretically I should be getting as high as 33 A. However, things are pretty hacked together at the moment, and one of the charger wires is hooked to the battery pack with an alligator clamp rather than being bolted on. The connecting wires are 8 AWG, which is a little smaller than I'd like, but should be more than adequate. Also, my starting voltage was 12.5 V on the pack, so the charger may not have been using its full power. I will have to do another test with the pack down to maybe 60% full and see how that goes. I *am* excited to finally be self-powered! I was able to use the Maxxair Deluxe fan whenever I wanted, and even in shaded spots the panels easily kept up.

I'm leaving on my west coast trip on Wednesday. Before then, I'm hoping to get the alternator relay hooked up and some kind of venting for my flooded battery pack. Right now I'm leaving the house fan on low all the time to make sure the hydrogen gets vented. My battery box has vent holes, but I have to figure out how to route the gas. I really don't more holes in my roof or my walls, but I realize hydrogen rises, so if I want to vent out the floor I will have to install some small fans to provide positive pressure. I'll do more research on this tomorrow.
 
AGM batteries are the call for any inside applications. No venting needed. When I added a couple of these batteries over the rear axle, I changed out the factory lead acid battery under the passenger seat for the same and dumped the small venting tube. Why anyone would allow a vented battery to be anywhere inside of the van is beyond me, even with the venting tube.

For the reliability of the modern AGM's and being able to mount them in any position, even upside down, the risk is not worth it. Nowadays, we have the lithium packs that are even better, and save a ton of weight for battery power storage. Years ago, the lithium packs were fairly new and very expensive, as I found from a local dealer. They are now much more affordable. The weight savings are dramatic, and as long as these packs can be temperature controlled to avoid combusting in hot weather, it is a new day for power storage. Elon is a true visionary for the ages. Thanks to all here.
 

Boxster1971

2023 Sprinter 2500 144wb AWD
Everything I've read about AGM batteries is that they can be mounted in any position EXCEPT upside down. I have mine on their sides under van behind the rear wheels.
 

thebitmaster

Active member
AGM batteries are the call for any inside applications. No venting needed. When I added a couple of these batteries over the rear axle, I changed out the factory lead acid battery under the passenger seat for the same and dumped the small venting tube. Why anyone would allow a vented battery to be anywhere inside of the van is beyond me, even with the venting tube.

For the reliability of the modern AGM's and being able to mount them in any position, even upside down, the risk is not worth it. Nowadays, we have the lithium packs that are even better, and save a ton of weight for battery power storage. Years ago, the lithium packs were fairly new and very expensive, as I found from a local dealer. They are now much more affordable. The weight savings are dramatic, and as long as these packs can be temperature controlled to avoid combusting in hot weather, it is a new day for power storage. Elon is a true visionary for the ages. Thanks to all here.
I really wish I'd had the money to go with AGMs, but I'm stuck with 6V flooded golf cart batteries for the moment, so I have to find a way to vent them. I might look into getting them out of the cabin eventually, but at the moment all the water, propane, and flooded batteries have to live in the coach with me, so external venting is a priority. Right now keeping the house fan on low seems to be ok, but I haven't tried putting more than 20 A into the batteries at a time, and obviously it's not an acceptable long-term solution.

I'd prefer to vent though the floor, but I realize that will require active air circulation, which I might get from one or more 12V computer case fans hooked up to the charging wires. It need to be quiet, though, I don't want to constantly hear the system humming on and off. Putting a vent into the side or roof is a possibility that would eliminate the need for fans, but I haven't had time to research it yet, and am leaving in two days, so I can't order anything again until I reach the west coast.
 

sprint2freedom

2008 NCV3 170ext
I managed to get the solar panels plugged into the charge controller and battery pack before I left. I was getting about 75 volts off the panels while charging, which is 18V per panel. I was a bit disappointed to see only slightly above 20 A going into the batteries in full sun at noon from my four 100 watt Renology panels. Texas in the summer is about the best case scenario one could hope for testing-wise. Theoretically I should be getting as high as 33 A.
Do you have the TriMetric hooked up so you can get a sense of your battery bank's SoC? When the SoC is approaching 90-100% your batteries will not accept a high enough charge rate to get to the maximum charge current even in full sun. Topping off the last 5-10% of the bank takes dramatically longer.

If you draw down your batteries further I suspect you may see your panel output jump up closer to 33-34 amps.

Another thing that you can try is turning on a bunch of electrical loads and watching the charge controller.. its output current should ramp up as it supplies more power to the loads (vs. only to the battery bank).
 

thebitmaster

Active member
Do you have the TriMetric hooked up so you can get a sense of your battery bank's SoC? When the SoC is approaching 90-100% your batteries will not accept a high enough charge rate to get to the maximum charge current even in full sun. Topping off the last 5-10% of the bank takes dramatically longer.

If you draw down your batteries further I suspect you may see your panel output jump up closer to 33-34 amps.

Another thing that you can try is turning on a bunch of electrical loads and watching the charge controller.. its output current should ramp up as it supplies more power to the loads (vs. only to the battery bank).
I do have the Trimetric hooked up and everything running through the shunt. I have it set for the right kind and aH of batteries, but I have *not* done an initial zeroing out yet. Trying out a test with a SOC around 60-65% sounds like a good idea to see if the charger will give me closer to maximum. Once I get the electrical components hard-mounted to my power board and I'm unlikely to mess with the wiring for a while, I'll try it.

I also have the Mercedes factory relay for hooking the batteries to the alternator. I'm definitely intending to install a physical switch, but as far as I can tell, it would be ok for the solar charger and the alternator to be hooked up at the same time. The solar charger should back off when the alternator kicks in, and its over-voltage for the battery is set at 16V, which is much higher than the 14.2 V I get from the alternator.

Does anyone know if it actually effects fuel economy to have the pack charging from the alternator whenever the vehicle is running? Thermodynamics would seem to say it must. The solar charger is probably going to handle the bulk of the charging anyway, but it would be ideal to be able to just leave them hooked up at the same time and let the relay automatically connect the house pack to the alternator whenever the van is running.

One nice thing about my current setup is that it would be trivial to add a fifth panel at the rear. It would require only minor upgrades to the panel mounts, and basically no re-wiring since the panels are in series. My charge controller can handle 500 watts, and I'm only feeding it with 400 at the moment. There might be a tiny amount of overhang over the back, and the panel behind the Maxxair fan would get shaded a bit more, but overall it would be an easy upgrade.
 

sprint2freedom

2008 NCV3 170ext
I also have the Mercedes factory relay for hooking the batteries to the alternator. I'm definitely intending to install a physical switch, but as far as I can tell, it would be ok for the solar charger and the alternator to be hooked up at the same time. The solar charger should back off when the alternator kicks in, and its over-voltage for the battery is set at 16V, which is much higher than the 14.2 V I get from the alternator.
Yes, if you have two charge sources connected the charge voltage will be a weighted average of the alternator and solar charge controller contributions. The output currents of each will combine to charge your batteries but solar production might be less than it would have with no alternator.

Does anyone know if it actually effects fuel economy to have the pack charging from the alternator whenever the vehicle is running? Thermodynamics would seem to say it must.
Certainly it must, but the effect is minimal.

Just doing a very rough back of the envelope calculation.. the OM642 engine is rated for peak output of 140 kW. A fully loaded 220 amp alternator at 14 volts would put out 3080 watts. So the alternator would consume 2.2% of the engine's output under these conditions.

A more typical charge rate might be perhaps 30 amps, or 420 watts. That's 0.3% of peak output. So basically too small to worry about.

One nice thing about my current setup is that it would be trivial to add a fifth panel at the rear. It would require only minor upgrades to the panel mounts, and basically no re-wiring since the panels are in series. My charge controller can handle 500 watts, and I'm only feeding it with 400 at the moment. There might be a tiny amount of overhang over the back, and the panel behind the Maxxair fan would get shaded a bit more, but overall it would be an easy upgrade.
Having started with 400 watts and then added two more panels to get to 600, I recommend it. The additional shading of the roof is nice, and having more power doesn't hurt either.
 

thebitmaster

Active member
Cargo Bed Alpha:

By modifying my successful cargo bed design from the my 12' yurt I live in full time, I was able to make the first bed for the van in a single extremely hot day.

Here's a shot of the Sketchup diagram I used to pull my cut list:

BedOverWheelWell.jpg

Here are the frame pieces that go over the wheel wells in the middle.

20170719_134852.jpg

Here's the finished frame before I loaded it into Junior:

20170719_192324.jpg

And here it is in the van:

20170719_194306.jpg

...and with the 11 inch custom-cut memory foam mattress installed.

I hate pretty much everything about this bed, but it's done and it works. Without the wheel wells it stores twelve 48 quart tubs.
20170719_194232.jpg

This was the last Must Be Done before leaving on my trip, so I stuffed the van to the gills with the rest of my conversion stuff and headed out on the first leg of my trip to visit my Mom in the D/FW area.

20170720_125739.jpg

I elected *not* to bring any propane gear or my convection microwave, so I'll only have my induction cooktop for cooking. It would have been smarter to bring at least my propane camp stove for a backup, but it would have taken too much time to retrieve it and I was already a day late.

I wish I were a bit shorter, because at 6' 2" I can't run my bed across the van and stretch out. I've investigated some of the flare options, but I can't afford them yet. The mattress has been custom sized to be as small as possible and still sort-of fit me, though my feet still hang off the end when I'm fully stretched out.

It's always been my intention to make everything in the van moveable so I can try some Tetris in the field before settling on a final design, doing insulation, final interior, etc. I'm pretty horrified at the moment at how little space is left after putting in the bed, but it does store a huge amount and would be easy to modify while I'm on the road. At this point the van is so full that I'm going to have to move a bunch of stuff every time I want to lie down, but that's temporary. Once I get to Portland and have some friends with garage space I'll be able to start shoving things around and finding a less chaotic arrangement.
 

thebitmaster

Active member
CCA Stranded with Blown Serpentine in Abilene:

Three hundred miles from Hurst and two hundred from my first stop, I heard Bad Noises coming from under the hood during a gas stop in Abilene. The top idler pulley had decided it had somewhere else important to be. Its departure causes both bad feelings and the total shredding of my serpentine belt by the motor, strips of which jammed deeply into the crankshaft pulley.

Thanks to an ex-girlfriend who evidently wasn't wrong about everything, I had a spare serpentine belt. However, nowhere in Abilene had a compatible, or even close, pulley, so I ended up having to order a new kit from SD Euro Parts. The people here taken The Story of the Good Samaritan to heart, and have bent over backwards to help me. One of them let me use his address to ship the parts. Because I'm cheap, I accepted Priority Mail instead of overnighting them by FedEx. This mean no parts for several days.

In the meantime I have no AC in 100 o F heat, no power steering, and am living in a 1/4 finished RV. But, it's an RV with a fully functional 400 watt solar system! I wasn't able to install the Mercedes relay for connecting the car battery to the house pack before I left, but now seemed like a good time.

First I spent about four hours bouncing back and forth from the top and bottom of the engine painstakingly pulling out all the shreds of the old belt, beaning myself in the eye with vice grips in the process. Ouch! At least the scar will probably look cool. :drool:

While I was researching the serpentine repair and the relay install, I used my inverter and Dewalt 120V->12VDC charger to top off the batteries. Super inefficient, but I had power to burn.

In the meantime, I installed a Costco Winplus Flex Mount Backup Camera. Probably because I'm hot, exhausted, and sleep depped, I actually took the time to tie it into the backup wire, which worked. However, this was dumb, because I have no rear windshield, so I pretty much want it on any time the accessory circuit is on. Originally I mounted it on the black plastic cover over the license plate, as close to center as possible. However, the angle was too low, and it would routinely fall off when I slammed the door shut (it's held on to the bracket by a magnet.) Today I tried using just the magnet to mount it high pointing down like a security camera, and that's much better. I basically want it as a full-time rear-view mirror replacement, so I'm going to use it on battery for now and re-wire both ends into the accessor circuit once I have time. The major problem with this camera so far is that it randomly cuts out, which I believe, based on other reading here, to be a problem with the light sensor that's supposed to know when it's dark outside. I think it's getting spoofed by my brake lights and glares while driving. If I can't find a solution to this problem, I'm taking it back.

https://www.costco.com/Winplus-Flex-Mount-Backup-Camera.product.100323832.html

I pretty much used the factory document for installing the relay:

http://www.sprinter-rv.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Aux-battery-retrofit-guideline-NCV3.pdf

Normally I'd want to use 2-gauge welding cable for this kind of heavy power wiring, but since I was basically stranded at Autozone, I decided to vandalize a set of heavy jumper cables instead. They were $50 for 40 feet of 2 gauge cable that *claims* to be able to handle 350 amps. I will probably never put more than 20 or 30 amps through it for more than a few minutes, so it will do, even though they're copper-clad-aluminum. I had my super-expensive crimpers with me, and AZ had the lugs and shrink wrap, so I got to hacking! I bough solid copper lugs and shrink wrap at AZ and used my super-expensive heavy crimper from Waytek and butane soldering iron to put them on.

I disconnected my master ground wire under the steering wheel and only reconnected it when I wanted to test something.

Under the driver's seat was super dirty, so I spent some time cleaning it up.

Next I pulled the positive bus and installed the tiny 150A fuse. I'm still finding random power-wire incompatible !*@*$ under here. :) Once I got one end on, I routed it through the little tunnel that goes from the battery box to the driver's seat, measured the distance to the place the relay is supposed to live, and cut and lugged the other end.

I'm doing all this in 90-100 F heat with the van and portable fan, going into AZ every hour or two for little parts. I got blade connectors for the relay and put them on some wires, but when I went to push the second connector onto the activation tab, it pushed the tab back into the body of the relay! This might be my fault, because I clamped the connector down a bit before putting it on to make sure it was tight. Taking the relay apart, however, revealed that only the tiniest daub of plastic resists this breakage. Bad show Mercedes! Why am I paying for genuine parts, especially ones that carry 50 amps, if they're not better than after market? :bash: It was also a total pain to get apart, I had to drill out the rivet, then put four separate blades under the clips to get the cover off.

I was installing it on the blue-yellow engine-on circuit, which I had already tested. This was dangerous, because without an alternator, I was blowing precious battery power every time I started the engine. I also wanted a manual override, for exactly the kind of alternator-free situation I was currently in. I vaguely realized that making a switch that directly connected the 12V to the relay through a switch would also energize the blue-yellow circuit.The word "diode" bounced around in my head in search of something to connect with, but I was too tired to care, so I just wired it all together. So I installed it to test, and it didn't work. I should have know there was an activation polarity when I saw the diode inside the relay, but I was tired. Worse, the wires I used to hook it up were now incorrectly colored, and I was pretty sure that if I tried to switch them back, it would probably push the blade back into the housing again! !*@*!@!@! Luckily, I was able to switch the wires without much trouble, and after that the relay worked when connected to power. I can't live with myself with incorrectly colored wires in my van. I marked the polarity on the relay for future reference.

I then realized the switch I was using was backward. It connects the two poles on the opposite side of from the switch instead of the same side. I went back and forth on this a few times before I convinced myself I was right. Once I got everything wired up, the relay still wouldn't fire. Also, the blue-yellow circuit no longer seemed to come on. I think maybe energizing it with the override switch blew a fuse somewhere. I was definitely too wiped to track that down, and every minute I delayed the project was precious power that wasn't going into my tired car battery. I decided to call it a day and disconnect the blue-yellow wire and just use the manual override. What I really needed Right Now was the solar panels charging the car battery as well as the house batteries. At that point the relay worked, and I was ready to add the rest of the heavy cabling.

Because I'm not 100% sure where my house pack is going to go, I used the entire cable for both colors so they reach the back of the van. I will trim and re-lug them once I know their final destination. In the meantime I tied them into my 408 Ah battery pack, flipped the relay, and saw the combined voltage on my meter! Power was flowing from the house pack into my tired car battery, and when the sun came up, the solar panels would charge them both.

This also turned out to be Using Murphy to Defeat Murphy moment, because by eliminating the need for an alternator I caused my serpentine belt to arrive a day early! I have it in my hot little hands right now, and will install it once I can convince myself to leave the air conditioned comfort of Monk's Coffee and head back out into The Oven. Autozone has the 36 MM wrench and spline for the tensioner, although I think I won't need the latter because I ordered the whole kit, and the new tensioner has is pinned in the open position. Hopefully by the time I got to bed tonight I'll have three new pulleys and two new belts installed.
 
Last edited:

tahoebear

New member
SOLAR:




I called Maxxair about replacing my white Deluxe cover with a Smoke one. At first there was some confusion, but once I made it clear I just wanted the cover and not the whole fan, not only did things improve, but they claim they shipped me the new cover *for free*. I was super happy to hear that, as the cover is $65, and that's about the same as the difference between the 7000 (white) and the 7500 (smoke.) Now I'll have both to try!

who did you talk to at maxxair? I've got a smoke one on my white van and would love to switch it out for white. Details please on how you got a free cover :)

If your west coast trip rolls thru Northern California come stop by Tahoe to talk conversions :)
 
Last edited:

thebitmaster

Active member
who did you talk to at maxxair? I've got a smoke one on my white van and would love to switch it out for white. Details please on how you got a free cover :)

If your west coast trip rolls thru Northern California come stop by Tahoe to talk conversions :)
I wrote to their sales department and got the following e-mail:

The smoke lid would be the only part you need. It would be part number 05-30520, and would run 66.96 if you purchased it from us. IF you want to place an order, please call in at the number below and anyone who answers the phone can help you place an order.

Mike Dickey
Technical Assistance Coordinator
RV PRODUCTS, a division of Airxcel, Inc.
3050 North St. Francis
Wichita, KS, 67219
Office: 316.832.4357
Fax: 316.832.3417
...so I was prepared to pay for it. When I called the number, at first they thought I wanted a whole new fan, and tried to explain to me that they didn't do whole-unit sales. Once I explained that I had purchased a white fan but wanted a smoke lid, they asked for my serial number. Once they verified it was still in warranty, they took my address info. Instead of asking me to pay for it, they just said "have a nice day" and hung up. A few days later the cover arrived.

I took some pretty careful pictures using the same exposure settings in full sun of the white cover vs. the smoke cover and I'm still not sure I can tell a difference. I meant to bring both with me on the trip, but I ended up only with the white for now.
 

thebitmaster

Active member
Mom is regaining some use of her left hand after the car wreck, and we were able to get her a great deal on a new Camry so she's got wheels again. She still needs my help, but the situation is way better than last year when she broke her right wrist, requiring me to be here all summer.

I'm taking advantage of my Mom's garage to re-build Junior's cargo bed. I updated my Sketchup diagram and I think it will feel a lot more open and uncluttered with the bed side-to-side. I'm longer than the van is wide, so I'm not sure if it will work. Maybe diagonally. There is an a sweet $1500 upgrade available called Flarespace that would make the van 4-6 inches wider that could break the tie if necessary. But instead of paying for that, I'd probably try to make one out of fiberglass myself instead.

Here's my latest Sketchup design. I modeled the curvy, egg-shaped walls to make sure things would fit, and imported and modded several existing models from Sketchup's huge library, which save a lot of time. I *am* concerned that my tubs won't fit as perfectly, but I can probably make it work.

SprinterInteriorWideNotLongBack.jpg

SprinterInterior_WideVsLong.jpg

I've found combining 3D computer work and in-place carpentry to be a fast and effective design method. I can try a bunch of ideas on the computer, then nail down the curvy, non-square details in real life. I was able to figure out quickly which parts of the bed will change (has to be narrower, fits over the wheel wells completely differently) and which parts stay the same (still the same height, etc.)

Here you can see how I changed the frame to fit over the wheel wells. I did all of this in just a few hours with 18V Ryobi tools.

20170803_193035

Even from this one view, you can see how much more open the side-to-side bed makes the rest of the space! I may try sleeping in there tonight if I can get the rest of the frame together.
 

Neil2

Neil2
Wow, you seem pretty daring (building your own FlareSpace pieces). I am just beginning my second urban, stealth Sprinter home. This time with a 2007 SH 144". Will try to keep in touch as that may benefit us both. :thumbup:
 

thebitmaster

Active member
Wow, you seem pretty daring (building your own FlareSpace pieces). I am just beginning my second urban, stealth Sprinter home. This time with a 2007 SH 144". Will try to keep in touch as that may benefit us both. :thumbup:
Thanks! I've never worked with fiberglass, but have with Bondo, etc. It would probably be a lot of work, and way less professional than getting the pre-manufactured ones, but it would also be a lot cheaper.

Portland is the intended destination of my trip this summer. If I can get my Mom safe to live alone again, I should be leaving for there in a week or so. Ya'll temps have been higher than ours here in Texas over the past few days! Please fix that before I arrive. Better weather is a major feature of the trip!

PM for contact info and I'll let you know when I'm in town. :rad:
 
those experiences have included attemping to find urban "camping" spots. I put it in quotes because I would hardly call being stuck inside a van "camping". Those experiences (along with those of several other people on these forums) make it fairly clear to me that the idea is a fantasy that isn't really grounded in any easily encountered reality. I keep speaking out about it because I don't want to see people (particularly young folk who are often staking an awful lot on this idea) burned when they find out that (a) it isn't as easy as they thought (b) it really isn't dependent on their build (c) it isn't actually much fun any way.
I dunno, man .. I've lived in a van for a year. When I'm back in my city I park in the exact same spot every night. It's a piece of cake and it's super fun. There are many Sprinters here, we even hang out at the beach together. There are even "mobile offices"and a few "mobile gyms" that come out here because it's way better than spending the day in a box. There are so many people doing vanlife on the West Coast that I've met people who have been at it for years or even decades. I've had zero problems, tickets, or issues. How stealth you build the vehicle is entirely relevant. I'm inclined to think that you've not tried, you're overly paranoid, or that you choose poor sleeping locations. PM me and I'm happy to help with any questions.
 

Neil2

Neil2
I have to agree whole heartedly with VA. I've stealthed all over CA, WA, OR, TX (incl. the second strictest u.S. county) and parts of NM, UT, ID, CO, MT, AR, MS, TN, KY, AL, LA and others. Slept in the middle of the resort site at Death Valley, residential hoods of Telluride (they don't take to van tramps) and others. I've never felt 'stuck' and don't consider it camping unless I'm, well, camping in the wilds. I'm inclined to believe it is more the person tho' than anything else. You must use common sense, courtesy, never break the laws and personally I never sleep in the same spot twice in a row.
 

Top Bottom