Wrinkledpants
2017 144WB 4x4
Enjoy! Post some photos when you get it
Any Regrets or Buyer's Remorse on Your Sprinter Purchase?
- Thread starter Dana Point
- Start date
OffroadHamster
Well-known member
My wife is a resort girl too. I have two young daughters. The van is the best thing we have ever spent too much money on. It has changed our lives, how we travel and what we get to experience.
It makes far flung travel across the US cheap enough that we drop into a nice hotel when my wife has had enough camping and its still in our budget since we are not paying airfare, daily restaurants etc. Sometimes we camp for a week while heading to a resort, then spend a week someplace with a luxury spa etc. We both get what we want.
If our lives ever went completely sideways we could pull the pin and live in the van and be far more comfortable than most people without a fixed home.
My wife wanted a big RV. I am a backpacker and couldnt do that. She loves the van, the places we go and the things we see that NOBODY ever saw in an RV. The sprinter has a HUGE windshield. There is no better vehicle to roadtrip in if you are into seeing what you are driving through along the way.
We have a lot of luxury for a small van including gourmet pour over coffee in the mornings, internet, hot water, ability to run a hair dryer or other high demand electronics, a bed that rivals the comfort of our $4K latex bed at home.
Show me a hotel room (that I can afford a half dozen times a year) with a view that rivals these and I will sell my van:
It makes far flung travel across the US cheap enough that we drop into a nice hotel when my wife has had enough camping and its still in our budget since we are not paying airfare, daily restaurants etc. Sometimes we camp for a week while heading to a resort, then spend a week someplace with a luxury spa etc. We both get what we want.
If our lives ever went completely sideways we could pull the pin and live in the van and be far more comfortable than most people without a fixed home.
My wife wanted a big RV. I am a backpacker and couldnt do that. She loves the van, the places we go and the things we see that NOBODY ever saw in an RV. The sprinter has a HUGE windshield. There is no better vehicle to roadtrip in if you are into seeing what you are driving through along the way.
We have a lot of luxury for a small van including gourmet pour over coffee in the mornings, internet, hot water, ability to run a hair dryer or other high demand electronics, a bed that rivals the comfort of our $4K latex bed at home.
Show me a hotel room (that I can afford a half dozen times a year) with a view that rivals these and I will sell my van:
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digitalzombie
Member
Your links are dead. I have a daughter on the way and am interested how you set up your van to both carry the daughters+wife and also camp with them. Please post int/ext pics.My wife is a resort girl too. I have two young daughters. The van is the best thing we have ever spent too much money on. It has changed our lives, how we travel and what we get to experience.
It makes far flung travel across the US cheap enough that we drop into a nice hotel when my wife has had enough camping and its still in our budget since we are not paying airfare, daily restaurants etc. Sometimes we camp for a week while heading to a resort, then spend a week someplace with a luxury spa etc. We both get what we want.
If our lives ever went completely sideways we could pull the pin and live in the van and be far more comfortable than most people without a fixed home.
My wife wanted a big RV. I am a backpacker and couldnt do that. She loves the van, the places we go and the things we see that NOBODY ever saw in an RV. The sprinter has a HUGE windshield. There is no better vehicle to roadtrip in if you are into seeing what you are driving through along the way.
We have a lot of luxury for a small van including gourmet pour over coffee in the mornings, internet, hot water, ability to run a hair dryer or other high demand electronics, a bed that rivals the comfort of our $4K latex bed at home.
Show me a hotel room (that I can afford a half dozen times a year) with a view that rivals these and I will sell my van:
sprinterdiscovery
Active member
Zero regrets.
In the 2.5 years we've had our Sprinter, we spent 153 nights in it in many areas around the Pacific Northwest and a bit beyond. Scenic views of Jasper, Banff, Whistler, Seattle, Mt Baker, Mount St Helens, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Portland, San Francisco, and a dozen or so National Parks and State Parks. We've explored Vancouver Island and the San Juan Islands. There are many places where hotels just don't exist or are very expensive. We cook our own food inside, have tea and coffee with us, along with snacks.
Like Wrinkedpants, we too have the Thetford Curve toilet. My wife is shy using public restrooms so she prefers the privacy of our own toilet. I haven't tried Aqua-Kem, but rather we use Thetford's cheaper brand Campa-Chem - this stuff does stink, so I might switch over to Aqua-Kem and try that out. Having our own toilet mounted to the floor is very handy when stuck in a very long traffic jam.
If we figure an average cost of $100 per night at a hotel, we've "saved" about $15,000 so far by staying in our van. It's not a 5-star resort van, nor is it anything fancy. It's home made, not finely finished by any means - but it enabled us to travel long distances and stay basically anywhere. We have a 12 inch queen sized memory foam mattress which is super comfortable, and the Espar D2 heater. The heater and the toilet were two must-haves from my wife before we set out travelling. Both are very convenient.
We have the 170, 4-cylinder. At an average of 9.9l/100km (US23mpg) over the past 100,000km, it's quite efficient, so far very reliable.
Downsides are the expense of travelling on ferries - the overheight and length make it a bit expensive - but it's all negated by not having to stay in a hotel.
I wish I did this about a decade sooner, but the finances were not available at the time. It's my only vehicle, and use it for grocery shopping, as well as day trips, and weekend adventures.
Still working on my travel page, but here is a link to all the places we've traveled to:
https://sprinterdiscovery.com/travel/
You won't regret your purchase.
In the 2.5 years we've had our Sprinter, we spent 153 nights in it in many areas around the Pacific Northwest and a bit beyond. Scenic views of Jasper, Banff, Whistler, Seattle, Mt Baker, Mount St Helens, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Portland, San Francisco, and a dozen or so National Parks and State Parks. We've explored Vancouver Island and the San Juan Islands. There are many places where hotels just don't exist or are very expensive. We cook our own food inside, have tea and coffee with us, along with snacks.
Like Wrinkedpants, we too have the Thetford Curve toilet. My wife is shy using public restrooms so she prefers the privacy of our own toilet. I haven't tried Aqua-Kem, but rather we use Thetford's cheaper brand Campa-Chem - this stuff does stink, so I might switch over to Aqua-Kem and try that out. Having our own toilet mounted to the floor is very handy when stuck in a very long traffic jam.
If we figure an average cost of $100 per night at a hotel, we've "saved" about $15,000 so far by staying in our van. It's not a 5-star resort van, nor is it anything fancy. It's home made, not finely finished by any means - but it enabled us to travel long distances and stay basically anywhere. We have a 12 inch queen sized memory foam mattress which is super comfortable, and the Espar D2 heater. The heater and the toilet were two must-haves from my wife before we set out travelling. Both are very convenient.
We have the 170, 4-cylinder. At an average of 9.9l/100km (US23mpg) over the past 100,000km, it's quite efficient, so far very reliable.
Downsides are the expense of travelling on ferries - the overheight and length make it a bit expensive - but it's all negated by not having to stay in a hotel.
I wish I did this about a decade sooner, but the finances were not available at the time. It's my only vehicle, and use it for grocery shopping, as well as day trips, and weekend adventures.
Still working on my travel page, but here is a link to all the places we've traveled to:
https://sprinterdiscovery.com/travel/
You won't regret your purchase.
Sprinter2017
Member
Great travel log!! One day my brain will give out and something like this would be nice to look back on, thanks for sharing! This may be the kickstart I need to start keeping a travel journal and not be so low tech.
Cheers, and may your tires keep rolling......
Cheers, and may your tires keep rolling......
Dana Point
Member
You guys are livin' the dream! Wow, awesome travel log and memories. I'm inspired and hope to soon be following in your tire tracks. Thanks for sharing, very impressive!
sanomechanic
Well-known member
Pressed for room? Here is the answer for an low cost emergency toilet that can be used for storage otherwise
Attachments
Just MHO, I think part of what makes it work or not is doing the build in 6-9 months, not 2-3 years.
My wife has gone camping before, but really isn't all that into it. She likes to have a shower and look fresh every day.
The whole van thing didn't make sense to her until Dave Orton / graphite dave gave her a tour of his van. That was a game changer.
Building out a van interior is a big project - not so different than building a house in some ways.
Things that I eventually implemented that helped a lot:
- Having a part time helper. It is amazing how much time is spent getting in / out of the van to retrieve a tool or part.
- Heavy duty rolling wire shelves. It is super handy to have the parts and tools on shelves that can be rolled up to the van and rolled back into a stored location.
- A place to work on the van that doesn't need to be disrupted.
- Just because you "can" build something, doesn't mean that you necessarily "should" build something.
If you can purchase a part or feature set, even if it seems a bit expensive - do it.
Put a value on your time, for example $10 / hr. If you can build something in 4 hrs but buy it for $30, buy it.
Just MHO.
Harry
My wife has gone camping before, but really isn't all that into it. She likes to have a shower and look fresh every day.
The whole van thing didn't make sense to her until Dave Orton / graphite dave gave her a tour of his van. That was a game changer.
Building out a van interior is a big project - not so different than building a house in some ways.
Things that I eventually implemented that helped a lot:
- Having a part time helper. It is amazing how much time is spent getting in / out of the van to retrieve a tool or part.
- Heavy duty rolling wire shelves. It is super handy to have the parts and tools on shelves that can be rolled up to the van and rolled back into a stored location.
- A place to work on the van that doesn't need to be disrupted.
- Just because you "can" build something, doesn't mean that you necessarily "should" build something.
If you can purchase a part or feature set, even if it seems a bit expensive - do it.
Put a value on your time, for example $10 / hr. If you can build something in 4 hrs but buy it for $30, buy it.
Just MHO.
Harry
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glasseye
Well-known member
sanomechanic
Well-known member
The pool noodle is cushy. Not a bad sit. Beats a public toilet any dayHA! Love it! Girls might temporarily balk, but an emergency is an emergency.
Dana Point
Member
- Just because you "can" build something, doesn't mean that you necessarily "should" build something.
Thanks Harry. That's me. If I tried DIY, it wouldn't turn out well.
Thanks Harry. That's me. If I tried DIY, it wouldn't turn out well.
sanomechanic
Well-known member
It isn't my intention to discourage people from doing work on their own vans at all. What I meant is that it is easy to accidentally get into a mode where it is difficult to know if you should buy or build a part.
People are sometimes surprised that we build van electrical systems and deal with a lot of wire and terminations - but we outsource all of our heavier wire build work.
As an example, in August I purchased ~ $700 of heavy guage wire with terminations / lugs from a US supplier. Their entire business is building heavy wire like this. I ordered it on a Friday morning and it arrived on Monday.
2 boxes full of various lengths, colors, lug specs, etc. Cheaper (and great quality) than I could make the same wire even if I owned all of the tools. In the meantime, we worked through the weekend on other stuff.
It is a matter of working on the portions that you enjoy or really want to work on, and jobbing out the other stuff to people who specialize in an area and have economy of scale on their side.
Dana Point
Member
Absolutely agree!! Thanks!
My only regret is I bought a dark color van, gray, When it's hot out it can get very hot. I just put vinyl wrap on the roof, white aluminum color. It has really reduced the heat. It would get so hot that I could not climb the ladder to put boards on the racks without burning my hand on the roof. I wish I had bought the beige color, which was my second choice when I ordered.
Dana Point
Member
Thanks for confirming my color choice - Pebble Gray aka TAN!! The last couple years of camping I spoke to so many owners who had dark colors and they warned me. The roof wrap is a great idea.........good thinking!