Farley - 2017 144 4x4

[smead]

I got a wild hair a couple of years back and decided to buy a new Sprinter 4x4 from the dealer and build it out. Call it a mid-life crisis, but I've never embarked on such a project before. I've always considered myself relatively handy and figured with enough perseverance and A LOT of reading and video watching, I could turn my empty shell into something fun and exciting. A couple of years later (and a torn rotator cuff surgery mixed in there) I'm still working on him. I knew it was going to be a big bite, but holy cow - some of you all make it look really easy! Anyway, I'm enjoying the project and I thought perhaps I would share my build, even though I still have quite a bit to do. I'll keep updating the thread as I progress along. Quick disclaimer - my welds are strong but they look like #$%@. Many of you will wonder what the heck I'm doing. Don't worry, so do I. I'm already regretting some decisions, but I'm really happy with it for the most part. Let just hope I can finish strong. With all that said, I value the opinions of this forum. Really, really great ideas and talent in here so I welcome your comments and questions.

Ok, some criteria on what I wanted to accomplish:
1) I'm a mountain biker and adventurer. I love the outdoors and just about every trip is something different. Biking, kayaking, hiking, running, climbing...well you get the picture. I love the outdoors and I like to get off the track as much as possible. So I figured the shortest wheel base with the 4x4 would be the most nimble. Space will be an issue. OutsideVan was the genesis of many of the components of my build.
2) Because I like to do different things, the design had to be modular. I want many of the components to be able to be inserted and removed. Which also means no dedicated shower/toilet room. Fine by me.
3) Most of my trips are not multi-week affairs. I do not plan on living in it. As such, my power requirements need to last a week or so. But I also didn't want to worry about power while I was out. So these calcs are important.
4) I'm 6' 2". I want to be able to stand up in it without bending my head.
5) I want to be able to drive with 4 passengers (we're a family of 4). Sleeping 4 is not the desired standard arrangement, but want to be able to accommodate 4 in a pinch (weather is horrible, just need to stop and sleep in a rest stop, etc.)

Design requirements (interior):
Refrigerator
Sink
30ish gallons of fresh water
Stove (alcohol?)
microwave
air compressor
exterior shower
diesel powered hot water heater and cabin heat
AC and DC power
Drop-down monitor for movies (kid entertainment)
platform bed
interior garage for bikes and other gear
roof vent
load lights, reading lights, all sorts of lights.
cabinets (both removable and fixed)
port-a-potty (maybe)

Exterior:
lift kit
35" tires
retractable step
safari rack
off-road lighting
solar power
awning
exterior storage
removable exterior grill (we tailgate too)
backup camera
sliding rear windows
ladder to roof

Yeah - that seems like a lot.

Before I go much further, I'd be remiss on not mentioning a handful of folks that have been EXTREMELY helpful in my build. I've spend countless hours on this forum and I've mostly lurked. Thank you for the content here. I wouldn't have gotten to this point without it or the ridiculous number of YouTube videos. But a special shout-out to Grant Wilson of FreedomVanGo. Grant doesn't know me from Tom down the road. He was super helpful, particularly with questions regarding welding. Best advice he gave me was "do what you know and it will be fine" (context was about aluminum welding). Secondly, I can't thank Ken from KaraVan fame enough either (asimba2 on these forums). I've watched all of his videos multiple times. I love his approach and seeing what he did gave me confidence to move forward. Thanks, guys.

Ok - enough already. Meet Farley. A 2017 high roof 144" Blue Gray 4x4. Very few factory options were ordered, but I did get a few: swivel seats, trailer hitch, driver comfort package, low and high range 4x4, heated seats, active safety package, aux fuel tap.

 

[smead]

Here are some 3D renderings I did of the design before I started. This first one shows the refrigerator in the door opening. There will be a fold out table attached to the left side of that cabinet which will be used for outside cooking and eating.


From the rear showing removable upper cabinets in blue and the sleeping platform. Gray box on the right to contain batteries and electronics.


From the driver's side showing the water tank above the wheel well and the pull out seat that converts into a mini-bed.


What it looks like with the sliding door open:

 

[asimba2]

I didn't see a hot tub on the list so you should be able to get it all to fit. Your layout appears to be somewhat similar to the Sync Vans Sunstone model.

Thank you for the very kind words, much appreciated. My van was definitely a midlife crisis purchase. It was such a good decision that I think I can justify a second midlife crisis.
-Ken

 

[smead]

I didn't see a hot tub on the list so you should be able to get it all to fit. Your layout appears to be somewhat similar to the Sync Vans Sunstone model.

Thank you for the very kind words, much appreciated. My van was definitely a midlife crisis purchase. It was such a good decision that I think I can justify a second midlife crisis.
-Ken

Hi Ken!

Wow - that's funny. In all my research, I've just never come across Sync Vans. But you're right as far as the slide out seat on the driver's side. It was a trick figuring out how to anchor that seat, but your video on how to drop the gas tank and place brackets underneath was key. Thanks again.

When I started this project, I didn't see many layouts with the galley in the sliding doorway. Now it seems to be a rather common layout. All the layouts have similarities, particularly in the 144's since there's not much space, but it's amazing the variety.

 

[Outlookela]

Maybe make your galley longer, the amount of space needed to get in the side door is actually pretty minimal. Can be as narrow as the aisle between driver and passenger.. I think you will appreciate a toilet of some kind. I am glad to have installed a composting toilet.

 

[marc1]

Cool, your lay-out is almost identical to mine but have a standard roof with a Sportsmobile Penthouse top. Keep up the good work

 

[smead]

As with every build that I've ever seen, I started with the obligatory sound deadening and insulation. I used Noico 80 mil sound deadener on the large flat surfaces and wheel wells. It's amazing the difference it makes.


I then followed up with Lizard Skin ceramic insulation. It took 2 2 gallon containers to spray two coats in the areas I wanted to cover. This stuff works well for both a base coat of insulation as well as further sound deadening.




My last layer of insulation was 50' of Thinsulate I purchased from Hein, but that wasn't installed until much later in the process. (In fact, I still have some final pieces to put in to this day.) 50' was the right amount for this project. I will say I always dread working with insulation. Hate the stuff. But Thinsulate was a joy to work with. Easy to cut with scissors, soft like cotton and doesn't make you itch. But it ain't cheap.

Apparently I never took pictures of just the Thinsulate installation, but you'll see it in later photos.

 

[smead]

After driving Farley for a week or so, I realized I couldn't go without music much longer. I did not order the factory radio, mostly because I'm a Google Maps snob and have always preferred it over any factory navigation system. So this escalated in importance in my build and quickly became a priority. I decided on the Kenwood Excelon DDX9905S head unit. It had wireless Android Auto which was one of my criteria. I also purchased a low-profile backup camera mounted where the factory mount location exists. I also added wiring for rear speakers when the time comes to replace all the speakers in the van. Factory speakers, as noted on this forum, are verifiably crap.

One word of caution if you decide to go this route: Because I didn't include the factory radio, I did not have the factory wiring harness with the appropriate connections to the steering wheel controls. This was a major PIA. It took me several iterations of talking with Crutchfield and eventually their harness supplier to get the correct wiring harness necessary to connect to the can-bus. In hind-sight, I probably would have just ordered the factory radio and then replaced it to save me some trouble. The net difference in cost was negligible.

I'm quite happy with the Kenwood head unit and how it works.

 

[smead]

Once the head unit was in and operable, I decided to jump right into the deep end and cut a substantial hole in a perfectly good roof of a vehicle. I've read so many posts on this forum about how to do this properly, along with step by step video instructions with guidance on how not to screw it up so I was confident I knew how to do it right. It didn't make the first cut easy, though.

The advice was spot on, I used the roof adapter so that the Maxxair fan (model Deluxe 7500K) would sit nicely on an otherwise ribbed roof. I also added some flat pieces of aluminum to distribute the pressure from the screws more evenly across the flange. I then covered the flange and adapter with Dicor lap sealant to weatherproof the seams. I followed Ken's step by step instructions on his video here.



On the second photo, you can see the low-profile backup camera I installed while putting in the Kenwood.

That went well enough, whew. So much so that I felt confident to install the passenger sliding door T-Vent Window. I had read about a number of install problems where the CRL window wasn't flush with the exterior contours of the van. But I liked they way they looked and hoped mine would install without too much trouble. I followed the commonly circulated install instructions, first by drilling countless holes from the inside of the van along the seam the frame will rest against. Then, put down tape on the outside to protect the paint and used a jig saw to cut from hole to hole. Some sanding, protective primer, and a little trimming mixed in and the window seated nicely in place.

Here are the holes outlining where I will need to cut.


Tape is ready, now to cut.


Me - excited that I didn't cut the door off.

 

[smead]

Here's what it looks like after installation:

 

[vanhelen]

Here's what it looks like after installation:

View attachment 142191

Do you have any pictures of how it looks on the inside of the van? Thanks!

 

[smead]

Do you have any pictures of how it looks on the inside of the van? Thanks!

Ha! That's funny. Of all my pictures I don't have one of that window on the inside of the slider. I could take one, though (assuming you want to see what it looks like finished). Is there anything in particular you'd like to see?

 

[smead]

Next step was to get a feel for the design by building each component with cardboard and taping them into place. Of all the decisions I've made to this point, this was probably the best one. Several adjustments were made to the design. To Outlookela's point above, I narrowed the entry way a bit so that the galley could be wider. I also determined that putting the microwave above the sink wasn't a great idea because I'd hit my head on it regularly. So I moved it to the other side of the van. The seating bench was shorted because I needed more legroom behind the driver's seat once it was rotated 180 degrees. The galley was raised an inch and the removable uppers were lengthened a couple of inches. All minor adjustments, but they allowed me to maximize the space a little better.


First order was to make sure the bikes fit. These will be mounted on sliding trays like we've seen in other builds.


I used string and magnets to keep pieces relatively level with the floor.




You can see how far out the microwave cabinet sticks out into the aisle. It will be moved directly behind the driver's seat.

 

[smead]

Once I felt comfortable with the size and location of the various objects, my next step was the floor. I first glued 3 strips of 3/4" marine plywood into the deepest ribs of the floor.



I filled the remaining ribs with 2lb Crosslinked Polyethylene foam - 3/8" thick.


Then I covered the entire floor another layer of same density foam, 1/4" thick, leaving cutouts for the existing factory floor anchor points..


The next step was to cut 3/4" marine plywood using the existing factory floor as a template. Because I intended to mount the water tank on the left side of the vehicle and the galley on the right, I had to route water lines across the floor. I didn't want water lines outside the vehicle, so I routed out a channel in the floor to run Pex under the plywood but still inside the cabin.




Because of my height, I wanted to provide as much insulating as possible without compromising my ability to stand without bending over. I've seen most other builds with more insulating capacity, but with the floor raised an additional inch. The jury is still out on this decision, quite frankly, because I haven't yet been in overly hot or cold environments.

 

[smead]

The last piece of the floor was to build up the step where the galley would sit. I decided to build a small storage box under floor so it wouldn't be wasted space. You can also see the channel in the foam where the water line will rest.

 

[smead]

Next up was to install 3 10"x36" panel windows. Two on the driver's side and one on the passenger side. I got these from RB Components.

Since I wanted everything to be level to the floor, I build some stands and clamped them to the wall. I then placed some 1"x2" rectangular steel tubing on the stands for my level surface to measure off of. I created some wood frames that would provide some support to the window as well as something to screw the window flange to.




I used a cardboard cutout on the outside to make sure it looked good, then drilled a couple of pilot holes in the inner section of the cardboard cutout to make any minor adjustments to the frame on the inside. Once that was set, I was able to replicate the same location on the passenger side.


First one is in!


Now the other side.

 

[smead]

And the final window behind the driver's seat. I used a string line on the outside to verify the vertical positioning against the 1"x2" tubing on the inside to make double-check everything was aligned properly.


A couple of views from the inside.

 

[GHansen]

Looking good, smead!

What's the height (face) and depth (bottom) of your upper cabinets? And the width of your step box? And how did you fasten the step box to the van?

My 2015 144" is the same color as yours.

 

[smead]

Thanks, GHansen! I love the color!

The face of the upper cabinets is 13 3/4" and the depth is 12 3/4". The width of the open part of the step is 26 1/2"(what you step on) .

The framed in box that sits on the step is really 'pressure fit' underneath the 3/4" marine plywood. Deck screws through the plywood and into the step box hold it in place. It's quite snug. I glued 1/4" Polyethylene foam to the bottom of frame edge of the step box so it would rest nicely on the ribbed surface of the factory step.

 

[SWhittlesey]

Nothing like new! you'll love it when you're done.