"Magic Carpet"-Our SMB Sprinter Build

[Robi]

Well, Here we are again, it's been a long time and sometimes a bumpy road since my last post, but after the EPA pollution hold delay on approving diesels, the MBZ factory delivery wait time, our switch to the different SMB build location (Texas), and the long production conversion queue for these desirable SMB van conversions we now have a brand new unconverted 2017 2500 144" MBZ Sprinter 6 cyl Van optioned the way we want it.... well actually SMB Texas has the van, and the actual physical factory conversion is now beginning. Sportsmobile locations have different patterns of expertise and capability so our particular conversion work is being done at the Texas location.

I have worked on the conversion design for over a year now now and in cooperation with SMB have developed detailed conversion plans and in depth construction supplements; prototyped and dry assembled several special component packages for some functions which include specially ordered pieces of equipment, and then shipped the component packages to SMB to install as part of the conversion. During the design phase I've read many forum posts and online articles, talked with several special equipment suppliers, visited the closer Fresno location several times and learned a ton of stuff about Sprinters, van conversion, and the equipment and furnishing to make our "MAGIC CARPET" design meet our needs and also reduce the SMB Texas factory workload as much as possible from 1800 miles away.

We have found encouraging partners in Sportsmobile Texas President Paul Meyer and Brian Dollar who not only saw through the level of detail provided to the rationale of the underlying conversion design... but have the factory capabilities to produce it.

While the things we wanted have not always been easy and more than once I thought they were impossible we stuck with developing this very involving and interesting functional design and engineering experience and SMB Texas stuck with us. We are on our way. Will the result look like a recreational vehicle from the outside... no it will not! But we have shrunk a whole motorhome and all our experience into a 19'4" van, our "MAGIC CARPET".

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time"... T. S. Eliot

You may remember from earlier posts we are trying to apply our past van and motorhoming experience starting with a 1950s Ford station wagon all come together to create a vehicle that brings maximum capability, function, and freedom to travel, a functional motorhome in a take home size package, hence the name "MAGIC CARPET" and to whet your appetite; Here are the characteristics of our van to be.

"Our 2017 Sportsmobile RB HT Sprinter Van conversion will present a normal Sprinter van appearance with no visible RV branding, RV utility connections, vents, nor compartments. It is designed for home neighborhood parking, short and long distance touring, and personal art work in scenic areas. The functional interior is intended for maximum light, air, view, and open feeling with a residential style and workspace. The van/motorhome will be lived in and out of up to two and a half months at a time while traveling, and will provide maximum maneuverability, safety, art work capability, and the ability to park in tight spaces and is intended for two elderly persons with special needs and physical limitations addressed in its design by:

Unobtrusive Exterior Appearance & Controllable Interior Lighting Levels

White Exterior Color For Heat Control

Four Original Sprinter Fit Continuous Glass T-Vent Screened Tinted Windows

Two Identical Multifunctional Bed/Settees

Hanging Art Supplies Cabinet & Functional Workspace

Creative Space Use To Maximize Storage Volume & Equal Sharing

Special Compact Kitchen Cabinet Unit

SS Isotherm Drawer Refrigerator/Freezer

Specially Designed Residential Style Bath (OD 48”x27)

Electronically Controlled Easy To Use GW & BW Waste Systems

User Friendly MCD American Duo Roller Blinds (in RR, LF, & LR windows)

All Electric Self Contained Non-Propane Build (no roof AC, no generator, no awning)

Double Alternators, Solar Panels, Full Hydronic System, Batteries Above Floor

Electric Steps, Spare Tire In Original Location Under Van."

Here's what it will look like from the outside!

To be continued:

[Robi]

How Our SMB Magic Carpet Sprinter Conversion Plan Came To Be - Part VIII.

This is one of the plan sheets from what became our "Magic Carpet" build book.There is a lot of explaining to do here so I will do my best as we go along.There are several plan views I prepared, each one highlighting specific parts of the conversion such as "work and living" overall interior plan. Each plan I submitted to the van converter had a description attached and supplemental construction drawings were provided either in plan, elevation, or perspective view as in the design phase I conceptualized and in some cases of specialized parts such as waste management system components, Isotherm drawer refrigerator I purchased, physically prototyped, and trial fit together or pre-assembled the components to ship to the van converter. Some components I exchanged at the retailer and so on.

Our "Magic Carpet" van conversion is now complete and we have 12,000 miles on it. We are very happy with the outcome but there is a lot to say to explain it and show the van's uniqueness. There were bumps in the road and even some panic but we stuck with the project and so did Sportsmobile Texas and Paul Meyer for which we will be forever grateful. Suffice it to say for example that "they want what?" was not unheard from the production floor but in the end so was "that really works", "good idea" and while the completed van may present itself as simple, logical, and straightforward in the descriptions, drawings, and photos that will follow the thing that bothers me the most is that if we lost it I feel it is irreplaceable in it's uniqueness , fit with our needs, and the fact that it got built at all. It was quite a time consuming and resource consuming journey and I hope it will stay in our family for a long long time. So here starts the description of the now completed conversion design as best I can present it to you and if you are headed someplace and some people tell you "no way", "too custom" or "too detailed" which we heard before connecting with Sportsmobile, Texas; don't give up! I'm very glad we didn't! As we go along I'll post descriptions, photos, and drawings of the different functional areas and systems of this conversion. Each of these in some way relates to the characteristics we wanted in the conversion and listed in a previous post and each of which was carefully thought out and designed.

Click on the plan below to expand it and you can see the overall interior design. This is a high roof the shortest 2017 Sprinter (144" wheelbase) which is what we wanted for maneuverability, parking, stealth. The mattress pieces of the two 27"Wx75"L twin beds are in three pieces. Two of the pieces on each side (13.5"Wx20"L each) serve as backrests during the day. Six standard pillow sized zippered cases (not shown) of the same material as the bed/settee cushions are used as supplemental backrests when they hold the stored bedding (pillows, blankets, etc.) during the day.

Note the unobstructed aisle is 18"W at the floor and 15" wide between the cushion edges. There are three compartments under each bed/settee (storage & utilities) accessed under the bed/settee's two-piece trunk liner wrapped tops. These spaces will be explained later.

Note the 27"Wx48"L bathroom is reversed (facing to the rear), note the compact kitchen unit, the swivel seats, the double roof vents and lack of roof AC, and the maximum of original fit continuous glass standard passenger van look but canopy style windows. Note the overhead compartments and the hanging cabinet. All to be explained in posts to come.

To Be Continued

[Robi]

We feel that in many ways the MBZ 2500 RB, our "Magic Carpet" van is the grown up version of the 1960s VW van in its multifunctional use and life style. "Magic Carpet" is 19'4" overall exterior length, 74" exterior width, 7"4"H for the low roof and 9' high for the high roof while the 1960s VW Van was about 14' in exterior length, 59.1" in width and 6'3" high for the standard roof and about 7' closed and about 9' raised for the tilt top.

Conversion space for the MBZ 2500 RB is 123"Lx69"W and for the 1960s VW van about 100"x53". Our particular conversion approach was to create a pocket sized motorhome that would be very comfortable for younger or older folks, like we are. One can not load motorcycles inside our conversion nor load normal bicycles, nor carry tons of climbing or hiking gear (some but not "tons"). We however have a 25"Lx25"Wx18"H compartment in the aft end of each bed settee base that were sized to hold a Brompton 16" wheeled folding bicycle (to be electrified) and below the bike under a removable padded shelf under each bicycle is a GCI folding table and GCI folding chair. These fit perfectly. The tables and chairs are accessible from the aft end and the Bromptons through the removable 25"Lx27.5"W lift off section of the bed platform to get at the folding bicycles. Bromptons are the only adequate folders we found that could be fitted and they are great! Wow, vehicles within vehicles.

Our bed/settees were designed to be comfortable and multifunctional and require the least prep hassle possible and plans for these will follow in a later post. We have a residential style bathroom and plans and photos will follow later. Our kitchen was designed to be compact, not require a bunch of refrigerator stooping for access to that, have a water conversation feature, have dedicated and appropriate amount of kitchen storage (watch for the use of bathroom cabinet storage space accessed from the aisle by "destroying the box" (Frank Lloyd Wright) by cutting through the wall, and allow room for movement Drawings and photos in a later post).

We wanted a van that was light and airy inside and that when we were inside we could move around, be comfortable, do art, read, relax, etc. and each have equal storage space, and still experience the outside environment visually. We wanted a van that we could take anywhere, park anywhere, would not be run off, and would extend our enjoyment of traveling, adventuring, and joining events. And we got just such a van!

To Be Continued!

[Robi]

The following drawings will show and explain some of the details of the previous posts and show how some of the "desired characteristics" listed previously were met. These drawings are from the original Magic Carpet "Build Book" that I developed to guide the build and were modified and resubmitted in the build process as problems and possibilities were encountered or further conceptualized.

I may as well mention here that the "detail" and "customization" presented in drawings and descriptions which resulted in a relatively straightforward but somewhat non-standard conversion and became just what I wanted also drove some potential converters away as other people's plans needing to be read, studied, and take direction from, often do. So I was constantly trying to create more vivid, more direct, more positive, more cooperative communications and questioning my own "reasonableness" over a period of months. I was able to find "can do" people who were actually interested in "what could be" and try things but there are also "no way" people who quickly find "why not to's" out there.

This is a fairly straight-forward simple design attempting to fully utilize the 117 sq. foot space and potential of a small 144"WB van and basically turn it into a practical self contained motorhome using modern technologies to their best efficient potential and provide comfort and full function for a couple's various travel adventures, housing, artwork and family visits all around North America.

To Be Continued

[Robi]

The following drawings show the construction plan for the L and R side matching 75"Lx27"W bed/settees whose 75"Lx25.5"W bases, partitions, and platform tops use .5" CoreLite panels and some steel framing. There is no hinged permanent cushion tops or such. The bed/settee's three piece (each) cushion sets, and the six-eight total fabric standard pillow sized zippered storage cases for bedding & pillows. These cases are used as supplemental back and arm rests along with two of the mattress cushions during the day.

These bed/settees are sized to fit a up to 6'3" person each and fit in a 144" RB Sprinter leaving a 18"W aisle at the floor and 15"W aisle at their edges. They have a 4" thick mattress/cushions and a seating/sleeping of 20.5" above the floor leaving about 16" of storage and utilities space under their platform tops. The bed/settees are sized to allow a 48"Lx27" wide bathroom to be forward of the bed/settee on the driver's side and a 24"Lx22"W compact kitchen cabinet with sink, microwave, drawer fridge, drawer, and under-sink storage door to be at the forward end of the R side bed/settee leaving adequate entry and exit space at the sliding door.

To Be Continued

[86Scotty]

Very nice.

[Robi]

"Magic Carpet's" rear rectangular table storage. Our main table is 24"Lx15"W with its tabletop underside socket 4" off center fore and aft (8" from one end) so that the table has a different reach depending on which way it is swung. The table hardware (leg socket, floor socket, 27" leg) is from "ITC" (Sequoia model, 7" base with plug). You can see from the photos below that it is stored with its socket base projecting into the L rear door void some storage space remains in void behind the storage net), and rests in a trunk liner wrapped wooden cleat at the bottom. The tabletop is held against the inside of the rear door by a circular flat 20 lb. strength door or cabinet type latch magnet set set with epoxy.

The van's front 15" diameter round tabletop and its leg are stored against the bath wall just behind the driver's seat. The rear table leg is stored up against the ceiling in the R side overhead compartment which has a cutout in its interior dividing partition to allow for long objects such as fishing poles, beach umbrella, etc. using snap straps. There was not enough clearance to store a table leg in the van's rear corners as planned because of the length of the bed, door mechanism etc. The 75"L bed intrudes about 1-2" of the 5 "reserve space for tall cabinets and body curvature" but this causes no problem in our particular configuration as the bed/settee extends upward only about 20".

This same magnetic type setup used for the table top restraint was also used on the bi-fold hanging cabinet and bi-fold bathroom doors, the hinged kitchen cabinet folding extensions, the hinged swing down outside kitchen cabinet standing work height tabletop. These magnetic latch systems work great.

We use black composite slam latches rather than "push button then pull" metal cabinet latches because they are simpler, easier to use having a pull ring, and quieter and don't project once opened.

In the conversion of this van much internet searching, using appropriate general search term(s) then using "images" to see a variety of what's available and then going to the specific sites for hardware and components and supplying them to the van's converter.

I found Sportsmobile Texas's craftsmanship to be very good in almost all cases and occasionally during the process when something did not meet my standards of craftsmanship I asked that it be redone and we worked out the problem. This particular build and its several special and nonstandard and somewhat experimental features, even though actually quite straightforward and logical, was considered "custom" by SMBT and this was clear from the beginning and affected the conversion cost.

To Be Continued

[Robi]

"Magic Carpet's Bathroom I am posting these drawings, photos, and comments because they might be helpful to someone else to develop their plans as to what to consider or what to avoid. Magic Carpet was planned as a pocket sized motorhome that would be comfortable and open up travel and adventure for the two of us. When we traveled around Mexico we spent 45 nights in our previous 22' vehicle and it was our home for quite some time on this and other long journeys like following the Oregon Trail, traveling in Alaska for two months, and journeying around the US.

Many of the ideas for our "Magic Carpet" 144" 19'4" Sprinter came from exploring the forums, applying ocean sailing and marine type living solutions and equipment, visiting Sportsmobile, and talking with suppliers, and our van converter. I spent much time with "GEEK's" posts, "GRAPHITE DAVE, "CHUMLEYS" Sportsmobile build adventure, and many others. Our bathroom design was inspired by our particular pocket motorhome style approach, age, and past experience and as it turns out one thing led to another and our approach made some unexpected and welcome opportunities happen in the conversion.

The model for our van's bathroom was "LAMADAVE" (David Elmore) and their van "Vanessa" which was converted by SMB Indiana with much involvement of the owner. He was the inspiration for our "reversed" bathroom and residential style approach as you can see in two altered photos of his actual bathroom he posted which I printed out and drew over with modifications for our special needs in making Magic Carpet's build plans.

I call the design of "Magic Carpet's" bathroom a "residential" style because the interior is spacious, light with a big window, airy, and uses normal interior construction materials (such as "CoreLite" .5" plywood like laminate rather than a fiberglass "stall" like space, has a full size toilet with holding tank, and has cabinets like the rest of the van.

[Robi]

The bathroom is based on Sportsmobile's published option of a 27"Wx48"L floor plan. The bath plan has been turned 180 degrees to allow the bath entry door to bi-fold out of the way, the interior bath cabinet space to be partitioned off and accessed from the aisle through the aisle wall of the bathroom and therefore become part of the kitchen storage, and to allow for an efficient electric valves, macerator, electric hose reel, and 13 gallon GW holding under the van under the bath (shown later).

The bath interior has a shower -pan type floor of cast acrylic with a drain, a bath sink cabinet with a faucet sprayer and separate H/C water mixer, the original Sprinter type continuous glass window opening with a CR Lawerence T-Vent awning style window, MCD double roller shades, CoreLite .5" thick construction laminated panel material and decor like the rest of the van, a full sized Dometic toilet with holding tank under, and special storage with equal and separate drawers and storage cabinet space for each of us. Lighting is a 12 volt switchable red/white 5" diameter LED light from a marine source. Light, airy, comfortable, and fully functional.

The bathroom would allow showers if we wished to struggle with confining shower curtains and depletion of our 20 gallons of fresh water. We do sponge baths, use campground showers if we choose to use RV campgrounds (we mostly don't stay in them), swim, and/or use the kitchen sink sprayer that bulls out to use outside the sliding door.

[Robi]

Magic Carpet's Waste Management System

During the months long planning phase of this conversion we had no Sprinter nor had owned one previously. Many hours were spent online in the forums or marine or RV searches to see what systems were being used or traveling the 120 miles to Sportsmobile West in Fresno or up to the north 50 miles to a big RV dealer to look at Sportsmobiles or Roadtreks to get a feel for the space available and the conversion solutions that were used in Sprinters. I would locate vans and ask owners and look underneath parked Sprinters in our area and take measurements and make dimensioned sketches to see what might fit down there. I had trouble locating any with a full function easy to use motorhome style waste system as so many use PortaPotties or such and some had awkward awkward tankage and dump system. The Roadtrek and Pleasure way designs were not what we wanted as they seemed to put the emphasis in the wrong things rather than the "characteristics" (see previous posted list) we wanted in our Magic Carpet "pocket motorhome" to be.

One memorable research wiggle underneath a Sprinter to look at waste system space available resulted in being drenched by leaking fish container ice melt from this sea food delivery vehicle.

Perhaps some of what we came up with and incorporated in our conversion will generate some ideas helpful to the reader.

We however, especially as older people needed a greater level of comfort and different functionality in our particular conversion.

Following are some of the drawings and photos of our waste management (plumbing drains/Gray Water/and Black Water sewage holding tankage and dump system. Plumbing traps are not shown as there are now waterless bladder traps and other alternatives to consider.

Note: This same underbody configuration could be done without a macerator (which is on a twist-lock ABS fitting same as the gravity dump hose would be). This standard dump hose would be left always connected to the same 3" ABS twist-lock fitting and the dump hose could then be stuffed into the space now taken up by the macerator and electric macerator hose reel and restrained with a strap or net or such. A non remote control system could be used rather than the remote shown by using standard electric waste valve switches and standard macerator and hose reel cabled switches that could live beside the drivers seat and pulled out and used standing outside the driver's door just like "magic Carpet's" remote control is used The remote controls a specially adapted "Versa 7" remote unit. Instead of the "Drainmaster" electric waste valves mechanical "cable pull" BW and GW dump valves could be used and the cable pull handles live just under the body edge outboard from the valves. Standard T Handle mechanical waste valves won't work as their handles would be impossible to reach for normal use as the GW and BW waste valves are tucked up under the van. As per "characteristics" this van was to present itself as a standard passenger van with no RV fittings on display for residential area etc. parking and art work and the waste management system be fully complete, unobtrusive, and easy to manage, monitor, and dump without awkward kneeling and reaching under the van to connect things and such.

As seen below in the photos I mocked up this waste system at home without the van and sent it to the van converter. I bought the remote system parts and hired an engineer to adapt the "Versa 7" and I sent this electrical assembly to the van converter for installation. Sportsmobile Texas had the13 gallon GW tank built to fit the space available and installed the system. The remote control waste management system works great but has unnecessary complications as wired controllers as commercially supplied with the macerator and hose reel and wired switches available for the waste valves would work fine for us as long as they could be operated comfortably from outside the driver's door where the process can be monitored.