My new Sprinter - Page 2

Spenard · 07-02-2012, 09:57 PM

congratulations on the new Sprinter sportsmobile!

We have really enjoyed ours since March. Look forward to see your pics. PS come to Alaska - you won't need to worry about a/c

tonyvoudy · 07-03-2012, 01:42 PM

Can't wait to see the pictures! Congrats!

Wsgraham · 07-23-2012, 01:03 PM

I picked up my new Sprinter Sportsmobile in Austin on July 3. Our flights were delayed so we did not get there until closing and so we drove the van to a motel and had to wait until July 4th for orientation. We went through the machine with Kevin for several hours and videoed a lot of it. Charles, Sportsmobile founder, was there and he had taken the attached photos before we got there.
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Wsgraham · 07-23-2012, 01:08 PM

Here are more pictures that would not fit on previous post.

stevepar · 07-23-2012, 06:44 PM

Beautiful!!!!! Now go camping and get that thing dirty....

BIGVANS · 07-23-2012, 07:26 PM

Looking more like full on RV’s with every generation! Enjoy!

tonyvoudy · 07-24-2012, 06:58 AM

Thanks so much for posting your pictures!

Wsgraham · 07-24-2012, 11:23 PM

On the way back to Iowa from Austin we took three days camping the first two in the new van. During midday it was very hot, in the hundreds, but the van air conditioner was adequate while driving and in the evening we found that it cooled off enough so that the fans we had were adequate. Sleeping in the penthouse was a bit tight for two but worked nicely with the windows around us and two fans on low. I made the right choice not getting the camping AC. The third night in Arkansas we pulled into a Corps of Engineers campground in the Ozarks but decided that 107 F at 6 pm was a bit too much and we drove on to a motel in MO. Everything worked as advertised. The inverter/electrical system and its info/control panel are still confusing so I will need to read the manual. Attached are "camping" photos from our first two nights in it. [photo][/photo]

Wsgraham · 09-05-2012, 11:23 PM

Well, I have had the van for two months and taken it on several long weekends that included canoeing and biking and a week long river cleanup by canoe. I am getting to know it better. Here are some comments and observations on using it.

-I had a ladder put on the driver side back door and it works ok with a stepstool (also needed to get into the van back doors easily) but it is pretty high crawling around on the roof. I have a Yakima rack on top with tracks installed on the penthouse with through bolts. I have put a rocket box up there that required adding a third crossbar because it is so much shorter than the canoe. The rocket box stores paddling gear. Getting the canoe up on the rack is a bit of a chore! It really is a long way up. I had some problems putting in the third bar and also changing to 78 inch crossbars because I had the wrong landing pads at first.

-The porta-potty has worked adequately and is mostly easy to handle and empty. I do not think that a marine toilet and blackwater tank would be less hassle and there really is not room in the RB for one. I am happy with the arrangement we have with the portapotty in the back and privacy provided by pulling out the full height pantry. Don't use it much but is really convenient when needed.

-Electrical use when dry camping seems to be a controllable concern. We use 15 to 20% of the batteries per day so that keeping above the recommended minimum of 50% charged lasts two to three days. The biggest draw when we are being careful is my CPAP sleep apnea device that runs 6 or 7 hours a night. Much of our lighting can be provided by headlamps and the fridge (2.7) seems very efficient. I have the high idle control and used it to charge the batteries when we did not want to drive anywhere. At 1500 rpm and 40 minutes of run time the batteries went from 56% to 80%, enough for a worry free night. Since there are two 100 amp batteries, a +24% charge is 48 amps. The 5 puck lights in the penthouse ceiling had halogen bulbs from sportsmobile. The one issue I had was when we turned the ceiling lights on the first night and the two lights contacting the raised bed scorched the top of it in two places. I have since replaced all halogen and incandescent bulbs with LEDs in the same fixtures. This should be a sportsmobile option since it is fairly inexpensive to do.

-Right now we are using one of those easy-ups ($49) as outside shelter from rain and sun. I will likely figure out some sort of cover between the side van door and the easy-up. So far this arrangement works very nicely. I store the easy-up and several chairs in the space across from the portapotty in back. For bikes I use a rack in the trailer hitch and this works except for gravel roads where the dust really does a number on them.

-We have not come close to running out of water on our 3 or 4 day trips but have separate drinking water and have not used the shower yet. The water heater (110V) works well but have not had much call for it this summer. Do not use the gray water tank much because we usually keep a tub in the sink and empty as we would if tent camping - in the bushes.

Thats about it for now. Bill

Spenard · 09-06-2012, 09:43 AM

Ws: we like to canoe as well. When we had the 7 foot tall Westy we did not like getting the canoe on and off of that machine and also noted the cross wind problems and mileage reduction so with the new sprinter ph we took a different approach to handling the canoe and paddling gear-see our gallery pics. Its a Malone canoe/kyak trailer with the 66 inch cross bars that barely give us enough room to add bikes as well. we bought the optional plastic storage box that sits down between the wheels for gear and stick the paddles inside the canoe for travel. The trailer tongue also retracts for vertical storage. The trailer kit with the aluminum wheels cost about $1450 online and comes in 6 boxes and takes about 4 hours to assemble. We have not noticed any mileage reduction with the trailer but are glad we have the rear camera as it is too low to see it through the back windows of the sprinter.

We also use an easy up canopy for rain and my partner and i use a 10x16 tarp with short bungies to attach to the rings on the pop top bands and lap the tarp over the top of the canopy and buggy it to that. That gives us a roughly 10x18 foot covered space. Worked well in 20 mph gusts and rain on the Denali Hwy last week end.

PS put the Denali Hwy / Tangle Lakes on your camping paddling bucket list. Go in August, the colors are changing, caribou are on the hillsides and the ravenous mosquitoes are gone.