Tony's Sportsmobile Build / thoughts

[tonyvoudy]

Apparently my van hit the production floor this week. As soon as Nancy sends some pictures I will be sure to post.

[tonyvoudy]

Famous last words on posting pictures.... I suppose I am at the opposite end of this build than Chumley is as Indiana is pretty far removed from Georgia. IE, I am not really involved at all since I won't see the finished product until I arrive in person. To top it off, I have had several trips that have kept me away from posting pictures of the build. The van at this point is nearly complete, if not already finished. I will be out of the country for the next 2.5 weeks so the earliest I will get to see the van in person is September 21st, when I plan on picking it up.

Here are the first few pics of the start of the van. Considering I went pretty minimal on the overall interior design, Nancy projected the project to only take 2-3 weeks from start to finish.
(Week 1)
Outside – Awning has been added



Inside – Loin Coin has been added. Apparently this cleans up pretty well when it gets dirty



Another picture of the inside



Side view of inside:

[tonyvoudy]

Pictures continued

(Week 2)

The roof rack has been added. Although I was pleased with how it looks it turns out it was/is too short for my needs. This rack will ultimately need to hold two 11+ foot SUP paddleboards so at a minimum the roof rack needs to cover the entire roof and there needs to be three crossbars instead of two. I asked for the rack extension which means the front part of the roof rack will be screwed in versus bolted in since they have already installed the ceiling. Also note two ceiling fans for more air circulation.



The interior takes shape. This cabinet will hold the microwave, fridge and internal Danhard AC unit. According to SMB, it may even run a full hour on battery alone! (may) I also had the split slide out shelves added (to the right of the fridge). This was somewhat custom as it was not in their standard design templates. I had a good recommendation from one of the SMB techs on this design. Normally it ends up as one unit but if you are like me and have a bunch of stuff piled up in the back of the van, opening a one piece unit may be problematic.



The gaucho is beginning to take shape. It should end up being 74 inches (with 72 inches of cushion) and fit three people comfortably in seating position. The privacy window has also been added. This is the only additional window we had added to the van. We elected to not have any water at all. It was something I just felt we would not really use and would only end up being a hassle. If that hurts the resale 20+ years from now so be it. The net effect of no water means there will be extra storage under the gaucho as it will only contain two batteries.



Another pic of the inside. The two ceiling fans should allow for some good circular airflow should we wish to have one pull in and one push out air in the van. This will also hopefully help in cold weather should we decide to fire up a Mr. Buddy heater by pumping out some of the water vapor. (Hopefully )



Last picture of the inside. This cabinet will be for additional storage and will have a table top for whatever. The 12 and 110s will also be in this area where we can plug in our cell phones / water warmers.

[tonyvoudy]

Week 3 (Almost Done)

The upper cabinets have been installed and LED lights mounted. These next few pictures really show the van in an almost complete state.



Gaucho has been completed and storage area above the front seats visible:



Finally, the rear curtains, microwave, fridge and Danhard AC have been installed. I believe all that is left is the electrical work above the cabinet to the left of the microwave. I believe the control panel will be placed there.



Note there is pretty much a blank area between the gaucho and the back of the van. I am leaving that area open for now until we can determine what we ultimately want there. (Removable Shelves? Large storage bin?)

[tonyvoudy]

Finally, I have been looking for a brush guard / front bumper for the sprinter.

Cyclevan (http://www.cyclevan.com/NewSprinterProducts/index.htm) seems to have a decent amount of sprinter related products. The brush guard I like is here: (And way less expensive over the one outside van sells)



I also like their rear ladder but would prefer it come in black as well. I know SMB no longer installs outside ladder racks for the rear doors so I will need to install this on my own:

[BrianW]

I had CycleVan do some work on my Ford SMB and was very pleased with how they approached things. I spent four hours or so in their shop while they worked on my van and was looking at all their Sprinter accessories, including the rear ladders. I wouldn't hesitate to do business with them again. In fact, I've been thinking of getting a rear ladder for my Ford from them.

[Chumley]

Hello Tony,

Congrats on the build. It looks like we may be picking up our vans about the same time. I like your color selection, your naming the color "wet cement" should be added to the MBZ catalog.

The light fixtures you have are very nice. I assume they are LED but look nicer than what I saw momentarily in my van. Were they a specific choice or was it what they just provided?

There always seems to be an option that I didn't know about. I live in the self declared mushroom capitol. I guess there is more to that than I thought.

Chumley

[tonyvoudy]

Originally Posted by BrianW

I had CycleVan do some work on my Ford SMB and was very pleased with how they approached things. I spent four hours or so in their shop while they worked on my van and was looking at all their Sprinter accessories, including the rear ladders. I wouldn't hesitate to do business with them again. In fact, I've been thinking of getting a rear ladder for my Ford from them.

Thanks for the heads up Brian. Makes me feel better about a future purchase.

[tonyvoudy]

Originally Posted by Chumley

Hello Tony,

Congrats on the build. It looks like we may be picking up our vans about the same time. I like your color selection, your naming the color "wet cement" should be added to the MBZ catalog.

The light fixtures you have are very nice. I assume they are LED but look nicer than what I saw momentarily in my van. Were they a specific choice or was it what they just provided?

There always seems to be an option that I didn't know about. I live in the self declared mushroom capitol. I guess there is more to that than I thought.

Chumley

I have carefully reviewed just about everything you have posted Chumley and come to this conclusion: What CA does versus TX versus IN are NOT the same. TX maintains the WWW site, while Cali caters to the 4x4/custom crowd (while they still can). While they coordinate on the www site, they have LARGE differences in what they offer.

The light fixtures are LED (as to what I was told) and are pretty standard for Indiana builds. I talked to a few of the techs while I was there and for the most part the employees of IN have been there 10+ years. Some as long as 20-30 years!

[windguy]

great looking build Tony. thanks for sharing.
did you eliminate the 3rd seat you talked about earlier?
also, what type of insulation did they use?
any plans to add a removable table with the swivel seats?

in case you're not aware, there are some roller options for roof racks to make it easier to get boards and boats onto the racks. not sure if that can help you but might be worthwhile checking into. getting a board up there by yourself might be a challenge.

best of luck!