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Old 10-01-2012, 05:44 AM   #31
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Re: Tony's Sportsmobile Build / thoughts

Quote:
Originally Posted by DonMc
Very nice Tony, I've got a Sprinter on order and working out the details for the equipment I would like installed by SMB Texas. I live north of Houston, summers can be brutal here. I see in your photos that you have the Danhard A/C and wondering if you have had a chance to operate it in hot weather and how well it cools? I really like not having to have the additional height of the roof mount units.
DonMc – Unfortunately, (fortunately for camping though ) we picked the van up the week a cold front came through Indy. The temperatures were in the low 70s and night temps were down in the 50s. However, that did not stop me from turning on the Danhard to get a feel for it. After playing with the settings, I felt that it would really cool the van off quickly in warm weather. I believe there are a few posts in the forums about noise volume of the unit. With three settings (High, Medium, and Low) there is pretty decent air volume from the unit itself. It will move A LOT of Air! I personally like white noise for sleeping, so it won’t bother me at all to hear the hum of an AC Unit but your mileage may vary. Keep in mind you will only get ~1+ hour on battery running the unit, and ~1.5-2 hours with a combination of battery/van running. It is best run when connected to shore power. Lastly, by all appearances, it does not take up a lot of space in the van.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tacitblue
Very nice build. What is the distance from the end of the gaucho to the rear door? Also during day time with the curtains closed is it "dark" inside? I'm wondering with the black floor and cherry cabinets, while that's what I think looks the best, may make the interior too dark. Thanks, and great build.
-Mark
Mark – It is approx. 3 feet from the middle of the wheel well to the back of the van. After camping in the van 3 times now, it is working well for holding our clothes bags and being a suitable area to change. With the curtains all closed at night it can be pretty dark inside. The carbon monoxide detector’s green LED light acts as a suitable nightlight which means it is never truly completely dark. There is always a LED light within arm’s reach if needed. The sliding door, back door and gaucho windows are not true “blackout shades” so outside lights can and do get into the van. The custom made shades for the windshield are great blackout shades and very little light is able to get in around the edges.

Over the weekend we were helping prepare a site for a gathering of cavers (http://www.tagfallcavein.org) and I was looking for my wife at our campsite at dusk. The van looked dark on the inside from a distance, but when I opened the sliding door, all the lights were on and I found her inside.

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Old 10-01-2012, 02:34 PM   #32
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Re: Tony's Sportsmobile Build / thoughts

Tony,

Thanks for the info. On the SMB website a standard design (design RB160S) with just a 75" gaucho on the drivers side, shows 52" from the end of the gaucho to the rear door. 36" looks more realistic and what your photos show. Do you have a gaucho longer than 75"? A 75" gaucho and 52" of storage behind sounds reasonable considering Mercedes Benz has the length of the interior cargo area of a RB as 128". Can you or some clarify? Also I was curious as to how bright the interior is during the day with the cherry furnishings and black floor, if you want the curtains/blinds closed for privacy but still want to be able to read, ,etc. Thanks.

-Mark
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Old 10-01-2012, 06:47 PM   #33
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Re: Tony's Sportsmobile Build / thoughts

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tacitblue
Tony,

Thanks for the info. On the SMB website a standard design (design RB160S) with just a 75" gaucho on the drivers side, shows 52" from the end of the gaucho to the rear door. 36" looks more realistic and what your photos show. Do you have a gaucho longer than 75"? A 75" gaucho and 52" of storage behind sounds reasonable considering Mercedes Benz has the length of the interior cargo area of a RB as 128". Can you or some clarify? Also I was curious as to how bright the interior is during the day with the cherry furnishings and black floor, if you want the curtains/blinds closed for privacy but still want to be able to read, ,etc. Thanks.

-Mark
Mark - I was at work when I wrote the above reply and made my estimations based off a previous floor plan that was thrown out when I visited SMB to finalize the plan. Now that I am home, I took some actual measurements and have the mid-wheel well to the back pegged at exactly 52 inches. My gaucho "cushion to cushion" comes in at 73" for a 75" gaucho (add the 1" of wood on either side.) Note - In this configuration if you elect to have a driver’s seat swivel chair (big $ expense add-on) you won't get a full swivel due to the gaucho being close to the seat. I am 6’0” and feel that the 75” gaucho is the perfect fit.

My wife likes to cross stitch which requires a lot of light. I have to say, with the LED light add-ons, 8 LED lights firing at once can be VERY bright. In fact, just staring at one of them will give you some good vision spots. (Not recommended) One LED pod alone is plenty of light for her to cross stitch, read a book, etc. With two addition of two attic fans and the lights previously mentioned, I have not yet to feel that the van is too dark to find anything. Then again, I DID elect to have the full factory Mercedes tinting including side window, sliding door, and back window to increase privacy and reduce interior heat. Standing outside of the van, it is difficult to tell what someone is doing inside because the windows are well tinted.

What are you planning to place in the back of a 160s? (Just curious)
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Old 10-01-2012, 07:04 PM   #34
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Re: Tony's Sportsmobile Build / thoughts

Starting with the 160S build, I'd like to add a full height or near full height hanging closet behind the gaucho with ideally 12" of useful hanging space and behind that I want to be able to store two bikes vertically, front wheels off, with a fork mount on the hanging closet side. I would need about 40" of clearance from the closet wall to the rear doors for the bikes to fit.
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Old 10-08-2012, 07:28 PM   #35
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Re: Tony's Sportsmobile Build / thoughts

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tacitblue
Starting with the 160S build, I'd like to add a full height or near full height hanging closet behind the gaucho with ideally 12" of useful hanging space and behind that I want to be able to store two bikes vertically, front wheels off, with a fork mount on the hanging closet side. I would need about 40" of clearance from the closet wall to the rear doors for the bikes to fit.
Excellent! Can't wait to see the pics if you start a build!
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Old 04-05-2013, 04:40 PM   #36
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Re: Tony's Sportsmobile Build / thoughts

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

Anyone know how this rubber flooring material is applied? Is it glued to the wood floor?
Thanks
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Old 04-09-2013, 05:23 PM   #37
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Re: Tony's Sportsmobile Build / thoughts

I believe it is some type of tacky glue / staples that hold it down
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Old 06-18-2013, 07:03 AM   #38
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Re: Tony's Sportsmobile Build / thoughts

We have finally added on a few more items that we initially planned to get with the purchase of the van:

First, I finally got my replacement Thule Hullivator from REI and successfully installed it on the van’s roof rack. I will say placing two boards on the rack and then moving the rack on top of the van is quite a chore! I bought an Xtend & Climb telescopic ladder from Amazon to help me climb up the side of the van to place the boards. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JI ... UTF8&psc=1) I also purchased an add-on rubber cover that covers the top rung of the ladder which helps prevent scratches on the van.



I will add a few more pictures of the Hullivator in the “down position” so you can get an idea of how the boards come on and off the rack.

We also purchased a SYM HD200 EVO scooter and a versahaul systems to haul the scooter on the back of the van. The scooter weights ~267 wet and the versahaul is another ~90 ish lbs. I don’t have a picture of the scooter on the back of the van but I will be sure to add one.



The scooter has a top speed of ~70 MPH and gets 75+ MPG. (And the wife likes it!)

Funny story from our trip over the weekend to Fort Mountain State Park in north Georgia:

The wife and I are just finishing a few laps around the lake on our SUP boards and are in the process of preparing to place the boards back on the Thule Hullivator rack. We had three walkup visitors while we were getting prepared to go. “Wow what kind of van is that!?” was the first walkup. My wife stopped packing and showed him the inside of the van while I was moving boards around. While she was on one side of the van, another guy walked up and starting asking about our SUP boards. Once we finished showing the van and talking about boards, a third person walked up and said “Wow what is that!?” I noticed she was not looking at the van or the SUPs, but saw me folding up the Xtend ladder and she was fascinated with it!

Lastly, since we are not quite yet prepared to go full on boon docking just yet, we have mostly been visiting RV parks and using the onsite facilities to shower/etc. We get a good amount of walkup traffic from people wanting to see what is inside the little van. It is rather amusing to think that there are full size RVs in the park with every kind a gadget / gizmo installed but people like to see the small van with a few bells/whistles.
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Old 06-19-2013, 01:38 PM   #39
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Re: Tony's Sportsmobile Build / thoughts

Hey Tony,

Gotta love those questions. I wonder if there is a way to figure out how many potential SMB owners there are out there, it's got to be a lot.

Great to see the continued evolution of your van. A friend of mine carries a scooter on the back of his Sprinter SMB and you two make me jealous. I wish I could figure out how to do it and keep my rear cargo rack too.

It's always nice to have a regular co-pilot (er, ah, should I say pilot) and companion to share the adventures with. Nothing like saying something like "let's go" and you have an adventure without a lot of coordinating hassle. I know not everyone is so lucky so enjoy it since we can.

Happy travels.


Chumley
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Charlie is the best antidote for a tough week at work. I get to see a different side of this great country and relax in different places on every trip. My vacation home is parked where money can't buy residence. Life is a long journey and my magic carpet is named Charlie.
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Old 06-20-2013, 05:13 AM   #40
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Re: Tony's Sportsmobile Build / thoughts

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chumley
Great to see the continued evolution of your van. A friend of mine carries a scooter on the back of his Sprinter SMB and you two make me jealous. I wish I could figure out how to do it and keep my rear cargo rack too.
I think having the versahaul AND the back rack will be too much weight / negative angle on the hitch. (But that won't stop me from trying it out to see how it looks! ) The versahaul comes with a class 3 hitch receiver so you could use it to pull a trailer if so desired.

I will post pictures of the results so you can see how it ended up.

tv
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