Field Van quality of work?

[cbrinkley71]

I did a lot of research before buying a Sportsmobile, and had a lot of respect for what they have done with E350 vans. Then I bought one. It's a 2013 with an interior refresh and battery/solar upgrade (from 2 batteries to 4) in 2018. The wiring and battery install is so far beyond amateur-ish, I made the previous owner prove it was done by Field Van with a receipt.
I had planned to take it back to Field Van for a full Lithium upgrade since it needed new batteries anyway, but from what I see now, I'd take it to a boondock mechanic working in his front yard first.
Has anyone else seen this kind of workmanship from Field Van?
I'd also appreciate any recommendations on where to get the new electrical work done in PNW area.

 

[1der]

If you reach out via PM to our member Scalf77 in Portland, he can help you out with either referral or, if you are lucky, he might do it himself.

You can check out his posts on this forum to see what he does.

 

[vandiesel]

Van Specialties and Vantasy NW are both very reputable and do great work. I know both and would recommend without hesitation. Scalf77 is also very knowledgable (he created the wiki here for the topic) but I'm not he takes on full conversions.

 

[Scalf77]

I can certainly help with a Lithium upgrade. I do have a trip to support my 89 year mother her broke her hip, for a couple of weeks and another job already on schedule. I'll PM you my info.

 

[MOTA]

I did a lot of research before buying a Sportsmobile, and had a lot of respect for what they have done with E350 vans. Then I bought one. It's a 2013 with an interior refresh and battery/solar upgrade (from 2 batteries to 4) in 2018. The wiring and battery install is so far beyond amateur-ish, I made the previous owner prove it was done by Field Van with a receipt.
I had planned to take it back to Field Van for a full Lithium upgrade since it needed new batteries anyway, but from what I see now, I'd take it to a boondock mechanic working in his front yard first.
Has anyone else seen this kind of workmanship from Field Van?
I'd also appreciate any recommendations on where to get the new electrical work done in PNW area.

Yes, your experience and reaching out is appropriate. I have a 2006 E350 smb from Fresno. I just this last week took it in to the Arizona Sportsmobile store for electrical work and Nick was on point, excellent service. I've had to completely repair/upgrade the original build so I have experienced your frustration. Good luck

 

[Russell-SMB]

I'm in the same situation, but I'm on the Central Coast of California, Santa Barbara County. Would really like to go Lithium, 2003 E350 7.3, solar with all the bell and whistles. Any suggestions within 100 miles?

 

[AndrewInSeattle]

Regarding your question about Field Van's quality of work, we got our full build in 2017 (when they were still Sportsmobile West). I haven't noticed any electrical problems, but there were a few other issues that weren't immediately obvious but have arisen over the years.

- There was a wrinkle in the flooring that really should have been caught before sale.
- The cabinetry came loose fairly quickly, and a drawer would spontaneously open on turns. This might be primarily the nature of the game, given the vibrations of a van at highway speeds, exacerbated by our request for a triple-height draw for holding pots and pans. Won't do that again!
- Most unforgivably, the cutouts for the water and electrical inlets were not adequately rust-treated and the screws started rusting right away. I tried a DIY fix, but either it was too late or I'm an idiot (most likely both) and the body around the inlets started bubbling up soon after and required an expensive (but effective!) fix at the body shop.

My take is that they grew too quickly, and had a mix of experienced workers and trainees, so it was luck-of-the-draw how well any particular subsystem was built. Overall, the van has served us well, and it was likely a better build than a lot of the fly-by-night operations that sprang up during the #vanlife craze and pandemic. Just a few pet peeves.

In your shoes, I certainly wouldn't drive to Fresno for any new work unless it was free, under warranty. Portland has plenty of good van builders, although it may be hard to find one willing to do piece work as opposed to a full build.

 

[whwv]

I did a lot of research before buying a Sportsmobile, and had a lot of respect for what they have done with E350 vans. Then I bought one. It's a 2013 with an interior refresh and battery/solar upgrade (from 2 batteries to 4) in 2018. The wiring and battery install is so far beyond amateur-ish, I made the previous owner prove it was done by Field Van with a receipt.
I had planned to take it back to Field Van for a full Lithium upgrade since it needed new batteries anyway, but from what I see now, I'd take it to a boondock mechanic working in his front yard first.
Has anyone else seen this kind of workmanship from Field Van?
I'd also appreciate any recommendations on where to get the new electrical work done in PNW area.

SMB West did my full Sprinter build in 2018. Was pretty happy with the work. I took it back for a lithium upgrade since they did the build. Results were mostly positive with a single fuse causing us major issues until I found it. The frustrating part was that they didn’t install the system as documented so the fuse I ended up tracking down wasn’t part of the wiring diagram and it took me tracing the entire system to find it. When doing so, the quality of the install in a couple areas that was far out of sight wasn’t quite what I expected. On the plus side, their customer service did spend a ton of time trying to help me. It was a new installer who didn’t exactly follow the standard installation process. I would probably use them again since they were familiar with the van build but that’s the only reason. I live 3 hours from Fresno so it’s a bit of a trek. Now that I resolved the original issue, everything is flawless and the upgrade was totally worth it!

 

[Jrod4]

If you are still looking for a recommendation for battery upgrade try Van Haus in Vancouver, Wa. They built my van out for and I am very happy with the quality of work. I am very picky and I am beyond satisfied with Van Haus work

 

[cbrinkley71]

After a few months on ownership I continue to be shocked at the things Sportsmobile has done. The entire battery management system was worthless and a fairly dangerous the way it left the Factory. I was very lucky to find Greg here in Portland to help me get it fixed, so thank you @1der for the recommendation.