So, I've actually built out a sprinter van so I feel entitled to an opinion.
They did well. There's some cool ideas in there. The tuck away toilet is a neat feature. The pop up is cool too. My wife wouldn't want it due to bears, but hey ho. Roof would typically be for solar so they're generating power somewhere else. The would be my main issue. Feels like this is deffo a weekender. No storage for clothes and other items. With that space for extra seating as well, and a shower, it has facilities. Which is overkill for a weekender.
But....
They started off with a massive advantage with that workshop. I built out mine in the street. I had to buy the tools as I needed. I reckon I spent 25K on the budget in 2018. Van was a 4x4, only 100km off new and cost 55k CAD plus tax. It was a 6 month wait for a new one at the time. I reckon they put double, triple what I spent at least. The pop up and the back rack and add ons are expensive.
Your build sounds like my buddies from a cost perspective. Theirs is definitely on the premium side for sure and I agree, for that many people and like you mentioned, no storage, this is just a weekend get away type of rig.
Since they do this for a living, I wonder if they only build out new vans or if they will accept used vans they are supplied with. Either way, pay someone else do do this work for you is gonna cost a lot more that how you and my friend did it. Plus, isn’t building it yourself kind of half the fun? I know he enjoyed it and felt like he really knew his by the end of it.
I wanted to build it to achieve something. It was a big task, 11-12 months of all my spare time. My wife and I talked about, can we? should we? for a while. In the end we went for it as a joint project. She worked on the upholstery and some of the artistic side. I custom built the cabinetry and did the electrics and plumbing, more basic than in the video. We got a local company to do the windows and the fan, since they were not that expensive.
2 things we also tried to focus on; 1) not too much wood, keep the weight down a bit, we used some lightweight wood effect panels that were super light, they were for the ceiling and walls. 2) Noise and moisture. We sealed our insulation to limit water condensation on the outside, and we used a special adhesive that helps absorb sound waves. When the van is empty, it's very loud.
Sprinters are great vehicles. Starting with the right base vehicle was key.
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u/oicur0t 14h ago
So, I've actually built out a sprinter van so I feel entitled to an opinion.
They did well. There's some cool ideas in there. The tuck away toilet is a neat feature. The pop up is cool too. My wife wouldn't want it due to bears, but hey ho. Roof would typically be for solar so they're generating power somewhere else. The would be my main issue. Feels like this is deffo a weekender. No storage for clothes and other items. With that space for extra seating as well, and a shower, it has facilities. Which is overkill for a weekender.
But....
They started off with a massive advantage with that workshop. I built out mine in the street. I had to buy the tools as I needed. I reckon I spent 25K on the budget in 2018. Van was a 4x4, only 100km off new and cost 55k CAD plus tax. It was a 6 month wait for a new one at the time. I reckon they put double, triple what I spent at least. The pop up and the back rack and add ons are expensive.