Going to a Sprinter from an enclosed/tow rig

I have a Astro van. It also doubles as a DD more than it should. I have the bikes tied down as best as I can but a Pit Bull TRS is in the future. The gas can and generator have been moved to a hitch rack 1-tired of smelling gas even a little 2- tighter than I thought with 2 bikes. I like the fact that when I get home I can just park it and unload it another day. But in reality I cant get a enclosed trailer in my driveway and dont have the room so I am just making things up to make myself feel better.

 

I was really into the van idea last year, Kaleb had our whole program (both bikes, tents, tools, etc.) in a Promaster 2500, and he had room for a bed. It was pretty compact, and there was shit piled everywhere, but it worked.

Right now I drive my Dad's 33' class A RV towing my little 6x12. It's fatiguing to drive that rig all day- I tap out after 600 miles max. It's great when you get there and get all set- its a house on wheels, super nice to have in the paddock, but traveling this way you almost need to be retired- you have to leave days early, get there early (for parking and power) etc. At least with MotoAmerica, parking is predetermined / reserved so I don't have to get there half a day early and wait to get in. For a while I did the wal mart parking lot campout- now I just leave a few more hours early and go to campgrounds (see the above sentence about being retired).

The idea of a van is attractive because- everything is easier on the road- from getting gas to finding a parking spot in the pits. But the sleeping / living situation is a compromise. Loading and unloading the van is more of a pain- I can roll my toolbox in and out of the trailer pretty easily. I don't leave anything in the trailer between race weekends. I would have to re-organize my whole program with a series of bins or something if I got the van. Also I would want some type of built out living space- which means A/C, so you still have the power issue, (although you could probably get away with much less amperage).

In the end, I did nothing, but I'm still eagerly following these van threads- so carry on!

 

Ferracci had two of these things...Unicell/Aerocell. I drove one to CA from PA with 20 dirtbikes in the back. Made it in three days...comfort wasn't an issue. Plenty of room to build it out and they came with a built in ramp like the U-haul trucks have. 90mph through Oklahoma during a severe thunderstorm at 0-dark-thirty and the thing tracked beautifully.

 

I subbed out a driver to a dude that owns his own Sprinter.
Lakers game in LA, Sprinter won't start.
Fuggin def fluid was done.
Sprinter wouldn't start.

Never again will I deal with sub outs and def fluid.

 

You've thought way more ahead than most.

I have three storage totes for spares and fluids, I want to reorganize into smaller bins though, that I can put in the overhead cabinets (that I haven't built yet). I'm planning to solve the toolbox issue with a set of stackable boxes that will live on top of my generator.

I hear you about the AC, that's high on my list of wants too. I have a system planned out with a fair amount of battery and solar to be able to run it a whole day without idling the engine, I'm still sourcing a 12v/24v compressor unit though. The cheaper route would be to get a larger generator that can run both your warmers and RV air conditioners, but sometimes I just want quiet.


One thing I hated when I used to move bikes in a pickup was having to load on a skinny ramp (and having the store the ramp afterwards). I have dropped a bike off a ramp before and the likelihood goes up exponentially as the day wears on, so I got the widest/longest ramp system I could find. Bonus is its locked into place vertically, and takes up minimal (6 inches?) of floor space.





With TRS plates down:

 

That would be its downfall over the smells. Rattling tools, and such would make me sell it. It would be like constant banjo music in your ears for hours.

 

Not to be forward Gino but I’ll have room in mine this weekend if you want the full van life experience.

 

For the "complete" experience you'll have to park it "down by the river".

 

There is one close by IIRC.

 

that ramp is such a good idea. how much did it cost? does it remove entirely without tools if you want it out of the way?

 

My Sprinter was formerly a passenger van so it had insulation in walls and ceiling. I added a simple MDF partition wall, and though it wasn't sealed I never had any gas fume issues (even not running the rear vent fan) and the ride was very quiet in the front. And as far as parking- with a camera mounted above the rear doors that could be turned on at any time (not just reverse) it was much easier to park than you'd believe. Like Monsterdood said- you will be playing some Jenga, and if you have aspirations of being 100% self contained (no trailer) then I strongly suggest you get the longest/tallest van possible. I got rid of mine because my race partner had a new truck and trailer and I got scared of potential future repair costs on a 400K mile Mercedes... but I hope to have another van in the future.

 

It was a little over $3k + shipping. Probably a bit of a splurge, but I think still worth it for me, using it every few weekends (for bikes and also moving appliances, riding lawn mowers, and such too). It removes via 4 bolts if you want, but it's bulky enough that you don't want to be constantly doing it. It's mounted on a swivel so if you want to load a standard pallet, you can just swivel it out (or in).

The distributor has a bunch of demonstration videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5XNyXPfyFI

 

In Canada you can order a factory partition on the crew model Sprinter (option code D56) but I don’t see that on the US site. Stupid.

 

All this van talk is making my pants firm! Anyone got a G-Van with a diesel?

 

Interesting, I never got an answer regarding solar having enough power to run the AC. As long as it's there for sleeping, I would be happy.

I probably could live with far fewer tools / parts than I currently bring along. Right now I bring everything- just because it's all in my rolling toolbox. When I paid for transport to a couple of races, I actually got the bike, stands, and one plastic bin. I had to bring my leathers and helmet separately. It was fine, but nothing went wrong. And of course, something always goes wrong.

 

I might take you up on that! I'm coming with the wife, dog, and mechanic so chances are one of us will be ready to punch out of the RV by Sunday night.

Also, there's lots of good van builds on Instagram. RB Components, SprinterCamperVans, #Vanlife, etc. very few are motovans, but you can take some good ideas and build tips.

 

Solar alone won't do it, it won't handle the inrush current to start the compressor and you wouldn't want to trigger the low voltage cutoff when clouds roll in, so you'll want to buffer it with some battery. There's no magic, just gotta run the math. I reserved roof space for 350W of solar panels, and I buffered that w/ 5 kWh of battery. The AC 10k BTU rooftop units I was looking at (built for truck cabs, and much lower profile than RV ACs) run at ~300w in low and ~650W on high.

Running on high on batteries alone, it'd last roughly ~7.5 hours. With 350W solar @ 80% efficiency (clouds, sun angle, whatever), it'd be 14 hours of runtime. On low, it'd run ~14 hours w/o solar which would easily last the night, with solar it could run for ~72 hours. The solar charge controller I have doubles as a 12v charger, so I can theoretically pull 600W from the van alternator, and I have a separate 500W charger built into my AC/DC fuse panel that I can run off the generator as well.


Re: spares and tools, it's definitely personal preference, I don't have points/sponsors on the line, so I'm only carrying enough to recover from a minor crash (engine sliders/covers, wheel speed sensors, rotors, rearsets, button pods, clip on tubes, brake MC, clutch perch, etc.) or some overlooked maintenance items (sprockets, chains, clutch cables, fluids, pads). Tools, I carry just the sizes I need on my bikes, plus the specialty chain tools, suspension wrenches, etc.

 

Understood about the battery system. Did you engineer this system yourself, or was it some kind of kit or professional build?

I had a chuckle on your comment about sponsors and points, as they are both non-existent in my case. BUT- the farther I am from home, the more I want to bring- it would suck to spend all the time, effort, and money to get all the way out to Laguna and have to pack it in due to a blown gasket or something. The vendor situation at the MotoAmerica races is strangely spartan- there's lots of gear and T-shirts for fans, but not a drop of motor oil, a footpeg or handlebar to be found. I had to borrow minor stuff from other teams 3x last year. Thank god for racer generosity. After years of racing Ducatis, I have become a bit of a pack rat and at local races people usually come to me to borrow tools and other jerry rigging supplies!

 

Dometic makes a low profile 10k BTU A/C. they also have a DC operation kit, parallels the house and engine batteries. If you shut the engine off, it runs only off the house battery bank until the low voltage shuts it off. I imagine you could use this setup with the solar battery bank as your house batteries!

 

My system is just pieced together, you can have someone "professionally" do it, but there's nothing really off the shelf and its still all still just piecemealing a bunch of components together.

So from what I remember, Dometic's low profile truck cab units max out at 8k BTU. They have a 13.5k Penguin "low profile", but it's 120v AC and about double the height. I haven't done the thermal calcs to see how much air conditioner I actually need, but most RV units are 15k BTU, 8k seems low for a metal box that's minimally insulated, so I wanted at least a little more.

Price is a big part of it too, you're not getting the 12/24v Dometic installed under $3k, and from what I can tell, they're made in China along with every other air conditioner. To me (and someone correct me if I'm wrong), air conditioners are a "solved" problem, there's hasn't been new engineering in them for decades. If you can get reliable units from Best Buy/Walmart/Target for <$100, there's no reason to spend 30x just because it lives on a roof. There's a few manufacturers that seem reputable and ship direct from China via DHL, I've been casually browsing but will probably pull the trigger soon. There is a US distributor for one of the brands, but they mark it up significantly (like 3x) because #vanlife.