Fresno Trip - Stage 3 Sportsmobile West, Fresno

The next stage of our trip was the ultimate reason why we were on the road - to make a trip to Sportsmobile West to finalize details about our vehicle build even though the vehicle itself hasn’t arrived in country. Apparently the Mercedes 4x4 Sprinter has been in high demand and there was a backlog of building them in Germany. So instead of June or July like originally expected, the latest word is that our vehicle should arrive some time in December, maybe January. We’re still on track to have it for our Spring trip next year, but Ann and I are dying to hear that it has at least arrived. We placed our reservation so long ago that once it does arrive, we are top of the list for Sportsmobile to start on it. I guess that’s the positive reframe of the situation.Given that Fresno is only a couple of hours away from Yosemite, and our next destination - Kings Canyon NP - was only another hour and a half away, we decided to stay in the parks and make our stay in Fresno just long enough to conduct our business at Sportsmobile West and to stock up on supplies at a grocery store (and happen to pick up a couple of snacks at a bakery we spied along the way). Even though we didn’t take any photographs that day, we decided we’d take this opportunity to discuss what has had Ann and me on pins and needles the past year.

In short, Ann and I are buying an RV. But not just any RV, it’s a 4x4 RV. A 4x4 RV, which will give us the ability to go off-road into areas that relatively few people go (at least compared to National Parks), so we can photograph what we want when we want. So this is kind of what it will look like. Not exactly, but close enough.

It’s a Mercedes 4x4 Sprinter van, regular body (19’-4”), low roof model. The vehicle is built in Germany with the interior behind the driver/passenger area left open. They build them in Germany, take them apart for shipping and then reassemble them in South Carolina. It apparently reduces the cost by $10,000 compared to shipping them over whole.

We’ve ordered it with almost all of the options you can get with the main vehicle - fog lights, cruise control, safety package, additional alternator with high idle control, fuel gauge optimizer (for precise fuel level readings), upgraded seats, and heavy duty suspension. The one thing we didn’t get was the ability for it to park itself. We thought that one was a bit much - plus it cost about the same as the roof rack and the solar power system combined.

So the base vehicle is what you see out on the street with, for example, the smaller Fed Ex sprinters. The 4x4 is a system installed by Mercedes. It includes the 6 cylinder diesel engine mentioned above, plus a 3” lift in the front and a 4” lift in the rear. It’s normally a rear-wheel drive, and when you shift into 4WD high it has a 65:35% front to rear torque split, which changes to 50:50 when you shift into 4WD low (another option we added).

Our model is going to be the Stone Grey color (the tan color you see in the image below), and will look a lot like the photographs I’ve included here. Sportsmobile pretty much adds everything else to the build once the vehicle gets delivered. So what does that include?

I’ll start with the obvious stuff on the outside and use the two photographs above to help point things out. Looking at the front of the vehicle on the top image, we’ll be getting the black hood-wrap (now a matte finish instead of the glossy one in some of the photographs). We’ll also have a snorkel installed. Now, folks might think that they’re there for looks, but each has a practical function. The dark hood helps reduce glare from driving during the day in bright environments (like the desert). The snorkel, while it does increase the normal wading depth of 24 inches, the body itself isn’t sealed so unless we’re willing to flood the body crossing a river or stream (which we are not), that’s not the reason for the snorkel. The snorkel’s location allows for cooler and cleaner air to enter the engine, thus preventing engine damage (and potential failure) while we’re out in the middle of nowhere.

The lights are where we’re differing from the top photograph. We’re not getting the long light bar at the top of the vehicle. It can turn night into day and, well, it’s a bit overkill. However, we are going to get the smaller 20” LED light bar that’s embedded in the grill (above the license plate) to give us light for driving when needed. We’ll also have something not shown. On the top, instead of the long bar, we’ll have a spotlight attached that will have a remote control from the inside of the vehicle, so we can check out strange sounds in the night (Is that Big Foot or just a bear?). Everything else about the front is stock - Mercedes won’t let Sportsmobile install a bull-bar or other type of bumper because they’re afraid it would affect how the airbag system would work. (Once the warranty expires, I suspect we’ll be looking to give our plastic bumper a bit more protection!). One advantage of going with Sportsmobile is that they’re an official Mercedes-Benz master up fitter, which means that all Mercedes warranties are still valid even after the Sportsmobile up fitting. The drawback is that Sportsmobile can (and will) only do the things Mercedes allows them to do.

Moving to the side, the first thing worth noting are the tires and wheels. We’ll be getting the wheels and tires shown on the photograph immediately above. We’re upgrading the tires to better off-road tires (the ones that one of the overlanding bloggers we follow swears by [something about never having gotten a flat tire over the years traveling in Southern Africa seems to be a good reason to pick these, especially when he mentioned the previous several types of tires he used before]) to help keep us from getting into trouble when off-road. The wheels are a locking bead style of wheel that allows you to deflate your tires when on sand and rough areas when you need to increase your traction.

We’re also getting the back body and wheel protection to keep the lower body from getting trashed. We’re also getting the awning shown at the top of the sliding door. Face it, it’s going to be great to just pop the awning and kick back for lunch under the shade wherever we’re at. Sure beats making coffee and eating lunch out of the back of the Honda Element like we did at Crater Lake earlier this year - not that I’m complaining, at least we were able to do it! Sportsmobile is also adding the side light (to the left of the rear window) that can illuminate the side area at the end of the day, again when we’re kicking back relaxing.

One of the main reasons for going with Sportsmobile is the penthouse.

As my original posting about Sportsmobile mentioned, Sportsmobile owns the patent on the pop top that originally was used on the VW vans. It’s pretty much the same design concept, but significantly improved over the past 50 years. The penthouse allows you to stand up on the inside once the top is up (well, Ann can stand up with the top down, I can’t) and has a bed that can drop down. We’ll have a ladder to get us up into bed at night, though night trips to the loo will be a bit more difficult than at home. Still, it beats walking out in the cold like we do at campgrounds! One of the nice things are that the windows in the penthouse have a variety of modes. They can be closed entirely with canvas panels for privacy. Normally there is a clear plastic film , as you can see in the above image. Those can also be zipped down with bug screening left for ventilation. And . . . great for us photographers . . . everything can be zipped down so that the window is entirely open so we can photograph through the penthouse windows! Although the penthouse is a pricy add-on, we think it will be well worth it!

One of the advantages to things having taken as long as they have is that Mercedes has approved an add-on that wasn’t approved last January when we made our first trip to Sportsmobile - a roof-ladder.

The ladder is key for us because we want to use the roof as a photography platform. For that, we need a roof rack and a place to set up our tripods, so . . .

While this is not a Mercedes Sprinter, it is one of the Sportsmobile Ford builds that we’ve drawn some ideas from that Jonathan at Sportsmobile said will work for the Sprinter. So we’ve added it to our build. The rear half of the roof rack will have an aluminum diamond-plate platform. I’ll probably add to it some abrasive strips so we don’t slip off and break our necks, but it will be a great place to photograph from. There should be room for both of us. The front half will consist of two solar panels like in the photograph above. We’re going to have two AGM batteries to power things at night when we’re downloading and processing photographs while we’re off the grid. Those will get recharged during the day even if we’re not driving much (as long as we’re in the sun!). We’re also going to have a couple of rear-facing LED cubes to light things up when we’re driving backwards at night (hopefully something we don’t have to do too often!).

Looking at the back of the vehicle, the above photo shows a couple of other things we’re going to have. First is a rear-mounted spare tire. The other is a recovery box that will have most of our emergency gear (to include an axe and shovel) for those times when I really screw up. The same company that makes the ladder and roof rack (Aluminess) makes the rear bumper with swing out arms for the tire and box. For reasons I’ll explain later, the rear of our vehicle will not have windows (at least that’s how we ordered it).

I guess the last exterior thing to point out is something you can see in the side photograph showing the ladder on the Sprinter above. The vehicle will have the typical water and 110 power connections found on pretty much all RVs for those times when we’re at a location that has full services. The vehicle will have a grey water tank (well, actually 2) but no black water tank.

It’s time to look at the inside. We don’t have a lot of images to show you because ours will be a custom build. Sportsmobile has dozens of templates, and you can mix and match a lot of build features as you want, so Ann and I configured a floor plan that combined a couple of different existing designs.

Our concept was to have a separate area in the very rear of the vehicle (a bulkhead) to store our photo gear and other things for when we take longer trips, and to have a functional front area that will allow us to live out of the vehicle instead of a tent. So immediately behind the driver’s seat is a bathroom/shower room that will have water and a portable toilet (the cartridge can be emptied in any normal toilet). Moving rearward is a cabinet that will have a refrigerator, a microwave and the equipment to run the heater and ac (yes, we’re paying for ac) for the living area. Then comes a tall, pull out pantry (some of the little living area storage we’ll have) leading to a “dinette” area (that can be pulled together to make a bed, albeit a short bed). On the other side of the vehicle are a counter-height pantry and a galley with a sink and cooking area.

Inside all of that cabinetry (mostly under the dinette area but elsewhere as well) will be a 20 gallon water tank, two grey water tanks (shower and kitchen sink), a heater and an air conditioner (with circulation vents), two AGM batteries and power regulation equipment, and all sorts of other things we can’t even describe adequately. There will be USB power connectors galore, and several 110 v outlets for batteries, computers, etc. Since we’re technology geeks we’ll be decked out for that as well. We’ve upgraded the radio system to include a built in GPS system, improved backup camera, rear bumper backup sensor system (into the Aluminess bumper), a cell phone booster (in theory a 2-3 bar boost from the boonies), a wifi booster (can you say Starbucks internet from 3 miles away?), a security system, improved stereo speakers and while no TV, a swing out arm to attach an iPad for entertainment.

Last, but definitely not least, are the upgrades that aren’t as obvious. We’re not only getting standard insulation, but getting it winterized with additional insulation (helps keep it cool in summer as well - important for tech stuff) as well as a lining at key locations to dampen road noise. We’re getting better seats to make the longer drives more comfortable and getting an additional storage area for the dash and above the passenger seating area.

Here’s an image of a vehicle being built we took during our January trip that resembles, in part, what our build will look like.

In it you can see the bath area, and a cabinet on the far side, and the galley being built in the foreground. It’s not exactly the same, but you can see that everything is relatively short because of the penthouse, which is up in this photograph. So yes, when I take a shower, my head will be above the height of the shower stall!

Our galley will be configured a bit differently than this one because we’ll have normal doors that face into the interior as opposed to this one. We’ve also added two interesting details we’ve seen on other builds - a table top that folds out of the vehicle’s sliding door so you can cook from the outside, as well as a table top that folds up from the side of the galley (towards the passenger seat) to give additional surface space on the interior.

Another slight difference from this photograph is that our material choices are different - we’ve gone with a lighter maple veneer instead of the cherry you see here - we wanted it to feel as light inside as possible.

The main thing that is not shown on the above floor-plan configuration is what we’re referring to as the bulkhead. There will be a dividing barrier (not as total as we originally had thought) between the dinette and the rear of the vehicle for storage. It’s essentially divided into three areas. One we call the mud room, the second is an area for our camera bags, and the third is a series of storage compartment areas.

The mud room is a place where we can throw wet and dirty gear and not worry about messing up the rest of the vehicle. At Jonathan’s suggestion, we’re going to have it lined with armacoating, that stuff they put in pickup truck beds, so that it’s essentially waterproof and nearly indestructible. No worries about tossing muddy boots in there! The camera bag area is an area big enough for our two camera bags and maybe a couple of folding chairs; and storage is storage.

I’ve drawn up a series of to-scale plans and diagrams and Jonathan says their cabinet builders can pretty much do what we’ve asked for. Here’s the drawing looking into the bulkhead from the back of the vehicle (with the rear doors open):

The very top is closed to the rear and open to the interior. On either side will be speakers and a shelf will be located in-between the speakers. Everything else opens to the rear. They have notes on which dimensions are critical (the camera bags) and where to compromise on dimensions if necessary. Otherwise, everything is dimensioned so we can fit standard storage boxes for clothes, supplies, gear etc. to include our tripods!

One of the interesting things we discussed and solved during our meeting this trip was in response to my questions about strapping things down - something we’ve heard repeatedly we will want to do if we go off-road. Jonathan suggested that they could install L-track on the inside of the bulkhead that we could then strap things down to. We’ve already given them a layout with three tracks each on the side walls of the mud room and the camera bag space.

As a result of knowing what we must be able to fit into the bulkhead, we’re not sure at this point exactly how big the dinette will be. We’ve given them dimensions for how deep the bulkhead must be (again, a result of our camera bags), and they also have required dimensions for the cabinetry working backwards from the driver’s seat. The give area is with the dinette - so the seats may be 36” wide, or they may be 30” wide - it all depends on how things scale out on the computer. But the concept is there and they know everything will fit.

Because we’ve eliminated the windows in the rear doors, Sportsmobile can take advantage of that space to put storage pouches and a drop-down table on the inside of the doors, which will make them useful for storing things such as the exterior shower hose. Yes, we’re going to have the ability to wash things off before we put them into the vehicle. We’ve even paid to have them install attachments so we can swing open the back back doors, draw curtains and take a shower outside!

So did we have to compromise on anything? Yes, of course we did. But given what we were wanting to do with such little space, it was inevitable. The biggest concern was the bulkhead. We want the ability to access the bulkhead from the inside space as well, which was a major design problem. I’d started with a few plans for doors that swung open, and then came up with a sliding door configuration. The sliding doors had technical issues with strength, longevity and rattling. The regular door idea had problems with the access door for the camera bag space - the space between the dinette seats is just too narrow for both a door and an opening to pull camera bags through. Jonathan suggested a solution his guys came up with for a build earlier this year that uses an industrial fabric and connectors that can maximize the opening for the camera bags. To that we added swinging doors that can access the mud room and parts the storage shelves (they swing out over the dinette seats). After discussing it a bit, we agreed that it was a pretty good compromise.

Next was our stove. We had wanted the vehicle to be a single fuel system (diesel) with the solar/electrical supplement. So we were going to have a diesel stove that fed directly off our diesel fuel tank (like our onboard heater and supplemental ac [when needed]). Unfortunately, Jonathan said that the diesel stove representative had recently visited Sportsmobile West and when he saw that they had designs that had galleys located by the sliding door (as opposed to on the driver’s side), the rep said that the stoves can’t be located there because the exhaust pipe needs to be located on the same side as the stove and exhaust would go into the living space. Jonathan said that he would build it for us because he said he would back in January (and even run the exhaust to the other side), but we settled on not putting him into a potential bind with is supply partner and going with portable butane stoves. The more we thought about it, the convenience of being able to cook outside the vehicle made a lot of sense and worth carrying an extra fuel source.

Our last compromise was perhaps the hardest one to swallow. Above, I mentioned that going off-road we’ll be letting air out of our tires for better traction. Well, once you do that, how do you refill them? (And no, driving on pavement with low tire pressure until you get to a gas station is not an option - it’s a quick way to kill your tires!). Manual tire pumps, while better than nothing, will waste the rest of your day as you try to pump up large tires. So, you need an air compressor. We were planning to have an on-board air compressor, attached to the underside of the vehicle. The problem is, with a shower on one side and a kitchen sink on the other, we have two grey water tanks. And they’re located where they usually put the compressor. Jonathan says his design guys often work wonders and there still might be space for it, but he can’t guarantee it. So we’ll keep our fingers crossed, otherwise we’ll have to get a portable one that, while excellent, will take up precious storage space.

Well, that pretty much sums things up for our Sportsmobile build. I’m sure there will be some details that need sorting out as we go along, but our trip was worthwhile and I am confident that Jonathan understands exactly what we want and will flag for us anything Mercedes says is ok that we are interested in (like having Sportsmobile add skid plates on the underside).

We’re planning a massive trip next May, where we’ll be attending Overland Expo West to get some serious training and doing quite a bit of traveling both before and after the expo. With more off-road travel after the expo than before, but we’ll be seeing plenty of dirt on our way out there. Jonathan has promised it will be ready by then. We’ll keep our fingers crossed!

In case you want to check out more about Sportsmobile’s 4x4 Sprinter conversions, you can go to this link:

Expedition Portal Sportsmobile Article

or this one:

Mercedes Benz Sportsmobile Article  (and no, we are not going to name our vehicle Godzilla).

This should be us pretty soon!