Do you want to build your own DIY Sprinter camper, or are you just interested in seeing how commercial Sprinter RV conversions are built? I’ve been interested in the process ever since we designed our own Sprinter camper conversion.
How Mercedes Builds The Sprinter
The magic starts at the Mercedes-Benz factories in Düsseldorf and Ludwigsfelde in Germany, of course, where the initial Mercedes Sprinter assembly takes place in a highly-automated factory: small teams of human workers assist over 300 robots producing more than 550 Sprinters each day. North American Sprinter cargo vans are destined to have their engines, transmissions, axles and wheels removed after manufacture, the parts and Sprinter body shipped across the ocean in two separate containers, then re-assembled in Ladson, South Carolina (near Charleston) as “US-built” vehicles (all this to avoid a 25% “chicken tax” enacted in the 1960s as part of trade wars over US chicken imports into Europe). This video shows the amazing Düsseldorf Sprinter panel van production line.
How Pleasure-Way Builds a Sprinter RV
When the Sprinter vans are re-assembled and ready to go, they’re purchased by North American RV manufacturers as the basis for many different kinds of Class B and C RV conversions. Pleasure-Way, a Canadian company from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, has been manufacturing a number of Sprinter-based RVs for years (their newest 2012 Pleasure-Way Plateau is one of the many North American Sprinter RVs described in my 2012 Sprinter RV Buyer’s Guide). Though the video is from 2009, it’s the most complete video walk-through I’ve found online of how a major North American manufacturer builds their Sprinter motorhomes.
The video shows Pleasure-Way building a Class B Plateau on a 2006 Sprinter 2500 van chassis. Note the details like subfloors of solid plywood (rather than particle board, used by some other manufacturers!), water-based non-toxic adhesives used for carpet installation, and the seats custom-upholstered in ultraleather fabric. I’ve heard that Pleasure-Way claims to have the lowest number of warranty claims of any of the Canadian RV manufacturers, and that could be true, judging by the customer feedback on the Web. Old-school, but quality hand-built construction!
ASKING YOUR FEEDBACK: Does this post give you some ideas for the sequence of your own DIY Sprinter conversion work?
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