Custom Sprinter RVs originate from out-of-the-box thinking – and that’s what drove Steve and Margret Seelye’s Sprinter conversion. The Seelyes live in Homer, Alaska, and needed a camper that would deal with the mountains and rough roads of their favorite camping spots. They discovered the Sprinter’s potential when Steve’s brother-in-law converted a 170″ Sprinter cargo van into his own Sprinter camper van.
Steve: “We camped for years in a 1989 Westfalia and enjoyed it, but have arrived at the age where a head and shower and more space than the Westy has seemed important. We looked at the commercially-available Sprinter campers and were not pleased with most of the offerings. We wanted the volume of a box body rather than trying to fit a head/shower and comfortable-size bed into the van version.”
The couple knew they wanted a Sprinter, but were stymied until they came upon a dealer more than willing to do business: “We bought the Sprinter cab/chassis from from an Idaho dealer when they were desperate to unload their Sprinter inventory. Fortunately they spec’ed out their units with the heavy-duty suspension (huge rear sway bar) and uprated front suspension, as well as cruise control, so other than adding the Reimo seat swivels we haven’t needed to do anything to the chassis.”
So now they had the Sprinter – how to create their dream Sprinter camper van? Into the picture came TriVan Truck Body, of Ferndale, Washington. TriVan’s staff of 45 includes designers, fabricators, welders, electricians, carpenters, painters and installers, so all design, engineering & body construction is handled in-house under one roof. TriVan has created custom-built truck bodies since 2003, mostly for large commercial vehicles, but they have also done RVs and Sprinter cube bodies. Steve had seen some of their builds, enough to know that he was interested in a custom-built aluminum Sprinter cube body that would allow them to design an interior exactly as they needed, for much less than one of the commercial Sprinter conversions.
Ryan VanDriel of TriVan says that the van presented some unique challenges: “Steve brought us the bare chassis cab straight from the dealership and our design staff prepared AutoCAD drawings for him to map the interior layout. It also helped him to decide how much space he would need for his holding tanks and where he wanted them. Any leftover space not being used under the body for holding tanks was going to be used for belly box/storage space. Recognizing that space was at a premium, Steve very much wanted to be careful of how he used his space. For example, a curbside entry door was built with a stepwell of aluminum diamondplate. Steve saw this as a waste of potential storage space, so this stepwell was boxed in underneath and a piano hinge was placed on one of the inside steps so it could act as an access door to this storage box. Simple thought, great idea, and turned out fine. Steve wanted the floor height to be as low as possible, with wheel-wells inside the floor space to get the floor height down. It turns out that the rear duallies of the Sprinter sit enough below its frame rails that wheel-wells will not help in lowering your floor height. We built the wheel-boxes, which ended up intruding into the body by only about 1”.
“The walls of the body are constructed of TriVan’s extruded aluminum interlocking “Snap-Lock” panels, which form a smooth, rivet-free, puncture-resistant exterior skin. The extrusions, when snapped together, also form integral vertical 1″ support posts 12″ on center. These support posts make excellent, robust anchoring points for cabinetry, counters, heavy auxiliary equipment, shelving. The insulation is an R-11 urethane spray-foam insulation, which is a non-settling, vermin-proof, non-absorbent and absolutely quiet (no squeaks). All exterior doors are extruded-aluminum-framed, and sit flush to the body sidewall when closed. All belly box doors featured 2-point recessed stainless steel D-latches, keyed alike. TriVan does not typically build RVs, but for enthusiasts that are willing to spend the premium for a high-end, durable, truck body that will last for decades (not an “off-the-shelf” or mass-produced vehicle) we are a great choice!”
What was the equipment that Steve wanted in his Sprinter conversion? “The windows are Hehr thermopane units. I used a Webasto TSL-17 boiler for cabin heat and it runs through a heat exchanger in a marine water heater for domestic hot water. I put 2 220AH 6-volt Lifeline AGM batteries wired in series under the passenger seat. (We use) a Charles 30-amp charger when connected to AC, and two 135-watt Kyrocera panels on the roof running through a Rogue charge controller and the chassis alternator keep the batteries happy. We used a marine Isotherm refrigerator. 55 gallons of fresh water, 30-gallon tanks for grey and black water. I used a marine macerating toilet so that the black water could drain through a small hose and it works well, plus uses very little water to flush. The stove is a marine unit and is propane. I used 2 fiberglass 5-gallon propane tanks mounted in an exterior cargo bin, they are 1/3 the weight of steel tanks. The Webasto handily connects to the auxiliary fuel feed off the Sprinter diesel tank.”
So is the Sprinter working out for them? “We’ve taken several trips, even though the interior isn’t quite finished, and everything is working quite well.” Sounds like a work in progress, and a unique Cubist creation at that!
Interested in building your own dream Sprinter conversion or Sprinter camper van? Check out my Sprinter RV Conversion Sourcebook!
Gallery – TriVan Sprinter Cube RV Conversion
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