BEAST MODE | 4x4 Sprinter Camper Van Custom 4wd Overland Mercedes Build VAN LIFE

[Music] hello this is patrick with new jersey's outdoor adventures youtube channel well today i could definitely say i have some huge van envy i was biking here in huber woods up by middletown new jersey and uh in rolls jesse here with this really cool mercedes-benz sprinter four-wheel drive van and he's willing to give us a tour today and show us inside and out hello jesse welcome to new jersey outdoor adventures thank you very much hi i'm jesse this is uh my 2019 sprinter conversion [Music] so 170 non-extended 2500 and uh yeah i've been working on it for the last year or so it's just about done getting there but uh yeah come take a look um starting out here 17 17-inch rims um i had a company out in colorado court tourig did the entire exterior they did everything from the bumpers to roof vents and new suspension system fox suspension in there for new leaf springs everything was completely done by them and uh this thing rides absolutely beautifully the biggest drive i've done so far was uh colorado to jersey and i felt like i was in a brand new cadillac the luminesce bumper super heavy duty um with rigid lights these things make it look nighttime look like daytime it's pretty incredible actually and again they did all that front totally custom wrap job was done by a company that they work with out there in colorado and i did one with the matt green but with also like an offset matte black in the middle here just to kind of you know change it up a little bit uh over here so these steps um actually were just like factory options i kind of when i was buying it they just asked if i wanted to throw those on there and they ended up looking pretty badass so i figured i'd keep them with the van over here i've got luminesce surfboard racks i surf and paddleboard and just use allen key to turn those out these spin out right here and then i can put a paddle board on surfboards take a long board if i got one and a luminesce ladder rack on there too so up here i've got 375 solar panel um produces way more power than i think i'll ever need but i figured come out for a week or a month or six months out somewhere i want as much as i can get without any kind of problem so oh this behavior and then so this rack is actually a custom by tourig i was going to go with a luminesce rack something to happen with shipping and they told me hey we actually make our own and we can custom fit it to the ceiling fans and for the solar panel and i ended up being one of the better decisions i made with the van all right so uh here i've got my water fill with blocks that nobody can mess with my water um here's the exhaust for the hot water and for the heater got the leaf springs underneath with the added on suspension system aftermarket suspension as i said done by toure um here's a luminesce rear bumper with uh the um what's it called the blind spot assist they integrated that back into the system which is really nice fire black rhino these things are pretty awesome um in here it's just a storage i keep extra fuel in here uh and then i'll just you know space for anything i might need i'll show you in the back all right so uh a little bit messy um probably get some of this stuff out of the way but uh i guess for here i've got my water heater for cold hot water for showers and my sink and everything in there um in the back that's my water filter so i can drink i've you know potable water in there and uh in the back behind there i don't know if we've got a surf rack so i got a 40 gallon tank in the back which again you know it's just me and my dog and that lasts us for a very long time over there i've got my 2000 watt inverter and then beneath that is my battery bank 220 battery and then to the right is my controller which all done by renegy and it actually hooks up to an app on your phone and you can monitor your usage and check how much the battery has in it how much is being used and all that kind of cool stuff up here we have uh the slots in between for the bed that we can like air itself out so it doesn't get like mildewy and you know so some of those days when there's a lot of condensation in there it just helps the bed breathe so to speak um back over here got my fuse box up on the right and then i got my cut off switch down beneath it and that controls that sets everything to all the different things i have using power in the van so all this so the bed frame is 72 by 62 by 60 roughly um i'm about five seven so i don't need that much space uh it works for me uh those of you who are looking to do this kind of stuff and they're a bit taller i would go with something bigger and then yeah all the wood was custom stuff but we'll i guess get into that when we go inside okay up there i've got a awning system comes out as stands on two legs that open out that can either be plugged into these notches here so it fully extends never has to touch the ground or you can just peg them into the ground like a normal you know any normal awning or a tent this was also part of like the just an after factory option from mercedes um yeah they actually ended up looking pretty good so interior all this was for the most part done by a company called pot of ants he's out of colorado as well and the reason i went with him to do the interiors because as you can see the wood inside not many not many people do this amount of woodwork interior as opposed to using like polymers and different glues and plastics and whatnot i wanted a wood interior i just i like it better all right it's the same side uh so to start right here a little pop-up basically it's like a there's not too much space in advance so you need anything you can get and this is like a little dinner table kind of deal or a workstation something like that just holds right down got my controls for my lights a little hard to see right now but i got lights up here there's another set in the back over there i can show you in a bit uh here got 12 volt all right for plug-ins there usbs and then your standard plugs there everything all the electric is controlled by a switch right in here on the left all right so now we have power to the whole vehicle uh over here i had the factory seats swapped out for shield man seats and basically the swivel seats i like being able to have somewhere to sit and when the van is mostly bed that makes difficult so i put these in and the bottom extends out the whole thing it leans back to the point where you can almost lay down fully in it you know if you have the space come up and back and forth and whatnot um really great seats if you ever have the opportunity to get them uh so the van when i got it was a cargo van strictly and it didn't have any kind of real audio system so i put in i had this alpine 10 inch screen put in um i might be able to turn that on um it's a big upgrade from just the factory setting and i'm very much happy with that like loud music uh so over here so that's those rigid lights that i was showing you in the front um the one on the left the front pods are the ones that light it up like the sun and then on the right there i've got rear bumper ones for backing up at night they do the same thing but in the rear and that was all done by tourig as well up here it's just overhead storage i have plans to make this actually all cut off and just wood and make it wood compartments that i can you know put other things in there all right over here so i'll show you spin this around over here this is a support for this table so that i can sit and have dinner as well as you know having somebody else in here um and that's like super easy to put together it's just a couple of screws and a piece of wood on a hitch um that didn't take away at all and also there's power down there there's another 12 volt and two usbs so if i want to do if i'm if i get to work remote luckily enough for the day then i can do it from here or anywhere else just lock this back up so these i put up here these are the controllers for these roof vents um they're reversible so i can do air in or air out and now i got air going out so it's pulling you know hot air from inside the van out i can switch it up there we go air in you can change the speed of it it's a super handy system that's a max air got two of them one controller for each unit so i got another one in the back there that we'll see in a minute [Music] uh over here these are actually just it's the accordion um shades that i got from tourig so they're magnetic and they're basically built to work with a metal frame and since i did all wood interior i kind of can't really do anything magnetic so i just screwed them in and it works you know perfectly to my knees up here i got these little locks here all wood simple stuff this is just how i keep my plates and stuff separated so that when i'm driving they don't all smash together and break um that's how they came originally in the package and just worked out pretty well these are probably my favorite piece though is these little locks every every uh drawer in the vehicle has them and it's so it's so simple and it works so well i i couldn't imagine spending any more money on something more serious over here got my oven [Music] that works um oven three top burner pure it's just like uh i couldn't imagine not having it anymore after having it it's been a couple weeks since i cooked anything in it but it's kind of a must-have if you're going with a van like this here sink hot cold water which is flipped on by here so as you can hear the water pump went on all right extendable head a little bit more pressure your standard sink nothing crazy um also this top which is kind of cool it doubles as a cutting board like you got the glossy finish up here and then a cutting board style over here so even though i have a cutting board separately uh there's just a couple shelves that i put up um that's it's me and my dog her name's rory and three-year-old little husky feed my baby and then uh up here just like some tools and stuff like that i got like a gopro in there and you know a knife some paracord stuff like that and little plants and stuff uh under here i kind of just keep like my toiletries and stuff toilet paper in the back paper towels garbage bags uh you know stuff for brushing my teeth tylenol you know hydrogen peroxide everything you'd find in your cabinet you know i love your sink in your bathroom here so i keep my pots and pans um i used to be a chef i do a lot of cooking so this is a bit overkill i'd say for what you need a van but i like to have everything i need all right uh in here for refrigerator um there's a couple of beers i didn't offer you a beer i feel bad about that now um and a little freezer up top it's more than enough space for my needs it's underneath here oh bad knees all right so i got the toolbox but underneath sorry for the noise there but underneath is just storage um i've got my heating system here that i control from a dial on the other side which i'll get to in a minute and uh space underneath there was actually kind of a bonus i thought it was all going to be filled in and under here same thing just more storage space got a socket set and stuff um i keep some of the cards with the van tools under there just in case something were to happen nice big countertop um depending on what you plan on using it for i would really think hard about if you're going to build your own how much counter stop space you actually need as you can see i'm not a huge guy but there's not a terrible amount of space in here i may have gone a little bit wide but it's a beautiful countertop and this was all like i said before done by pot of vans they did an exceptional job on the entire interior um we worked on it for like about four months five months or so um but up here there's the cutting board i keep my knives and cutlery and all that kind of stuff on these plastic right now non-slip whatever these are called um so it doesn't bounce around when i'm driving uh this is another tourig shade that i just hooked up this little slide to because i don't have like i said no mag no metal so i can't use the magnets and stuff that just folds down when i don't have this stuff in there that keeps out a ton of heat in the summers it is very very nice having these in here um and also at night time going to sleep completely covers up the windows i don't have to worry about anybody looking in or nothing all right so now the bathroom um waterproof walls in the shower i got a curtain that comes around all the way and acts as a door got a light switch around the side it's easily accessible in case you're already in the shower and you forget to put that on this is a compost toilet so it's not hooked up to any tank in the vehicle the tank is the bottom of it um you use a peat moss and you put in the bottom and then this lever over here that lever down there basically mixes in the peat moss with you know everything you do with the bathroom and kind of turns into like a powder a dried powder and then at the bottom there there's those two knobs knob down there one on the other side unhook those take the whole thing out and then you just go and dump it where you're allowed to dump it and uh you know standard shower head nothing crazy and uh hot water cold water i take the toilet out when i'm taking a shower just because you know having to go over that thing is kind of annoying but it's not an issue very easy to take in and out so over here so that's a vent that goes out with a little 12-volt battery in there um and that basically just kind of keeps the smell out of the van and goes directly outside the van so it's just air that's getting pumped out of there um otherwise otherwise the whole thing would stink like a boat so i want that issue uh in here these are just cabinets i decided to go with a little bit of lighter color with the wood just because to kind of like change it all up got the ebony up here the chestnut here and then with these they all have these cool little locks leather straps are open and closing snack drawer and here i've got all the van infos all of my warranty information the van information uh separate parts all the manuals things like that and then in here so here is where i keep my propane tank and that's for the heater and that also runs off uh the whole tank is in there it's very easy to get in and out it's a solid system and most of it is controlled right from these two knobs here so i got the labasto for my heat is right here and this is my hot water controller so i can set the temperature to whatever it is i want it which is really convenient otherwise you're just gonna blast it with super hot water uh i'm curious i'll jump up on the bed to show you size comparison so i've got a lot of head space like i said before i'm like five seven so it's not really saying much there's a lot of head space but little awning style windows i plan on building some more cabinets in here because you don't really need all this head space and i could use more storage so it's a project for another day uh i got another controller for the fan up here so it's blowing air on me while i sleep or pulling hot air out either one your choice and then so the bed is a custom bed basically i was going with kind of like a lower brand one just to save some money and then that one the shipping was going to take too long and i was going to pick up the van was the last thing to be done was to put the bed in but we found a more expensive nicer one like the day before i was supposed to pick it up and i tell you what it was 100 worth it to spend that extra couple of bucks on getting a nicer pet is way more comfortable it's like one of the tempurpedic ones um so you just kind of fold into it can you walk us through the process of how one would go about obtaining a van i guess you'd send it to touareg and to pedoband is that can you tell us a little bit about how that works uh yes i went to a dealership near me for a mercedes dealership and i bought an empty cargo van just nothing fancy about it just whatever i get for the bare minimum and then i took uh basically i just set up a whole thing with touring first and i picked out i went online did a lot of research as far as my options for you know everything for the exterior i started with so i looked at all the luminesce stuff the bumpers the um the awning on the side roof racks you know tires all that kind of stuff um and then i called them up and they're awesome to work with you know if i ever make another one i'm going straight to them even if you know even though they're all the way out in colorado and i'm in jersey uh 100 go with them and i set up a whole thing with them went through a list of all the added parts and you know delivery times and how long everything would be and i sent it to them then worked out to deal with pot of vans as far as interior what kind of wood how long it's going to take dimensions of everything in here from the bed frame i chose to go with more storage in the back i could have extended this wall further back and had the bed like hang over a little bit i had more room here but i i didn't have a ton of stuff so i want more road for storage and then so after i finished with tourig i had i it just kind of worked out for the close ones in boulder one's in uh golden and they drove it over to potabans and he took over for the next three months or so and then so as far as how you go about doing it i mean first drawing on a plan is what you want i had like 30 different drawings of interior like sizes of everything and the layout but ultimately i kind of like changed my mind right at the end so spend most of your time coming out with a layout and then pick the van that you want there's the 144 which is a little bit smaller got the 170 and then which is this and then the 170 extended which is just a behemoth i think it's awesome i went with this 170 because i'm used to driving vans for work and the maneuverability of a 170 is pretty awesome i mean we're sitting in a park right now and i'm in a regular parking spot with really hanging over maybe an extra three feet in front of the lines which is pretty nice in the band this size so yeah just you know the process is just going into a mercedes dealership or finding a used one and starting there building out your plan and going from that point now what was your background before this is this like your first motorhome that you've ever had is during the tent camped so um the first van i ever had was a 1987 toyota highest and i lived in new zealand for a while and i bought it for like 2200 bucks and i put like 500 bucks into it and it was like a quarter of the size of this i mean it's basically from like here to the front of the vehicle and just had a bed and like it was just a pure you know roughing a kind of van and i lived in that for like a year and that's kind of where i fell in love with the whole ability to move your house um it's just i don't know man it's a different kind of feeling just being able to have everything you need in one spot and then being able to move that spot as you see fit you know you want to go spend a day at the beach or a couple you know a couple weeks at the beach and just drive over find a spot and it's way easier to find places to stay in these things than you know you originally think which is nice everybody thinks that you can get kicked out of every spot it's not really the case um and so i spent time in that and then i dabbled in other vans and stuff like that and i've been dealing with them forever for work so i've got a lot of experience with vans and you know driving them driving this thing is like as easy as driving like a little car for me um not to sound kind of like hockey but it's just i've gotten used to it there's an easier way to put it so this is uh pretty fresh you got it this year well last year then just started using i guess earlier this year what are your what are your travel plan i mean this is pretty rugged off off-road uh four-wheel drive vehicle uh what are your travel intentions gonna be um so basically i wanna do a lot of the western us and canada for starters uh my first big trip um well i'm taking it down to virginia in a couple of weeks go camping down there with some buddies and then first big trip uh i'm getting out to utah i think i'm hoping by the end of next month end of november and then texas uh there's a surf park um esr surf park in waco texas that i really want to get to i'm super excited about that i want to take this out there um and spend like a week or two kind of putzing around texas but utah get out of those canyons and there's plenty of places to take this off-roading where i can just kind of set up camp lots of parks out there so as far as the intentions it's i don't know man that's the beauty of it you can just go anywhere you want we all know about the freedom once you get into a van or an rv that you gain and having your house with you is unbelievable now a van is never done my man's not done everybody if i've met advanced on what are you what are you doing next what what's what's next on your van uh next on the list for the van was these cabinets i was talking about um i've got all this head space you know above here and realistically i don't need it so i want to put basically extend these cabinets out until the end and then put a small piece in the corner over here behind me um you know like a little bookshelf and stuff like that i try to do a bit of reading and i just want space for all that kind of stuff so any electronics or uh recovery gear i know we talked about bikes off camera trying to incorporate that yeah so bikes so in the back i would like to put a bike rack similarly you got i think it's cool as hell um i have one of those uh the fat tire bikes and i have to bring it in and put it in here in the kitchen when i'm taking it somewhere because i don't have a bike rack yet so that would be something i i could probably do that sooner rather than later um yeah i gotta figure out that bumper first let's see if i can even make that option well jesse thank you very much for taking the time today to give our viewers a tour of your beautiful custom sprinter van and i'm sure it's going to help a lot of our viewers that are in the research stages of building a van or an rv right now with some of the ideas here so i will link to both of those uh vendors and that way our our viewers could understand where you went oh this is patrick with new jersey's outdoor adventures youtube channel hope you enjoyed this video please like this video comment share subscribe i love it and we'll see you soon alright thank you very much had a good time

Channel: New Jersey Outdoor Adventures

Views: 264,302

Keywords: Vanlife, Van life tour, Van life build, Van life solar, Sprinter van conversion, Sprinter van camper, Sprinter van build, Sprinter van conversion 4x4, Sprinter van shower, Sprinter van camper build, Sprinter van camper tour, aluminess bumper, aluminess Pole, sprinter fiamma, girard water heater, webasto heater, Propex heater, espar heater, vanlife, diy build, petavans, tourig, earthroamer, revel, airstream, storyteller, sportsmobile, agile off road, combat sprinter, boldt

Id: GEUV1BMF6hw

Length: 28min 25sec (1705 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 17 2020