The Sprinter Build Hits Year Two: What Tyler and I Learned
Year two of the Sprinter rebuild is in the books and the van still does not have a single cabinet. What it does have: insulation, a Maxxair fan that does not leak, a bench seat that almost works, and the confidence — earned at 38 mph on US-40 — to tow our boat down to the Berry.
Year two of the Sprinter rebuild is in the books, and the van still does not have a single cabinet.
I am going to repeat that, because in Park City Sprinter circles this is a confession. The van. Does not. Have cabinets. It has a bench with a hole where the second battery is supposed to go, currently occupied by a 20-quart bin labeled "BECK" full of socks I have not matched since November. Here is the honest list.
The van
2017 144-inch high-roof Sprinter 2500, bought March 2024 with 142,000 miles from a Spanish Fork contractor. Three rotten layers of plywood, faint smell of grout that took six months of vinegar. $28,400 cash. We sold the 2014 4Runner to do it. Tyler cried in the parking lot. He says he was "emotional about the 4Runner." Sure. The plan: not a van-life Instagram van. A family rig that sleeps four, tows the boat to the Berry and the Gorge, and lets us do McPolin drop-off and be at the put-in by noon on the days we play hooky.
What got done in 2025
On Tyler's Mountain Ops Saturdays, plus the weeknights when the kids were watching a movie:
1. Insulation. Finally.
Winter 2024 we slept in the van twice in Moab without insulation and woke to a quarter inch of frost on the inside of the roof. Above the kids. A medical event waiting to happen. 3M Thinsulate SM600L in walls and ceiling, Havelock wool in the cavities, Reflectix on the rear doors. About $1,100, double Tyler's estimate. Four Saturdays in March. We slept at Jordanelle in November in 19-degree weather with the diesel Espar and it was comfortable. Beck slept on a Therm-a-Rest pad on the bench. Did not stir.
2. The Maxxair fan.
Maxxair 7500K into the factory vent hole, a Tyler-and-his-brother weekend in June. They cut the hole bigger than they meant to, sealed it with Dicor and a lot of swearing, and it has not leaked through a Wasatch summer or two ski-day snowstorms. $325 plus $40 in sealant. The kids call it "the helicopter." The Berry parking lot in July is no longer a coffin.
3. The bench that doubles as a bed.
3/4-inch birch ply over a 1-inch steel-tube frame Tyler's Mountain Ops buddy welded for a 30-rack. Hinged top, 4-inch Foam Order pad ($190), thrift-store quilt because I refuse to spend Instagram money on upholstery I will spill PowerBait on. Seats three kids in seatbelts (the welder added legal bench-belt anchors), folds flat to sleep two adults plus Beck sideways. $620 materials, $150 welding.
What did not get done in 2025
Cabinets. Tyler designed them four times. A stack of birch ply in the shed since August that I trip over every time I go to get the snowblower. They will get done in 2026 or I am taking the plywood to the dump and Tyler can build cabinets out of regret.
Electrical. One 100Ah lithium wired to the Espar and the fan. No solar, no inverter, no second battery. Yes, our system is undersized. We will get there. Probably.
Galley. A Coleman two-burner on a milk crate and a 7-gallon Igloo. The kids think this is great. I am not in a hurry.
The boat-towing test drive
In September we hitched the boat — a 17-foot aluminum Lund, 1,800 pounds with trailer — and drove over Daniels Summit to Strawberry. 6% grade for six miles, the test I had been quietly dreading. On paper the 2500 tows 5,000 pounds. In practice it tows them slowly: 38 mph in fourth gear with the trans temp light flickering once near the summit. Tyler drove like his dad, comfortable being passed by an F-150. Beck caught two fish. On the descent we manual-shifted to second and used engine braking — brakes warm but not hot at the bottom. Verdict: the Sprinter tows the boat. Not the way Tyler's dad's old F-250 did. For Strawberry, Jordanelle, Flaming Gorge — fine.
The 2026 plan, and the Mexico thing
- Cabinets, before May. Tyler is on the hook. Plywood is paid for.
- Electrical, before July. 300W solar, Victron 100/30, second battery, inverter, fuse panel. $1,800 on paper, probably $2,400.
- The Mexico summer trip. Jess at Mexico Moms is plotting a July boat-and-camp run on the Sea of Cortez. We are making noises about pulling the kids out of summer camp, loading the boat behind the Sprinter, and driving south. Yes I know what the gas costs. Yes I know what the border feels like with three kids and an aluminum boat. We are doing it anyway.
Running total: about $33,265 before cabinets and electrical. Another $4,500–$5,500 to finish. High $30Ks for a four-person rig that tows our boat and sleeps the family. The closest factory comparable — Storyteller, Winnebago Revel — is $190,000-plus and does not have a hole in the bench for a sock bin. I will take the sock bin.
What rides along every trip: the Onyx kids PFDs hang on carabiners above the bench (never "left at the house"); the Earth Pak 30L dry bag lives in the door pocket; the Coleman Octagon ($180, used more than the $700 backpacking tent in the garage) goes up when the kids want to be "in the tent"; the Yeti Roadie 24 rides between the front seats.
If you have a Sprinter in your driveway and a stack of plywood in your shed: it is okay if year two ends without cabinets. The point of the van is that the kids are in it, at the lake, asleep, and you are too. Everything else is a Saturday in the future. If you want to see what this nonsense looks like, stay cheap at Treasure Mountain Inn and walk by the van on Prospector. It is the one with the sock bin where a battery should be. — Katie