MR & MRS B’S LWB 2020 SPRINTER CONVERSION

Here at New Wave we like it when our customers come to us with idea’s. We like it even more when they come armed with bags of product research to determine the final design and spec, And that is exactly what Mr & Mrs B did.

With a young family, and a love for big outdoor pursuits we knew this van was going to be an interesting build. With a daughter who competes in Motorcross events all across the country this vehicle had to be the ultimate looking unimog to not only provide comfort but with stand the use its going to receive.

Opting for a brand-new factory LWB 2020 4×4 316ci Mercedes Sprinter with a long list of factory upgrades including bulkhead delete, privacy glass, heated swivel seats, parking aid, reverse cameras, plus much more, this gave team NWCC an amazing base to start from.

With space constraints, the vehicle needed to include a working garage for bike and quad maintenance and transport, but also a useable living space for a growing family. The design and layout had to include forward facing rear seats for safety. This was made possible with the RIB 860 Neptune trimmed in house in Black Nappa leather combined with Alcantara centres and Grey top stitch to match the exterior colour of Stone Grey.

With the RIB 860 fitted with front to back and side to side sliding action’s, this assisted us to create a impressive sized sleeping platform when laid flat, a second large sleeping platform above the garage was designed for adults made even more spacious by the fiberglass roof pod supplied and installed by Summit, which provides the clients with an extra 350mm head room taking away that claustrophobic feel garage bunk beds can sometimes offer due to the garage height restrictions governed by the bikes handle bars.

One of the biggest challenges the team was faced with on this build was the bathroom, it had to be compact, squeezed between the RIB backrest and the garage wall, we were limited with off the shelf options, we had to get creative.

We had no choice other than to design and machine our own components on site starting with the Corian, shower tray and hand basin, custom built vanity unit even a laser cut acrylic mirror.

The LPS Clayton is what keeps this vehicle powered up, backed with 200watt roof mounted solar panel. The internal hardware in this vehicle consisted of the Smev 9722 Hob/sink combo, Dometic oven/grill, Dometic CRX 65L fridge/ freezer, Truma Diesel heating and hot water, LPS Lithium power supply, Victron solar control, Truma AC, market leading products providing those home from home comforts which will stand the test of time.

A huge shout out to Maven industries for creating the Aluminium roof rack, a complete masterpiece allowing us to install our Thule awning, TV aerials, Laser work lamps and LED Bar, Truma AC unit and yet still providing a viewing platform with great access via the OWL spare wheel carrier imported from the states.

There was only one choice of wheels for this vehicle, the very subtle Black Rhino York wrapped in the 265/70/17 BFG Tyres providing amazing all terrain grip without being too noisy when traveling on U.K roads. A fifth Black Rhino added to the OWL spare wheel carrier allowing us to create space under the chassis for 100L of fresh water combined with 120L of Jet wash water for those muddy track days.

Both weight and space was a huge battle for us when converting this vehicle, taking every KG into consideration with Aluminium chequered plate and PVC used in the load compartment and our usual light weight furniture to the living area. We knew we were on to a losing battle from day one with the fight against weight on this vehicle due to its additional items bolted to every corner of the vehicle, Warn Winch, Winch bumper, roof rack, water tanks, under chassis LPG tank, Spare wheel/ladder combination, laser lamps, etc, luckily we always had a plan up our sleeve.

The vehicle weighed in at 3700kg with half a tank of fuel and the driver, The vehicle is now upgraded with 5000 kg suspension manufactured and pre-set by Agile and imported from the US via Rhodes allowing this vehicle to withstand its own weight plus the weight of the Cargo once undergone the DVLA paperwork.
Hundreds of man hours have been invested into manufacturing this vehicle with thousands of research hours by our clients, we hope they love this build as it is a huge credit to them and the money and time invested.

We hope this vehicle plays a big part in creating lifetime memories and enjoyable family adventures……

Words from Mike
“I can honestly say in ten years of working in this industry I have never had to work so close with my clients updating daily via watts app, email, consultations, talking through even the smallest of decisions before machining any components, this was a ten week project for the NWCC team and although hugely proud of our outcome we feel custom projects like this can sometimes be such a strain on a small team we can only allocate so many of them per year between our production builds, so if you are looking for a one off build please be prepared for long lead times and 10 week build times”.