SHADOW THE SPRINTER

🎵 Black and gold, black and gold, black and gold 🎵

Like Stormi & Siren, Shadow is another MWB Mercedes Sprinter, but with a different client brief and therefore, layout. The brief for Shadow: luxe bed on wheels.

Originally wanting to complete the conversion themselves, the van was sitting in the garage for three years. Having installed the roof vent and roof rack, they changed their mind after realising how time-consuming the process is if you want to do it right - so they brought it to us. We removed and re-installed the vent they had in place (the same model we use in our builds), to ensure there was no rust and that it was fully sealed.

We were able to fix the solar straight onto the roof rack already in place and, by opting for a ducted air conditioning system, maximised the roof real estate for a total of 700watts of solar. Further to that, Shadow has 400amp hours of lithium, Enerdrive’s brand new 3000w inverter with 100amp AC charger, as well as a DC charger and two MPPT chargers. This system will happily run their air-conditioner and portable eco-heat induction cooker off grid.

When it comes to plumbing, a full size ABI sink with matching brushed brass tapware perfectly complements the gold RV Labs handles. There is 95 litres of freshwater onboard, a 95 litre grey water tank underbody and an external shower, enriched by the diesel heater and hot water system. The compostable OGO toilet is located in a custom built drawer, which allows it to be both mounted and externally vented, whilst also removable.

Shadow’s kitchen is comprised of a 130L Bushman fridge and full drawer storage, including a pantry drawer. With the kitchen cabinetry on the passenger side facing the front cabin, there wasn’t an opportunity for a flip up table, so the top most drawer houses an extending benchtop within and the front swivel seats allow for that perfect swivel dining area.

Externally, we have added one full-sized side window to the sliding door (the windows we source to install here have a sliding portion and flyscreen which allows for an extra element of ventilation) as well as two sliding windows in the bed area. Custom flyscreens have also been installed at both the side and rear openings.

At the time of writing this, Shadow has already made its first voyage and travelled all the way from Victoria to the Gold Coast. We look forward to getting to hear about lots more of its adVANtures.

Photos taken by Graham Blade @blade.visuals