Getting your Sprinter build finished and heading out on the road is just the beginning of what you will probably have done to your van. You will find things that would be nice to have, and new products will come to market that will add to your #vanlife experience.
Here are a few things that we’ve added after hitting the road…
Agile Offroad RIP Kit
With all of the extra workout gear that we haul around with us on the road, the Agile Offroad RIP kit was a no brainer! And it was driving us nuts to see that our van had saggy butt syndrome. Not to mention the factory ride was VERY stiff and unforgiving.
When you order the kit, Agile sets you up based on how heavy your van is, and it not only lifts your van up a little above factory height (which looks awesome), but also significantly smooths out the ride.
We had the RIP kit installed by Momentum Vans, and would recommend budgeting the RIP kit into your Sprinter build from the start. BUT! It’s also something you could do later on if you don’t have the budget for it at first.
Black Rhino Warlord Wheels
The Black Rhino wheels are something that I’ve had my eye on adding to our Sprinter build for a long time. The only thing stopping us from getting them was wanting to upgrade to a bigger wheel and tire setup, which meant that we wanted to NEED new tires before doing the upgrade.
These new wheels look amazing, and I would get the same setup if we built another van!
Upgraded wheel & tire size:
BFGoodrich All Terrain T/A KO2
275/70/R17
Black Rhino Warlord wheels
Diameter 17”
Width 8”
Bolt pattern 6-130.0
Offset 52
Owl Vans Sherpa Rack & Tire Carrier
People are always innovating new cool things to add to your Sprinter build. And that’s exactly what Owl Vans did with their Sherpa Rack and Tire Carrier. They created a design that attaches to the Sprinter door frame (rather than bumper), that allows you to attach all kinds of things to the back of your van!
We installed the Sherpa Rack and Tire Carrier ourselves in an afternoon with the first intention of using it to carry our mountain bikes via vertically mounted 1-Up Bike Trays.
Checkout our whole Sherpa Rack Installation Video here (coming soon)
Rixen’s Electric Heater
Ok, I’m probably going to explain this incorrectly, so bear with me.
It came to our attention that Rixen’s had a heater upgrade that allowed their Hydronic heating system to be toggled to run off diesel (which we’ve been doing) OR off of shore power (or your battery system).
This is great for the winter months when we are likely plugged into a shore power connection at a campground because off-grid camping is much harder to find in the winter.
We recommend adding this to your van build from the start, as it’s one of our favorite features!
Fresh Water Freeze Protection
You might recall that during our first winter of powder chasing we froze our fresh water pipes many times. Well, after talking over this issue with Brian from Momentum Vans… Brian came up with an amazing solution to extend our glycol heating lines to the areas that tended to freeze most often.
This solution is an absolute game changer for winter van life!!!
Unfortunately, Brian from Momentum Vans is the one that put this together, and you’d have to talk with him (or your van builder) about how it works. But we can toggle a switch on/off to control the freeze protection when we know we’ll be in sub 20 degree temps.
Caframo Electric Space heater
If you know you’ll be plugging your van into shore power frequently during colder conditions… getting an electric space heater is a great idea! This will also save fuel from your diesel heater.
We picked up one of these Caframo heaters, and used the heck out of it all winter with zero issues. It even ate up Emily’s hair like it was built to do so :-).
You can get this guy at Amazon here.
Little tip: if your heater is on the floor it will feel like it’s warming the space better than if it’s even a few feet off the ground.
Winter Van Flooring
When getting geared up for a cold winter on the road, our hard diamond rubber flooring didn’t sound very inviting. So, we searched for a rug that we could fit to the van floor that would be cozy and warm.
What we found was these great super soft bath mats from Walmart that fit almost perfect!
And because these are bath mats, they are designed to handle moisture, which we definitely encountered in large amounts via our condensation.
Rhino Rack Spade/Shovel
We bought this because it’s compact and durable (according to someone who had one). It’s been used in various winter conditions, and we’ve liked it.
You can pick one of these up on Amazon if it fits your needs.
*The above links could be affiliate links which means we could make a small amount of money if you end up buying something through one of the links. This in no way influences if we use or recommend a product.
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