THE TREASURE CHEST: A HOME BUILT ON A 144 SPRINTER
Most camper vans are designed like a well-organized garage. There’s a hook for every piece of gear, everything is practical, and nobody wants to spend a rainy day inside one. We build the opposite. Slide the door open on The Treasure Chest and you’re standing in a home, with warm maple wood accents, a skylight pouring light over the bed, and a mountain-scape light above the kitchen that glows amber at night.
We’re Treasure Vans, a small shop that builds a handful of vans a year. This is our one layout, shaped by seven years of building and thousands of hours of living in vans ourselves. Every decision about what goes where has road time behind it, so you can turn the key and go.
Plenty of vans are weekend warriors, comfortable for two days and then it’s car camping. This one is built so daily life doesn’t get harder because you’re in a van, and it’s every bit as good for a long weekend.
POWER
– 460Ah lithium battery bank. Most van builds carry 200 to 400 so this is a large amount!
– Charges three ways: Shore power plugged into a normal outlet from a house or campsite, from the engine every time you drive, and from 400 watts of rooftop solar (a steady drip that tops you up all day).
– 3000W inverter, four household outlets, and the whole system readable from your phone via bluetooth or the display monitor.
– All-electric living. There is no propane anywhere in the van.
– Wired by certified electricians in oxygen-free stranded copper.
WATER
– 41 gallons of fresh water with an under-sink filter, so all of it is drinkable. Many builders install 20 to 30.
– 22-gallon grey water tank.
– Hot water heated for free by the engine! Drive 10 to 20 minutes and it’s hot, at zero battery cost, and the insulated water heater holds that heat for about 24 hours. Arrive at camp and shower right away. There’s an electric switch for longer stays.
– Outdoor shower at the sliding door.
– Laveo Dry Flush toilet. Waterless, sealed cartridges, no chemicals, no smell, no sewage tank and no dump stations, ever! A cartridge lasts about a month. The toilet lives on sliders in the garage.
KITCHEN
– Isotherm Cruise 200 stainless fridge and freezer, 150 liters of fridge and 50 liters of freezer. Most vans carry 100 to 130 liters total with a freezer the size of a shoebox. This one keeps ice cream frozen in the desert and you can do plenty of frozen meal prep with this size freezer.
– 2-burner induction cooktop. Faster than gas, and it doesn’t heat up the cabin or cause potential carbon monoxide.
– Deep 10-inch sink, brass faucet, maple butcher block counter.
LIVING SPACE
– Fixed bed, 65 x 74 inches, with an Avocado latex mattress and organic cover. You sleep front to back (North to south facing) with full stretch-out room up to about 6’2″.
– Swivel passenger seat, bench seat, and a Lagun table that swings, raises to standing-desk height or lifts out. Two people can work at once.
– Drop-down table that opens from outside the van for drinks or prep at camp.
– Skylight over the bed with built-in shade and bug net, paired with a Maxxair fan that pulls fresh air across you at night.
– Three windows plus the skylight, on purpose. Fewer windows feels cozier, insulates better and leaves wall space. Magnetic covers and a privacy curtain behind the cab mean nobody outside can tell whether you’re home.
– Fiamma awning which doubles the real-estate and it really handy on sunny, rainy or snowy days.
STORAGE
Space for space, we’d argue this is the most usable storage on any 144 Sprinter. Seven drawers on self-locking slides, a large garage under the bed, a laundry chute that sends a week or two of dirty clothes out of the living space, and a built-in trash bin behind the driver’s seat. We left overhead cabinets out on purpose, because a ceiling full of cupboards makes a home feel like a cramped closet.
MATERIALS
Maple tongue-and-groove ceiling, oak handles, commercial-grade LonSeal flooring, and Havelock sheep’s wool insulation from New Zealand, which is non-toxic, handles moisture well and quiets the road. Low-VOC paints and minimal glue, so you aren’t breathing in off-gassing in a small space.
HEATING AND COOLING
Adding a diesel heater or a rooftop AC is a simple job, and we do the install ourselves. We leave both out of the standard build on purpose, because what you need depends on where you’re headed, and it keeps the price down for everyone who doesn’t need them. The heater sips from the van’s own diesel tank, so there’s no extra fuel to carry. As for AC, 95% of our clients tell us they never end up using it, and it can always be added later. If you’re not sure, travel in the van first and see how the skylight and fan do, then add it if you miss it.
WORTH KNOWING BEFORE YOU CALL
A few things we’d rather tell you now than have you discover later.
– It’s a van for two. It drives two and sleeps two, and there is no third seat. A seat you’d strap a child into has to be crash-tested to car manufacturing standards, and no conversion shop has that testing. You wouldn’t fly with a pilot who built the plane in his garage.
– How long you can stay off-grid depends on how you live. No owner using the van normally, with the fridge running, cooking and showering, has told us they wished for more power. Tell us your plans and we’ll walk through your numbers together.
WHAT COMES WITH IT
– 3-year warranty.
– Everything you need from day one, including the extension cord, shore power adapter and hose fittings.
Our owners’ reviews are in the photos, and we’re proud of every one. If you’d like to see the van, we’ll walk you through it on a video call, drawer by drawer. We love showing it off, and we’d love to hear where you’re hoping to take it!
