Home Page

2016 Mercedes Benz Sprinter 4x4

Welcome to our website!

We, Jim and Katie Thomsen, bought a new Sprinter 4x4 cargo van and are fitting it out ourselves to be a tiny traveling home. The plan is to document as much of the build-out as possible with videos, photos, and text. Because we appreciate other DIYers' stories, photos, and techy stuff, and because we love meeting people with cool vans, if we can tell you a little about them, we will.

For the last ten years we've lived and traveled aboard our 40' sailboat, Tenaya, so have a good idea of what we like and need in a small space. You can read about our adventures on tenayatravels.com.

In 2011 we parked Tenaya near Auckland, bought a tubby old Toyota Hiace campervan, and drove around the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It was a blast and planted the seed that's grown into our Sprinter. Here are the tales of that trip.

We'll tell the story of our build-out through the eyes of a little critter, Sprinter Van Rat. He has his own Facebook page and will alert you to new pages here. Our TenayaTravels website chronicles our voyages across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Now we've added a section for our latest oddessy - the Sprinter.

Welcome aboard!