DIY Unistrut Roof Rack | Sprinter Solar Panel Mount | Van Conversion
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ค. 2024
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James and Sarah here, back with another episode in our Sprinter van conversion series. This week we’re up on the roof installing our DIY Sprinter roof rack and solar panel mounts.
As with most things during our van build, it took us a while to figure out how to build a DIY unistrut roof rack. But once we had all the parts, it was relatively quick and straightforward to put together.
Our camper van solar mounting system is simple, sturdy and inexpensive. And while designed for a Mercedes Sprinter van, there’s no reason the same setup wouldn’t work for any flat roof van with lengthways channels running down each side.
Hopefully we can save you a lot of time and money with the information in this homemade roof rack blog video.
There’s also a blog post on our website about which goes into more detail. Click here: thewholeworldornothing.com/di...
Thanks for watching! If you enjoyed this episode don’t forget to smash the thumbs up & hit subscribe so you don’t miss the next one.
Catch you in the comments fellas!
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Here’s a list of the materials and tools we used in building our DIY roof rack:
- 2 x 3000mm Unistrut Channels (41x41x2.5): ebay.us/Fa6xzk
- Unistrut End Caps (x4): ebay.us/jLGC0i
- 6 x 1400mm Aluminium Angle (40x40x3mm): ebay.us/LZjJAR
- Mastic Sealing Strip: ebay.us/y3nOzq
- Sika 210 Primer: ebay.us/NEdajk
- Sikaflex: amzn.to/314N1D2
- M6 x 20mm Penny Washers: ebay.us/DrP1Xu
- Hexagonal M6 x 40mm Bolts: ebay.us/If76HV
- M6 Nyloc Nuts:ebay.us/NsWrwn
- 12 x Two Hole Angle Brackets (40x40mm): bit.ly/3dRbB1H
- Unistrut M6 Channel Nuts: ebay.us/TZgM82
- Solar Panel Cable Gland Box: ebay.us/xh3XF4
- Mini Heat gun: amzn.to/3dX92eI
- Trim Tools: amzn.to/3q2SS62
P.s. These are affiliate links, so if you buy through them we may earn a small commission from the seller. It’s at no extra cost to you so is a lovely way to say thanks if you found the video helpful.
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Excellent video guys, im literally following in your footsteps with my sprinter and did this part today.
Love your vanlife content and the excellent walk through videos.
Cheers!
Love rewatching your videos it's help me out as I am building my own van now
Excellent work I'm learning a lot from you guys. I plan on buying my very first Sprinter cargo van by next month and mine should be ready in 30 days because of parts issues. Thank's for sharing this video.
Hey guys, thanks for the great video :) love how your creating your own solutions to all these camper build challenges!
Ah thank you! Glad you enjoyed it 👍😀
Hi you two, thanks another educational episode I’m a year behind your build and keep looking at your completed van episodes for layout ideas,
Hi Darren, glad to hear it! Let us know if you have any questions on the layout, we’d be happy to try and help.
Fantastic guys
Great job guys
Thanks!
Great vid guys, I just ordered my unistrut bits and will be following along on your YT videos for instructions ! What a good way to save money instead of paying £400-£700 for a full rack ;)
You two are adorable. Nice job!
Nicely done. I will use Strut material on my RV roof too. Very clean install.
Thanks! 👍 Good luck with yours too!
I got some ideas on how to install my solar panel on my 2017 ford Transit. Thanks for your inspiration.
Fantastic, glad you found it useful 👍
I like that the solar panels don't hang over the side of the van and look like wings, it's much tidier, this also allows you to attach a Fiamma. - Brilliant. :)
Thanks
Hey, I'm early! Another great video, I've been waiting for it.😁 Have a nice day.
Ah thank you! Glad you liked it. Quick question, are you planning a van build yourself or just interested in them?
Yes actually, I'm planning to travel Europe one day in a van, but I'm still in school, so I'm just watching videos and making plans on my design at the moment. 😁
Amazing! Such a good idea 😀
So helpful! How did you manage to tighten the nut underneath the channel nut once you had it on the unistrut?
Thanks for the video! What did you do with the holes that didn't line up with the unistrut holes? Have you noticed it whistling at all?
Great video and job what size cable u use from controler to battery ? Thanks in advance
Great job guys 👍 I’m looking to do something similar, what did you use to fix the angle bracket to the solar panels? Cheers!
Nice video! I'm thinking of using the same system for mounting the panels.. Unistrut rails are already installed. Ever had any issues or parts coming loose?
Hi love the unistrut as a roof rack idea! Very modular as you can easily add to it down the line, quick question. Did you not consider running your wires from the solar panels through one of the unused plugs in the roof and routing the panel wires through the inside of the unistrut channel, that way saving you drilling a new hole in your roof
Great idea I'll do just that.
what the u channel metal called what you bolted the the roof and what are the bolts called that hook into it have you got any links for both thanks
Hey guys just watched your video - really good.. but please would you be able to tell me where you sourced your unistruts etc for the DIY roof rack? I’m planning doing the same but also adding decking etc so need full length.. I have a Mercedes sprinter! Any tips would help!
Put two nuts on the bottom to make them lock and use the red stuff, the tread lock 👊👊
Unistrut=erector set for adults (love to stuff) check out their catalog, the accessories are endless.
Evening all, just sorting out some pre-cut strut crossbeams for our 2014 MWB Sprinter high top, just confirming that the width between struts is 1400mm before I purchase :) Cheers J
Evening! While that’s a different year and size of van to ours, we’d assume that the width will still be the same and certainly not any wider. So yes, 1400 should do it 👍
@@TheWholeWorldorNothing ideal, many thanks :) If it helps anyone. I have sourced them from strutchannelsdirect.com, mainly due to them being pre-cut and powder coated.
Do those unistruts come with the bolt kits to attach them? Thanks.
No they don’t, we bought all of that separately
4:44 may i suggest cutting or drilling a small hole on the bottom for water to escape?
Hmmmmm, hadn’t thought about that. I have a feeling that water flows out anyway but I’m going to check now to make sure 😅
Hey guys! Love your videos. Quick question on this one - how did you end up fixing the panels (+angle aluminium) to the roof using the chunky aluminium bracket? I saw you playing with some methods (around 6:00 onwards) but you didn't clarify how you ended up securing them. Did you put the angle bracket on top of the long aluminium angle so the bolt went through both and into the channel nut? Or did you use a different method? Cheers!
Hi! Glad you’re enjoying the vids 😀 Yes that’s exactly what we did, the bolt goes through both and holds L bracket to the U channel 👍 Hope that helps!
Great job guys iam thinking of doing the same to my van its a vw crafter just a quick question the nuts u put on the van to hold the unistut down what size screws didn't you use and was the van holes already heve trends in only asking because I don't know if i need riv gun hope this makes sense cheers 👍
Hi! The bolts we used are actually linked in the description, they’re the hexagonal M6 40mm ones 😀 We didn’t use a riv gun as we used nyloc nuts on the other side so it’s literally bolted on. Hope this helps 👍
@@TheWholeWorldorNothing thanks for your reply much appreciated cheers 🍻
No problem! Hope it helps and good luck with the installation 😀
Hi guys, did you use the 1.6mm light duty or the 2.6mm heavy duty strut.
We used 2.5mm strut here’s a link to the product - www.ebay.com/itm/392434561437?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=SAg9gRKkRra&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Hey guys, can I ask where you bought the solar panel kit please?
Hi! It wasn’t a kit that we bought, we pieced together each individual element ourselves, but the solar panels and the mppt controller came from Photonic Universe. Everything should be linked in the description below. Hope that helps! 👍
Hi guys great job with the build , what guage of unistrut did you use?
Thank you! We put links to pretty much everything we use in the descriptions so you'll usually find product details down there, but this is the exact stuff we went for & the link- 2 x 3000mm Unistrut Channels (41x41x2.5): ebay.us/Fa6xzk 👍
@@TheWholeWorldorNothing Thanks for the quick reply folks, I am on cef website just now to order up about £70 all in for everything i need : )
No problem! Great stuff, good luck with installing it 👍
👍👌❤️🇨🇦
13:30 the moment we came to see u dont show us the actual installation smh
Great job guys
Thank you 😀
Great video and job what size cable u use from controler to battery ? Thanks in advance
Great video and job what size cable u use from controler to battery ? Thanks in advance
Great video and job what size cable u use from controler to battery ? Thanks in advance