Sonia the Sprinter – Beautifully Built for Every Adventure

We bought Sonia to be our adventure van. She is my third van conversion, so plenty of experience to draw on!
We have rented Sonia out on Quirky campers for the last three seasons and she has been extremely popular with couples and small families, with all 18 reviews giving 5 stars.

The conversion was done by MS Horseboxes in Alton, and designed to give a sense of space and light, with a Dometic Seitz Midi skylight and a smaller skylight over the kitchen. We worked hard to ensure we achieved this vision, whilst also including some personal touches like the ‘Game of Thrones’ stencils and coat hooks made by a blacksmith in Estonia. All the wooden finishes are American oak, with white oak vinyl flooring.

I designed the layout around my love of adventure sports; with a waterproofed internal garage compartment for two road bikes, wet wetsuits and all the other paraphernalia needed. Later, when we were expecting our first child, the layout was adjusted to accommodate a family, with a fold down nappy changing area (which can also be used as a standing desk or bedside table), a microwave/oven/grill for baby food and even more storage space.

The bed works as a fixed bed but can be taken down to create space down almost the entire length of the van. When the bed is put away, there is 3 metres of seating down one side and nearly 2 metres on the other side. Even when the bed is up, there’s room for three adults to sit round a table. There’s an adjustable lagun table that can be fixed at two different points in the van.

There is a 2 gas ring burner hob. A Dometic Coolmatic CB 40 Top Loading Fridge/Freezer. A 900 watt combination microwave with grill and oven (this works with a hook up). Sink with a tap and running cold water. Sonia has a fully equipped kitchen and everything (cutlery, mugs, plates, saucepans, cooking utensils, etc) can be included in the sale. The electrics are powered by 2x 120Ah leisure batteries, with a 300w inverter and battery charger, 12 volt charging with USB connectors, a 240v hook up and sockets, and an LED light system. Plus a split charger to charge whilst driving.

There is a 70 litre under-chassis water tank which provides fresh water via a pump. There is an easy access filler cap to fill the tank with water when needed at the rear of the van. There is also a waste-water tank which takes all your waste from the sink. You can heat the kettle on the gas hob for hot water and it would be easy to fit a hot water heater, if needed. Sonia has a portable toilet that is neatly hidden under a large wooden box. We chose not to build a shower room, to keep the space feeling open and because we planned to stay in campsites, but there is room to add in a bathroom, if desired.

The Propex Heatsource 12V HS2000 is an automatic thermostatically controlled blown air heating system, which gets things toasty very quickly. For the warmer weather the two windows and two skylights can be opened and combined with the detachable roof fan, this allows plenty of fresh air to flow through. We used 50mm Celotex foam board insulation.

Outside there is a large Thule Awning. There are privacy windows on the drivers side, passengers side and one on the rear doors.

The cab has a brand new Amazon Alexa Ready, CD/USB, DAB+/FM Radio, Bluetooth Hands-Free Calling & Music Streaming Car Stereo in the cab. And there are reversing sensors with an audio warning built in.