90-plus-inch double-bunk sleeper in a cargo van? You bet

In this week's edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast, following last week's talk with Load One's John Elliott about significant challenges in the cargo-van-powered segment of the expedited trucking niche, owner-operator Darren Ayres details his own place within it hauling in a Mercedes Sprinter Van. He and his co-owner-op wife, Trish, run leased to Landstar and with (as suggested by the podcast's title) a sizable sleeper area as an on-the-road living quarters in the mostly military-freight-specific operation. Working with Fastlane Products of Oak Ridge, Tenn., after they took delivery of the base van, the pair planned the sleeper with double bunks along the driver side, leaving extra space for more amenities, including a sink and storage spaces, that Darren details in the podcast. The sleeper addition and overall upfit with auxiliary roof air, an inverter and more in 2017 came at an additional roughly $20K investment over the sticker (around $45K) on the diesel-powered Sprinter. The approximately 8 feet of cargo space the sleeper takes up leaves enough for two pallets in the cargo area, plenty for often very small loads the pair hauls to military installations.