About Dog.O.Mobil

The Dog.O.Mobil is called Dog.O.Mobil because I needed a name and I couldn't get our dogs Miko, Cosma and Juno aka King Willi out of my head

But that came much later. The idea to build a WoMo (German word for camper van) myself came after my first off-road training in Piedmont with Abenteuer4x4.com. I started with thinking about tuning and expnding my Amarok for outdoor camping so that I could go on off-road tours. But a good friend highlighted to me the advantages of a WoMo.  Finally it was palatable to me and that's how the WoMo Build project came about. The good thing was that I started from scratch and I love to do research and develop plans. Over months, the idea took shape The main actors of the project are my daughter Clara, Max and me. Furthermore, I have to thank Luca, as well as the Firma Thater in Wehr for the electrical inspection and good advice on troubleshooting. Gas certification was done by ML Reisemobile in Maulburg. Not at the TüV, because they didn't do any initial certification in 2021.

At first it was clear that it should be an H3, since I'm getting older and don't want to squeeze myself into something. The L3 was also quickly clear. In 2019 it was damn difficult to get a four-wheel drive L3H3 from VW or Mercedes at a reasonable price. By chance, we came across the Sprinter in Berlin and in April 2020 we bought it

Once it was ours, we removed everything from the Sprinter to tailor made the WoMo

As usual, not everything works according to plan. Instead of an oven, we ended up with a gas hob. All in all, the development took over 4 months.

Until, yes until, we faced 2 problems with the electrics in October. First the sinus converter broke, and then we couldn't find the second error... it took a while to figure out that a fuse had given up, however not been broken. In the end, I rewired everything a second time at the back.

Then winter passed by and in April 2021 the Dog.O.Mobil was ready for a test drive

First one by my daughter in northern Italy. The list of deficiencies was 12 items long.

Then we found on our France tour another 5 defects. Next to the door locks, the electrical system proved to be the point that repeatedly led to problems

The 3rd test then took place in Italy again. Surprisingly, nothing new was broken however a wish list was created. Things that were missing were ranging from a clothesline to an oven

Then came the 3-week Balkan tour. And 2 things were really annoying. The charging current did not reach the consumers and the tarp did not hold when it was getting windy. The magnet holders on the sprinter weren't strong enough.

The charging current issue was annoying, but even more so, a broken glass fuse was the real problem. I have now solved the tarp problem with a piping rail

So over the past few months I've built an outdoor shower myself. Let's see how it performs in the test

By the way, if you want to see the final result, meet me at the 2022 tour

Update Feb 2023

After 6 months on the road in 2022 and my trip to the Vosges in Feb 2023, my efforts in recent months have turned to winter suitability. I thought in 2021 that I only drive around in the summer time, now I know that's not true. Installed a Wallas in October. In the only dead space in the van.

Why a Wallas? Because it actually only needs a small hole in the outer wall for the exhaust gases and the air for combustion. Compared to a Webasto, etc., it's not much more expensive either <of course not to be compared with a China import, which only costs a fraction> It was installed relatively quickly, Mercedes made the connection to the diesel line and it works. Passed the test well in Spain in November and in the Vosges at -10 Celsius.

Even my Offgridtec gel batteries coped well with the low temperatures. Had fiddled around with a separate heater for the electrics box, but all attempts didn't work.

At -10 Celsius, another problem came to light. You can insulate a van as well as you want, but the doors and the driver's cabin are the shortcomings. These are downright cold air dryers. My next purchase now are thermal curtains.