To start with your last question first, yes, most carriers (all of them?) will require an empty weight ticket, where the van is full of fuel and outfitted completely and ready to go. (but if you're close, weight it with a nearly empty tank and maybe not-so completely outfitted
). Some carriers require a strict 2500 pounds, some require 3000, and some only require 2000 pounds. Some that want 2500 or 3000 will take you at 2000. Because of the additional weight, and lessened payload capacity of the new Sprinters, most carriers will almost certainly lower the requirement for Sprinters. They'll have to.
My empty weight ticket shows 3000 pounds of capacity, but that's a really old ticket before I added a bunch of stuff to the Sprinter. Any load I get that's over what I can carry, I'll turn it down, even if it's less than the empty weight ticket of 3000 pounds, because there's no forced dispatch, anyway. I don't get load offers that heavy very often, tho. The biggest reason for the carrier wanting an empty weight ticket isn't for their liability, but so that the dispatchers who are booking your loads will know how much weight you can carry. If they see you can only carry 2300 pounds, there's no point in them wasting their time calling you for a 2450 pound load.
So if you are close and need to shed a couple hundred pounds to get to that 2500 pound mark, weigh the thing with an empty fuel tank and hardly anything in the van, and then turn down all load offers that will cause you to exceed your GVWR. There won't be many, unless you are under 2000 pound capacity. You really need to be able to haul at least 2000 pounds to be in this business.
Unlike American cars and trucks which do
not include the weight of the driver, the Curb Weight for the Sprinter, as per European Directive 95/48/EC,
does include 75 KG (165 pounds) for the driver. So, you can add 165 pounds to that 2872, then subtract your own weight to get the actual payload capacity. If you weigh 200 pounds, then your capacity is actually 2837 including the driver.
All the talk of ac units, heaters, generators, fridges, micros, inverters, batteries, cabinets, TV/DVDs, etc, etc, are mostly for the older style units, like the 2005 which I have, where the payload capacity is 3626, because the curb weight is nearly 800 pounds lighter than the 2010 models.
For a 2010 model, long and tall, you have to be very careful what all you put in there. First on the list of don't put in there is a bulkhead, unless you absolutely positively have to have it. If you properly secure the freight, you won't need it. A bulkhead is great for loose packages and stuff that can go flying around, but for what we do it's just an elbow banger that's always in the way. Some people like the bulkhead, tho.
You can build a nice bunk that's lightweight. I used thicker, heavier wood for mine, but others have used lighter wood. Might depend on how much you weigh, tho. Some use PVC pipe. There are lots of alternatives. The only certainty is you want a comfortable mattress, preferably one with a memory foam topper or made entire of memory foam.
Don't do much of anything until it's insulated, however, and the insulation will add more weight than you'd think. It's not a crazy amount,but if you use a combination of foam board, canned foam like Great Stuff, and silver Reflectix bubble-pack foil, it'll add up. I think the canned foam is about 2 pounds per cubic foot, a little less than that, actually, but we'll go with 2 pounds.
Each 20 ounce can of Great Stuff yields a maximum of .57 cubic feet. For the 05 Sprinter I used 16 cans, wasted some, so figure .5 cubic feet per can, so I figure it was something along the lines of 8 cubic feet. For the 2010, being bigger, you're going to use up about 10 cubic feet of canned foam, and I'm just guessing at it, in addition to the foam board and Reflectix. So figure 20 cans for 10 cubic feet, and each cubic foot weighs in about 2 pounds, so the foam is 40 pounds, give or take. Add another 20 for the Reflectix, foil tape to seal it with, and the foam boards and whatever glue you use for the Reflectix (Liquid Nails and/or 3M spray adhesive). That's roughly 60 pounds of insulation. Not much, but it's not to be overlooked when you're on a tight poundage budget.
Once you get the basics like the insulation and bunk built, you'll know what you have left over. Add up the weights of all the necessities like clothes and securements and whatever else you'll take with you, and you'll have a better idea. Then you can add the other things, and will know the weights of them well before you add them. Things like Espar heater, batteries and battery cable, fridge, whatever.