It’s now over a year since we bought the Minibago. From a chance discovery, finding it for sale on the side of the road to a whirlwind purchase, it has been an example of serendipity at its finest. We have already done quite a bit of travelling in it (though not as much as we would like due to financial constraints, Helena’s work schedule and the difficulty of finding someone to look after our cats while we are away.)
However, since, for the moment, our family are staying with us, it presents us with a golden opportunity to get away for more than just an overnighter so we plan to do so. A delivery of a few last items of stuff for Graeme’s new flat in Sydney and then it is planned to be a north coast run for 5 or six days. Do I sound excited? I thought so.
Design and implementation is now pretty much complete, our shorter runs proving that our layout and application were pretty much spot-on from the very beginning. The only really major change has been the sleeping arrangements. Working on the KISS principle, we began with an inflatable double mattress on the floor. Very comfortable, relatively easy to get into but almost impossible to get out of from down on floor level. My bionic leg objected strongly so it had to go.
The other difficulty was that the rest of the floor area was taken up with our camping gear leaving us no room to sit inside if the weather was inclement.
We needed something that was easier to get out of, something that was at normal bed height and something that made our storage problems go away, so we bought a double stretcher bed. Much easier and very comfortable with the air mattress on top. The space under the bed would be used for roll-in storage bins to store our camping gear and make making and breaking camp much easier.
Sadly, this experiment soon proved to have a fatal flaw in that the metal frame of the stretcher meant that, even with the air mattress, you were still sleeping in a narrow tunnel with metal bars on both sides. Rolling over and changing sleeping position was way too difficult.
Plan C was what we probably should have done to start with (20-20 hindsight is always perfect). A proper double bed and mattress. Storage under the bed and a proper bed on which to sleep. (I did need to fabricate some wooden blocks to seat the bed legs in so that it would clear the wheel arches in the back but that was comparatively easy.)
The only other major modification was made early with the addition of eye bolts in the seat bases and in the rear wheel arches to attach ratchet straps when carrying the bike/s. Long distance trips to Phillip Island and Brisbane carrying the Shadowfax have proved that Jason Pruen’s suggestion of how to do the job simply was also perfect.
Mechanically, it has been pretty reliable. The hot water tap in the heater needs replacement and will be done before winter, but the aircon runs well and that is all that is needed right now. The distributor and coils needed replacement as well, but, with 200+ on the clock, you have to expect older, original components to start causing trouble. It passed rego check without a hitch last month so that is always a pretty good sign. I have now adjusted the left hand headlight which was pointing to the ground about a metre in front of the vehicle and I can’t wait to try out the new driving lights (though I’m not planning on doing lots of night driving.)
My original assessment that the performance was more than adequate, the handling amazingly good for what was originally a commercial vehicle and the NVT was incredibly good have all been totally confirmed in long-term use. Added to this, the added height of the driving position means that visibility is excellent both in town and on the highway.
Are we happy with our chance purchase? You betcha we are.
