Shakedown trip & blasted Murphy

We had planned to start our maiden trip just days after our launch BBQ party. However old Murphy was a very unwelcome visitor, in fact he stayed around and created mischief several times in the following week. I went through a stage where I fervently wished we had never started this bus conversion. I wasn't able to voice thought as I didn't want to bring Rob down as he had to bear the brunt of the responsibility of sorting out all the hassles and I am sure there were times that he felt the same! I think Murphy had decided to move it with us for a while.

A big part of our problem was getting this engine reconditioned

It basically started  a couple of months earlier with getting the engine reconditioned and adding a turbo onto the job. We were first given a 3 week window for the job. The mechanics had so many problems themselves with the job. First it was much harder to remove the engine than expected. Parts needed were not the ones listed in the Mitsubishi manual - they had changed the parts and hadn't bothered to note the changes in the manuals and to make matters worst, the bus is a grey import so many parts are not necessarily kept in Australia. 6-8 weeks later the specialist engineer doing the job collapses at work and had to be rushed to hospital so a replacement engineer is needed. Finally the mechanic gets the engine back and there are more hassles in getting back into the engine area as room needs to be made for the turbo addition which makes it too tight to fit in the same space.

I can't believe I was so caught up that I forgot to take any photos of the BBQ

We were so confident that the bus would be back weeks earlier that we 'booked' a date for a BBQ launch party. Even the day before the party, it seemed as though we were not going to have the bus back in time. We decided we would have to blow up a photo and post that where the bus should have been. Thankfully we get a phone call that we could pick up the bus just hours before the party. There was no time at all to clean it up let alone pretty it up for showing, so a sweep and a borrowed doona off the spare bed in the house had to suffice for 'interior decorating'. We were just happy to have the bus there at all. The party went on to be a huge success.

We weren't going to be able to leave within days of the party as originally planned as Old Murphy stuck his head out again. We had a few things such as fixing. When Rob picked up the bus on the day of the party, he drove it home and then he found he was locked inside the bus, The door handle had broken in such a way that the mechanism inside the latch was broken. In the end we had to completely replace the handle. I haven't had time to remove the hand written note to push (as you turn) yet!. (Yet another little job for on the road.)

We had to replace the door handle completely

Another problem was that we couldn't figure out why the hot water wasn't firing up. It was just one hassle after another, so now the maiden trip was rescheduled for the Friday.

Whilst Rob is fixing all these little problems, I am tearing my hair out trying to pack the motorhome. I have a list that I have modified with each previous trip (in the caravan). It itemizes every little thing from toothpicks to the cooker. I am so glad for it esp with starting the motorhome from scratch. I was NOT convinced that EVERYTHING was going to fit in the bus, but I realize now in hindsight that I have room left over, but I am being miserly with using up that 'spare' space.

I am also trying to work out where the most practical place for the stuff to go, which is quite a challenge. I have moved the mugs 3 times already!

For our destination, Newcastle was chosen as it is far enough away to give it a decent first run and close enough to run home to fix any problems and to pack anything I have forgotten before we started our major trip to Tasmania.
Visiting Newcastle was also a great opportunity to catch up with family and friends as well. The awning arrived during our delayed week but it will have to wait until we come back from the shakedown trip as will a few not so important jobs - some of which Rob can do once we are really and truly on the road. There are just too many important things that need to be done first. We did get the name signs up though since Signarama Miranda sent a young man to adhere the stickers on for us and they look great!

So Friday comes along, I am starting to calm down a bit and can even get some regular housework done whilst waiting for Rob. Murphy has yet more tricks up his sleeve for us: The wiring for the towed car was about 6 inches too short - the people fitting the A frame didn't allow for turning. Next the indicator lights etc wouldn't work o the towed vehicle. We couldn't work that one out so the motorhome has to go off to the auto electrician to get him to sort it out. Apparently when the mechanic took the engine out, he cut the wires and must have forgotten to rejoin them in his haste to meet our deadline. At least it was a simple job - the wonderful auto electrician  at Figtree Auto Electrics didn't even charge us to fix it for us! So rather than stress we decided to stay home one more night. At last everything is ready to go. We decided it was better to leave first thing in the morning.

It is ridiculous just how many little hassles, old Murphy shoved our way. They were annoying rather than insurmountable. We needed a holiday just to de-stress from preparing for our holiday. I am so thankful it is not always so difficult - all just part of the teething problems!

Murphy had one more trick up his sleeve... find out what in the next post! (This post is long enough!)

Cutting down the “to do” list

This past week has certainly been a busy one.
For starters we had arranged a thank you BBQ for all our family & friends who have supported us in one way or another. We booked the date about a month ago when it seemed that we would definitely have the motorhome back and we’d have enough time to clean it out, pretty it up and start packing it ready for its maiden trip.

The engine that caused so much angst has come back

Well, it seemed a reasonable time frame at the time. We weren’t to know that it would still not be here until the day of the party. The engine reconditioning has dragged out to be a much more complex job than everyone expected and to top it off the poor specialist doing the job collapsed at work and has been in hospital since. So the company had to find another person to finish the job.

In the meantime, Rob did other work especially around the house in preparation for leaving for several months away, such as slashing the paddocks, clearing the gutters and downpipes, clearing the leaf litter under the windbreak etc.

Even without the motorhome, he was able to work on the Grand Vitara which is our towed vehicle. He put up a person barrier (like a mini bumper bar) to guard shins from the hitching point for the A frame towing bar as well as a stone guard frame he made himself and I sewed up the screen part.

Getting the stone guard frame set up on the car

So obviously with a big BBQ party to cook and arrange, I had my work cut out for me before the party. Since the party, I had the inevitable clean up to do and then the exciting part of starting to pack the motorhome. I would not manage either the party prep nor the packing if I didn’t rely on lists to keep me on track.

My very comprehensive RV packing list

I am now half way to getting everything into the motorhome. I have forgotten just how much stuff we had kept ‘permanently’ in the caravan let alone the foodstuffs and clothing etc that need to go in each time.Thank goodness I had made a packing list and modified it each time we did a trip. It covers pantry staples, soft furnishings, toiletries etc.

Next is the shakedown trip! Believe me there's more drama ahead!

Recycling the Vintage Magazine Racks

We hope to be hitting the road in the Robbiebago motorhome for our first trial run within weeks. It has been a long hard struggle with many suppliers and trades people not meeting their own time frames but we will get there eventually.

Meanwhile, Rob & I can still find things to do. One of my projects was to take the old vintage magazine racks that were on the backs of the chairs of the bus and recover them.

I have done 8 of them so far. I recovered the top part with various coordinating upholstery fabrics that fit within my colour scheme of green and burgundy. (Rob would be horrified if I went with pink!)

I played around with dyeing the netting but decided to leave them the original burgundy colour but I had to recover the faded velvet top.

The original magazine racks with the cup holders above.

These will be scattered throughout the motorhome. Here is one of them up in the motorhome under the dash near the front door.

I love to recycle things when I can. Everyone needs a stylish magazine rack, am I right?  I still have maybe a dozen left over. I am wondering if I can use them somewhere else. Maybe I will list them for sale on Ebay when we come back from our trip if I haven't thought of anything else.

So what do you think of my 'new' retro magazine racks now?

Under the dashboard

When we redesigned the dashboard, it gave us the opportunity to create custom storage areas under the dashboard, in and around various things.

Some of the stuff we'd rarely need to get to such as the electrics for the headlights. However we still need to be able to access it occasionally. So we had to consider designs that enable us to remove a wall or create some other sort access or door to still get at these areas if and when needed sometime in the future.

We have installed open shelving that slopes back and down gently and the big round 'disk' is an access hole which we are considering inserting a radio or such sometime in the future. Already we have installed a reversing camera/GPS  on the top of the clutch cover.

Front area includes some shelving that slopes down and back gently!

I just love storage and cubby holes - the more the better in my opinion. Some we don't know what we will do with it until we actually get the motorhome on the road but I am sure I will find a use for each and every spot Rob can  create for me.

If you look at the extreme left on the top photo you can see what appears to be a flat area or maybe you thought it was a step. but actually it is a lid for the box housing the 3,000 watt inverter. We did take up a narrow part of the wide steps for this. There is a opening at the front for air circulation. The lid will allow Rob to access the inverter if it needs tweaking or whatever.

The inverter being placed before being encased!

I have also jazzed up some of the vintage magazine racks and have yet to decide if we can fit one of these here too! Maybe under the grab handle.  The others I will be scattering them around the motorhome.

Redesigning the Dashboard

The original dashboard was quite ugly. There were equipment that we didn't want to keep and as it was you could see the mess of wires etc. We wanted to utilize every scrap of space possible and that included making the most of the area around the dashboard and the front area as well as make it look much nicer than it was.

The dash board as it was when we bought the bus

Rob decided that we would redesign the front area with plywood and cover it with vinyl for looks. We kept the angular lines for practicality. He measured and cut the plywood, taking into account the air vents and the accessibility to the clutch fluid so we can top it up as needed. You can see the circle cut in the top of the plywood in the photo above. We used a 6 inch cover plate - generally used for sewer pipes.

Fitting the plywood top.

We painted the plywood, only because it took a while finding a supplier for the vinyl also gave me an idea of what the contrast would look like before going to the effort of the vinyl covering.

The painted dashboard with the clutch fluid access hole

The air vents on top were taken out, repaired and  spray painted black.
Eventually we found a supplier for the vinyl. We ordered a dark hunter green and it duly arrived. 
We glued dense foam (from Clarks Rubber) to the plywood and then glued and stapled the vinyl to the foam after cutting holes for the air vents and clutch cover.

 

The new looking air vents were screwed back in place on top.
We have added the screen for the reversing camera to the clutch cover. We also added a grab handle for getting in and out especially as we can't stop the clock we have to admit we are getting older. (But shush... don't tell anyone I admitted that!)

So all  up we have a great looking dashboard... next blog post is about the area under dashboard!

Where should we go in Tasmania?

Now that the motorhome is registered, we are planing on spending Summer on the delightful island of Tasmania. We had hoped to leave last year but with the bus conversion taking longer than expected esp things like the slide-outs taking over 10 months to be made and shipped from America, things just didnt go as planned. Then on top of all that, I  (Michelle) get a little crook only to be finally diagnosed with a rare head cancer. So then that throws everything totally up in the air.

Now the bus is now officially registered as a motorhome and I am starting to feel much better and the doctor is happy for me to continue with checkups with a colleague in Tasmania and thus we are  now able to start planing. Our daughter moved home early this year with the idea of house sitting while we were traveling. Thankfully she is still willing to stay here while we gallivant around Tassie.

The only way to get your RV over to Tasmania is on the Spirit of Tasmania. We have booked the ferry. We have booked the motorhome and the car as separate vehicles as we found this to be the cheaper option rather than take the car as a towed vehicle.

So  now this is where you guys come in! Where should we go? Thankfully our schedule is very loose and flexible/ We also are fortunate in that we  have 4 months before we need to come back to the mainland.

We are the type of people that make only a rough idea of a plan and then make decisions along the way. We are able to free camp extensively. Rob has been to Tassie before but it was well over 35 years ago. Whereas everything will be totally new to me. We want to go slow and enjoy the places we visit and the people we meet along the way.

Make sure you also list your favourite camp grounds especially any free camp spots since we are seld sufficent and all setup for free camping.

We need your advice!

So help us out please. There is with an incredible amount of choice for places to go.We love the natural side of life and generally tend to avoid spending a lot of time in cities, though there are some exceptions. We want to dig a little deeper and find the real Tasmania.

We love the quieter pursuits

• national parks
• beaches
• waterfalls
• easy bush walks
• snorkeling
• watching great sunsets
• scenic drives
• new experiences
• great campsites
• fabulous happy hours with other campers

I also have a hankering for the crafty side of life especially craft markets and fairs and Rob loves a good feed without the fancy price tags.

Places already on our radar

 Freycinet National Park 

 

Bruny Island

 

Liffey Falls in Deloraine

 

 Where else should we go and what activities should we definitely add to our list?

Powering up the Motorhome

To live any kind of 'normal' life on the road we will need to have access to some sort of power. We also plan on frequent free camping since it is a lifestyle we really enjoy now that we have been introduced to it on our Western Australia trip. By the way, free camping is the Australian equivalent similar to boondocking or rather dry camping which is basically camping anywhere (legally) with limited or no amenities.

Since we plan on spending the majority of our time free camping we did a lot of research and thus have possibly made our motor home rather unique. We chose not to have any gas. (The wife has a 'thing' against gas since one self ignited in our first home. Thankfully we were home at the time and avoided damage to the house and ourselves!) Optioning for no gas, not only saved the costs of having it installed and certified by the appropriate authorities we also believe it to be safer.

Our power supply 240v also is not very conventional in a few ways. Most of our appliances will be regular household appliances even though we intend to spend weeks at a time free camping, we believe we have ensured that we will have enough power to run these appliances even if there should be some cloudy or rainy weather.

Our Induction cooker

Ordinary household fridge with a microwave oven on top

We opted for lots of  solar panels on the roof to ensure plenty of power. We covered all the spare spaces on the roof with small solar panels since this utilized the area available much better than larger ones plus they fitted the slope better too. Smaller panels also have better power generating capacity especially when some shade falls on a panel. See our blog post on solar panels for more details.

The bus roof full of solar panels

Adding more batteries to run everything only works if you have adequate generating capacity to charge them. We opted for solar panels and lithium batteries.

We installed solar panels on the roof to ensure plenty of power but then we had to ensure we could harness that power and after much research, we went with lithium batteries, for many reasons but mainly because they are much more efficient. The batteries are 400amps at 24v Lithium batteries and are controlled by a Dingo controller using SSR unit to take the bulk of the power from the solar to the batteries using a Vitron shunt off a negative cable to show us the amps, volts etc.

Connecting the Lithium batteries together

We have a separate 12 volt system and we have connected to solar 80w panel in the control box as well. 12 volt used to be the standard for extra low voltage power systems eg led lights etc. 

Dingo solar charge controller

Rob wanted 2 different systems. If we use 12 volt out of a 24 volt system then we are only using half of a battery which s not  good for constant use. A 24 volt system is more efficient because you can use smaller cables and higher output  to allow a more efficient distribution of power. So we are going 24V with a 240V inverter.  Sine wave inverters provide the same quality of power that you can expect from mains power. They are therefore safe to use with all your electronic appliances but they do cost more than the modified square wave models.

Battery Inverter

The higher the current (measured in Amps) the bigger the components need to be. High currents require large diameter cables and fuses, both of which can be expensive. However by doubling the voltage you get double the power (Watt) at the same current.

Generators

Sure we could have considered petrol generators, which are a cheaper alternative but they are not very neighbourhood friendly, they are noisy, they are not allowed in all campsites and you need to cart extra fuel for them as well as that creating on-going running costs.We have been at some camp sites that generators run upto 18 hours. Luck has it we were far enough away not to have to put up with these ourselves, though we feel sorry for anyone close by them.

I am hoping we never need a generator - only time will tell.