Bugilow Mk11

Well that's it the seeds of the Mk11 Bugilow have been sown , the base has been bought , collect tomorrow then the work commences , one busy busy Edward , all to be done ready for the start of the marshaling season ??? will post pictures as we go , Oh ye the base is a Mercedes Sprinter Mwb , cant wait to get at it with me hammer and chisel and me hacksaw bring it on ,

Steady Eddy wrote:Well that's it the seeds of the Mk11 Bugilow have been sown , the base has been bought , collect tomorrow then the work commences , one busy busy Edward , all to be done ready for the start of the marshaling season ??? will post pictures as we go , Oh ye the base is a Mercedes Sprinter Mwb , cant wait to get at it with me hammer and chisel and me hacksaw bring it on ,

Sounds like a fun project. I had a friend (here in the US) who found a breaker for motor coaches, RVs, etc. He was able to get some nice, specialized hardware pretty cheap from them. Not sure if you have anything like that in your neck of the woods.

Is it as recent a model as this one?

No sorry nothing like that one , pity it does look cool as the grandkids would say , but after a ride to the caravan brakers we have a van load of gear , a fridge a cooker a window a roof light some cushions loads of draws and doors all we have to do now is re arrange them in to usable positions , mm now where to start ?? oh ye put the IOM sun visor in the wind screen , that looks loads better

I gotta laugh, Eddie! I desperately wanted to build a van back 'in the day'. Mostly as a cheap motel room for the babes... but also as a 'stay anywhere, anytime, van that I could tow one of the many bikes I owned around with. I was in to 'Enduro' riding with a Suzuki 250 Savage and followed the Trials meetings, as well as the usual Grand Prix F1, Can-Am, Trans-Am, Canadian Snowmobile racing, and Unlimited Hydroplane racing. Well... basically anything that went 'Vrooom'.
I had a full size Chevy short wheelbase picked out, then didn't make up my mind quick enough and lost it. Then I thought maybe a long wheelbase would be better suited. Then maybe just a station-wagon (estate car? over there?).
Eventually gave it all up and bought a VW Scirocco and another bike and a cheap tent!
The Scirocco had fold down seats and a hatch back and that solved the 'short-term motel bed requirement' quite well...
I finally DID go through with a whole series of van conversions, but they were sadly all work vehicles with no sleeping accommodations. You'd have liked the last one... a gloss white Dodge 1 ton extended wheelbase van converted to propane fuel. It had everything except the raised roof line, AND it had a matching white trailer to tow 'stuff' around. It had a fabulous roof rack with a flashing emergency light, rear Lucas floodlights, killer stereo, the works. It was so big that people were afraid of it and I never had to back down from any encounter with anything less than an 18 wheeler!
Good old days...
Now I drive my wife's Kia something-or-other van with all the bells and whistles, but it's not the same. It's invisible even in our own driveway.



See? It's the grey thing in the middle... who cares? Maybe I'll put an I.O.M. windshield thing on like yours and it'll get noticed! 

Well over the years we have done the full gambit from two man tent in the rucksack when hiking to frame tent , trailer tent , caravan VW type 2 bow front , then the Bugilow and with out doubt the best has been the Bugilow so hopefully the Mk11 will be even better , mind I still have a tent for if I go away on the bike and want to stay over , not that I have used it for some time I did take it to the IOM for Stuebottle /MrG/Guseyman to use at the Manx it has more room in it than the one he has

Well got the window fitted in the sliding door today so work is on its way , where will it end ???

I usually get bored on the 3rd day on projects like this and skip right to the paint! Anything metal-flake will do!

Ah well can't skip to paint as no painting to do , so will just have to plod on am trying to source all the bits required so there is no mix up with sizes as to what will or will not fit and finding stuff at a price a Yorkshire man finds acseptable , and that is a tough shout lol but we are getting there , one more window to find and the insulation and the lining carpet that we have just to order then it is just run of the mill timber and a couple of bits off box section for the bike rack

WHAT? NO PAINT?  

How about a stripe then? It'll go faster with a stripe, you know...

Home-made mural perhaps?

Could well be some funky transfers on , there is an on going dispute as to if a I going to be allowed to pit its name above the wind screen ,( Bugilow Mk11 ) with Steady Eddy on tour under it , IOM TTMA Marshals stockers on the back , all done by stickers not a paint brush in sight , have you seen the damage I can achieve with a paint brush in my hand ??? not a pretty sight I tell you

Well sorry to say not much done this week some things ordered new tyres fitted , got the Mk1 got ready to put up for sale , and am going out now to wash the M11 it has got dirty and measure up for the under slung water tanks then do a bit more at the Honda XL ready for putting that up for sale as well , then spend some time with the boss it is our wedding anniversary , the poor lass has been putting up with me for 48 years today , strong constitution that girl bless her cotton long johns

48 years!? Wooo... That is a bit of time. Let's see... I was in high school and building Mustang 1/24th scale models and getting ready for the World's Fair in Montreal at Expo67. Don't remember too much about the girl-friends at the time. I DO however, still have some of those 1/24th models. You must be as much of a pack-rat as me! Well... You keep the wife, I keep the toys in a box.
Congratulations to the both of you!
Just came in from clearing the driveway of another 4 inches of snow. Biking season seems far off!

I love it. Somebody is talking about a timeframe that makes me feel young. Gets a little weary being around folks that don't remember a day before the internet (or even Google).

Now I know they say that the cure for condensation is ventilation but is there any need for this

and I know they say these sprinters are go faster vans !!!  but wings ???? oh well if you must



now if they are go faster then I suppose we should have some traction aides like them F1 and dragster boys an adjustable fin

Ooo! That's a nice one! We only got the 'Sprinter' things here a few years ago. They call them a different name over here I think. I was thinking of getting the little one that I was looking at with thoughts of an economy bike transporter. You got the big one! You can make at least a two bedroom unit in there... with a small sauna too.
I had a work truck that was as big except it didn't have the roof bumped up. It had the same sunroof though, but without the power fan. I ripped it off one day going into a shorter garage than I thought it was...  . Found another one in a scrap yard after I got tired of the rain coming in!
How is the inside going?

Pretty fearless... I have to work up a little bit of courage before cutting the big sheetmetal holes. Measure twice and cut once and all that.

We still have the "toyhauler", but haven't had the time to use it as much as we'd like. Fortunately, it isn't a big, motorized RV, so not a huge investment, and not too much fallout from it sitting around (no motor).

I do enjoy using one, though. Our last "trip" was spending a few days in the infield at Daytona. A novel way of experiencing the event (may it rise from the dead).

We loved the mk1 so we are going to use the same layout just with a few more refinements like a 3way fridge a full cooker and a blown heater with this one being 2.5 ft longer there is room to do it , but time is ticking so need to get on with it now , want to be able to use it in 5 weeks time

Well the bugilow m11 is getting there but am starting to panic can't put up photos from my phone and laptop has gone awal and can't afford a new one , can't keep up with it bloody windows crap , so sorry can't show it as it is now , have the photos so one day if

It's OK Eddy! I found a picture of it on the 'net...

Ha Ha , like it I wish , just love the smell of them old steamers, and some of them steam trucks can shift there is one over here that can do 65 mph frightening as the brakes are crap , I know coz he past me on the A1 one day on his way to a steam rally in my modern Volvo truck

What the...? A steam-powered road-going truck, eh? Is that something they build just for steam hobbyists, or was that ever a real thing?

I know there are many farm tractor things around here that were occasionally used on the road, but never seen anything like that.

Good luck with the Bungilow (and the computer) Eddy!

The steam trucks were indead for real , and before any one says it no I did not learn how to drive in one ha ha , the last one in regular use was on Liverpool docks in the early fifties a Foden it said at one of the steam gatherings I went to , where there were three of them 2Fodens and 1 Sentinal , had a brake from building the Bugilow this weekend and went off in it to the BSB super bikes marshaling for three days ,found couple of things to sort out on the van nothing big but better done now before we go to the IOM for three weeks , got an email from Timbs the other day he is coming over so will.be good to see him and have a catch up

Hope you have a great TT. We don't have the time to get over there this year, so we are doing the Formula 1 race in Montreal.

Tell Timbo we said "Hi".