April 17, 2021 – In these almost two years of life in a motorhome, the desire to have a different vehicle has often made its way into our minds. However, every time we have seen some spectacular models or with a few more dowries than our Falkor we have always had some qualms. Not only economic, because changing a vehicle today is equivalent to fainting, but above all linked to the validity of the formula of our Hymer Exsis SG, which for us represents one of the most successful interpretations of a compact recreational vehicle. So, we often found ourselves thinking about how to extend its useful life, how much it would cost us to improve some aspects and whether it was really worth living in a 545 cm long motorhome.
Well, in reality, a first answer has always been linked to the duration of the loan we requested to buy Falkor, in 2017: the nice installment accompanies us until 2024, and therefore – except for unrepeatable occasions – the “little one” should resist until to then. But then an objective reflection took over first and then an emotional component. The first is linked to the current phase of uncertainty with the engines. In reality, we are quite convinced that the diesel engine will still have a long life, especially in our sector, but our next purchase, especially if it involves great sacrifices, will have to be almost final. We do not say it will be our last motorhome, but we do not believe that in the future we will see more than two and in any case the next one will have a long “career” ahead of it.
The emotion unleashed by the Armando
The emotional component was triggered by the legendary Armando, known for his YouTube channels Vivere In Camper Macchitelofaffa? and Westfalia Digital Nomads, which at one point had the brilliant idea not to give up its Mork (a splendid T4 set up by Westfalia), but to revolutionize it. Don’t improve it. Don’t enrich it. But completely upset it. Suffice it to say that he replaced the engine, transformed the vehicle by fitting all-wheel drive, eliminated the folding roof to adopt a high and rigid one and completely redone the interior. In short, he saved the bodywork, seats, dashboard and little else… Faced with such a courageous and economically sustainable (not convenient) move, could we ignore it and continue to think about a tomorrow without Falkor? Evidently not.
Then the last element of rationality gave us the final blow: the collaboration with Teleco Group that we started at the beginning of the year (read here the complete test of the WFT400 WiFi Router that works with 4G cellular network) provides for the exploration of different products and technologies and it is clear that by installing many important accessories it would not make sense to think of selling our Hymer. So, it was natural to relaunch and start thinking about what to do to make Falkor an even more welcoming home (it already is attractive) than today.
A lot of news is coming
In the coming months we will show you a lot of new things, many of which also concern the solutions of the cell, also involving other partners. We are not going to make the revolution like Armando and Mel, but we will certainly make several functional changes, the result of our experience in close daily contact with our vehicle. We have currently planned two levels of intervention. The first, next week, will be concentrated on the technical and plant engineering aspects, while the second, more linked to carpentry works, will be built before the summer.
In both cases, we have chosen a high-level company: not a simple service workshop for recreational vehicles, but a real body builder: Gulliver’s. The Vicenza-based company, which we met a couple of years ago for its interesting Utopia Camper project, boasts a great tradition and experience in the creation of monocoque vehicles, produced with great care and with enormous attention to design, materials, quality of labor and research of new solutions, both in terms of materials and on that of technological solutions.
We will have the opportunity to talk about it again. Meanwhile, if at least a little bit we have intrigued you, keep following us to see what we have come up with!
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