XT250 Adventure Touring Rack?

My Yamaha XT-250 came with a rear rack, enough to fasten a box to, but not enough to put side boxes or panniers on.

I found a plastic box on 'trademe' (New Zealands version of eBay) for about $7, which is a good start -  strong, waterproof and ugly, it holds a few things, but not quite enough.

On other bikes I could just sling a couple of soft panniers over the rear seat, but on these types of bike, the exhaust is too high, and would just melt through them.

I have a couple of great waterproof dry bags from Alpkit.com and decided to create a 'cradle' to hold the two dry bags on either side of the rear box.

Here's what I came up with:

Hand bend (with a hammer) aluminium tube frame (if it works, i'll build a steel one for strength, but aluminium is quicker to work with)

Mounted on the existing rack. Yes, it's held on with duct-tape (for now). The black part is the base for the givi plastic box

Givi plastic box mounted on the frame

The dry bags sit nicely in the 'cradle'  

Just needs a few straps to hold the dry bags on now... 

The idea is to put important and heavy things in the plastic box -  camera, netbook, water, food, tools etc.
In the dry bags I'll have clothes, sleeping bag on one side, and sleeping mat and tent (if camping) on the other.

Now I just have to hope it all holds together... I'll take some spare duct-tape just in case...