I went to the 4×4 camping show on the weekend with 2 goals.

Well, that is what I had been telling myself.

In my downtime from work, which has been very crazy for the last few months, I have been researching and designing the Office on Wheels that suits my needs.

But a few weeks ago I saw that there was a caravan show coming up.

And I started to ponder, that maybe I could find a camper/caravan that met a number of my requirements, for an amount of money that would allow me to just get out and start using it tomorrow. Yay!

So I set myself 2 goals:

1. Is there a camper/caravan that suits my needs that I could buy?
2. Research of how a number of aspects of a camper work – pop tops, fold away beds, storage, table, overall layouts, head heights and keeping it light and look for innovative ways to solve these problems.

But this thought of maybe I could just get a camper became my only thought in the weeks leading up to the show. It became a powerful rush and I liked that idea and I romanticised the thought of using this camper in the coming months.

I knew after a lot of research, there is a caravan that is small, light, pop top for headroom, has table which can be used as a desk for working, could be setup fast and taken down even quicker and in the right price range, so was doing more in depth research on the Opus range which model suited me best.

What that did, though, was make my first day, Saturday, at the show slightly distracting, and I really didn’t even touch my second goal.

I looked around a bit, but really I was making my way to the Opus stand.

I talked with the sales team, played with, and even helped in a demo to fold it way.

Got a custom price and the show discount… that had to be signed at the show to get that price… which had a very fast delivery time of 2 weeks. This was all a little bit exciting.

Now this is where things were going a little different to how I had played it out in my head before the show.

I had been talked into the larger of the campers, the 4-person one, as it had more room to pack the things I need, plus it was easier than the 2-person version to set up and weighed the same.

This all sounded positive as it ticked a ‘could’ requirement as it had room for the kids to have a place to sleep.

Plus, the smaller version which I thought would fit my must requirements, when sitting in the indoor space, was not really big enough and wasn’t as functional as I expected.

So, I said to the sales person that I hadn’t researched that model as I had not considered it, so I would join the Facebook group as part of my research that night.

She said something like ‘don’t believe everything you read’ which I really didn’t take much notice of.

I was seeing lots of pluses, and I could have a camper in 2 weeks.

I went to a mate’s house for dinner and spoke with another friend, who both thought this camper was a great plan and I should get it.

But when I got home late on the Saturday night, something just didn’t sit right.

I then spent a few hours researching this camper online. Joined the Facebook user group and watched YouTube videos on the set-up and pack down of it.

But what I realised, I had been adding these extras features which are ‘Coulds’ and making them more important than they are, and I found out one of my primary ‘Musts’ was not met. While they show it only take 5 mins to put down, the full process takes 20+ mins and is not simple.

Also, it doesn’t have room to store a monitor for my desk setup, and that would need to be carried in the car.

The bikes would need to be storied on the top of the camper and need to be removed before setup, making this process longer.

It became a very large camper that really that was on my weight limit.

It was slightly above what I had given myself as a budget.

I felt there were too many compromises that I was making to get something quickly and get that dopamine hit.

And when I went to sleep that night with the conclusion I was not going to buy it, and I slept sooo well.

So on the Sunday I went along to the show and took lots of photos and measurements and found a great solution to the chair/couch and table which made the second day worthwhile.

Plus I talked to some incredible people who are manufacturing products here in Melbourne. I really have not seen this side of the state since i moved here 14 years ago. Also, I met some guys from a trailer component company, Ark, who had built a trailer in a few months and told me I could do it as well.

Lessons learned – define requirements using MoSCoW and make sure you review the solution against them and take emotion out of it…