Overwhelm is something I struggle with regularly. I always have. It's something I need to actively manage to avoid stalling out on projects. This camper project is the design and building of a very specialized home, on a small scale. The small scale helps with reducing material costs and labor, but creates its own set of challenges. One of the biggest challenges is just in making the countless decisions needed to complete even the simplest of steps. The first decision was to make a truck bed camper in the first place. This took me years to come to, as I was not sure how I wanted to live my life. I did not want to invest in something that I wouldn't enjoy or use. The decision to make a truck bed camper opened up many smaller decisions. What materials? How to work with them? What brand and quality level of tools needed? Corded or cordless? Heat sources? On and on it went, for a few years now, and on and on it shall go. 

Now that I've decided on PMF(poor man's fiberglass), which is canvas and wood glue, I can start planning out all of the other features of the camper. Even deciding what color to paint it is taking a while to make. I'm quite good at coming up with many ideas, just not as good at narrowing it down and committing to one. Knowing I hate being too hot, I've decided on lighter colors and large shade awnings. I'll likely paint it white and silver. The roof will have a sitting area, which will have solar panels to cover it when not in use, and some sort of pop up shelter when in use to keep the sun off the roof. Easy enough. 

Historically I've been terrible at both decision making, and long term thinking. Lately I've been really focusing on the long term outcomes and it's helped me tremendously. There's the impatient part of me that just wants the camper done as fast as possible. That means a bare bines camper just so I have a place of my own and the freedom to travel. The long term thinker in me wants to take my time and do it right. This led me to another realization: I'm so far behind on technology, yet I love and use it regularly. The newest game console I've ever owned was a PS3 slim I bought new in 2013. My laptop is the same age. My tv is from 2006. I've never had anything nice in my life, until I recently started buying myself new tools. While watching a video on smart home technology, I realized that I will eventually want to implement proper smart home technology in my camper. I may spend years living in it, and may keep it for decades. I might as well build it exactly as I want it. This decision has got me thinking about smart home technology in a way I never have, and immediately overwhelmed me. I'm not sure what all I'll use, but I'll likely start by making the camper easy to modify and repair. I'll build wall panels that mount to 1x2 inch wall studs that will be built onto the shell walls. This leaves a nice gap behind the walls for cabling and pipes. It will take longer to design the various panels and cabinets to accommodate this, but ensures I can upgrade later as I go. I've never seen a camper with easy access to things in the walls and ceilings, and it really bothers me. They're built fast and cheap, with repairability as an after thought. I plant to run extra wiring in the walls for things like high speed networking, door, window, and hatch sensors, various indoor and outdoor environmental sensors for things like light, temperature, humidity and sound. It would be quite nice to decide I need to run cabling for another solar panel and be able to unscrew a few panels and oil the wiring through, instead of destroying half the camper. The decision to run extra cabling everywhere leads to another important decision: what type of cabling to run? On the old camper I rebuilt and updated, I used a 7 conductor sprinkler cable to hook up the trailer lights. These ran through the ceiling and were subjected to possible water and abrasion. They're direct bury cable meant to be underground. Thinking ahead, I added a connector at the end of the cable on the rear fiberglass cap so that it could be unplugged and the cap removed. I'm quite glad I did this later as I actually had to remove the cap for something later. Just the small decision to include a connector saved a ton of frustration later. This is the guiding principle on this build. Design for the future. 

I'm at the point where I have made enough vital decisions to start working on the camper at last. The truck will be paid off in a few weeks, and back on the road shortly after that. This enables me to put more money into the project, as well as haul the materials and test fit the shell onto the truck. I've chosen the vehicle, many of the tools, a workspace, the main materials and methods, and the base infrastructure. Once the shell is built, the rest of the decisions can be made and the project will fall into place. I've been paralyzed with overwhelm for years on this project, and the only thing that got me unstuck was just doing the research and thinning through it as I go. I'll start building the shell and figure the rest out as I go. I don't recommend this method for anyone who is not extremely handy. There are times where it creates large and complex problems that the average person may not be able to solve. I'm not too worried as I have the skills to make up for most mistakes, and I have backup plans for nearly every step of the process. I can always weld together a steel frame around the corners if the foam is too weak, which is my main concern.

So, after years of thinking, the time is nearly here to start doing. In a month or two I'll start buying materials and building the shell. After the shell is built and canvased, I'll install the internal wood frame for mounting things to. After that I'll design the interior, which will tell me how to design the various systems such as water, AC power, DC power, waste water, heat, cooling, and ventilation. The infrastructure for this systems will be put in and tested, then cabinetry can begin. Once rough cabinetry is completed, the finish work can begin. Things like hooking up outlets, faucets, vents, smart devices, mounting monitors and speakers, and various fixtures. Once all testing is completed, the final step will be to furnish the camper and move in. Having this plan laid out is vital to avoid wasting resources, and reminds me that this project is easy to break down and work through. I'm no longer overwhelmed, but I do understand just how much work it's going to take to build this. The workload will be increased significantly by the documentation process and designing for easy replication.these are worthwhile though, as I may build a business out of these campers, and would like to give other people an easy and clear path to building their own. 

Everything is a process. I envision the end goal, and work backwards from there.