How to stay motivated during camper construction?

[Paintsalot]

I’m curious what ways y’all have found to stay motivated to complete a camper once you start it?

I have had to put my “folding wooden camper” build on hold several times because I needed to prioritize my art business. (See link to my camper build below.) I also started renovating the 1920’s building where my studio is located and that needed to take priority. I found I couldn’t really do the building renovation and the camper at the same time very effectively. So in February and March of this year I focused on getting the bathroom completely renovated in my studio. I’m almost done with the bath reno and I’m looking forward to pushing my little camper build further along. One thing that definitely motivates me is making camping trips without a camper- tent camping in my 3 person tent. I just traveled to Arkansas a week ago and was painting landscapes in the Ozark national forest. We had a lot of wind and some rain. It wasn’t ideal at all for painting or camping. But I’m still glad I went.

How are you balancing your camper construction with other life activities? Or even if you’re just designing one, it can be rather obsessive-at least it was for me.







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[TimC]

Trailer looks great. You're going to have a beauty. I hope I can see it up close someday.

No tnttt balance to my life right now, but, hopefully in the future I will get back at building. I've built four and each one is a different Benroy. I'm focusing on building my garage/shop this summer and hopefully I will be back at building in a heated space this winter. Can't wait.

[Paintsalot]

Trailer looks great. You're going to have a beauty. I hope I can see it up close someday.

No tnttt balance to my life right now, but, hopefully in the future I will get back at building. I've built four and each one is a different Benroy. I'm focusing on building my garage/shop this summer and hopefully I will be back at building in a heated space this winter. Can't wait.

Thanks Tim, good to hear from you. I’ll be able to start putting the walls together soon- nothing is screwed down yet other than the floor.

[tony.latham]

Pull out your calendar. Put down a camping trip that you've wanted to do. Somthing that's been lingering.





Tony

[TimC]

+1 on Tony's suggestion. That definitely works for me.

[Paintsalot]

Pull out your calendar. Put down a camping trip that you've wanted to do. Somthing that's been lingering.





Tony

Nice idea. I’ll think about it!

[philpom]

There is only 1 way I can do a large project, that's to obsess over it. Every night, every weekend, every waking moment. I live, eat and breath the project until I'm "done" or something drastic happens. I don't like to take my eye off the ball. It's also useful to have a huge goal at the end (big trip) to put some fire under your @$$.

It can be a challenge, I agree. I took a nearly 1 year break on my build and it haunted me every day I stepped in to the shop. It helped me get motivated to go out to the shop and stair at it with a drink or 3 and start imagining what was next and probably one of the most powerful motivators was to order parts or pieces. This meant I had to take action and deal with them. Once I get back in to the grind that drive to finish reignites and here we go, all ahead!

Dream and use that to motivate action is my best pointer, don't let up. It was a pretty big effort and that's why I won't do another until I finish our Cabin and retire although I got an idea for an 8x16 scratch build the other day - won't leave my head.

[S. Heisley]

Set a date that you will report on your build thread what you've done and let people know when to expect it. Even though there isn't as much activity as there used to be on this website, there will most likely be people who will watch for your updates and will try to support you.

When I built mine, I wrote that I would try to report once a month around the beginning of the month. If I didn't report what I'd done within 3 or 4 days of that "schedule", someone would ask me where my update was. That really helped motivate me. If it hadn't been for people here, it might have taken me a lot longer to build! (Thanks, all.)

[Paintsalot]

Set a date that you will report on your build thread what you've done and let people know when to expect it. Even though there isn't as much activity as there used to be on this website, there will most likely be people who will watch for your updates and will try to support you.

When I built mine, I wrote that I would try to report once a month around the beginning of the month. If I didn't report what I'd done within 3 or 4 days of that "schedule", someone would ask me where my update was. That really helped motivate me. If it hadn't been for people here, it might have taken me a lot longer to build! (Thanks, all.)

Thanks for the suggestion. Accountability can do a lot. Installing first window today! I have exhibition to plan and bathroom remodel going on. Juggling act. Ill report something this Sunday evening …

[bobhenry]

Yep The build is as much fun as the using of the end result it in my book. I chronicled mine in some detail and shared a few red neck innovations, some stolen and refined, some just plain new ideas! So take lots of pictures and if you get stuck just ask, we are full of it ( Ideas I mean ) . I have built 5 tiny trailers and still refining my 3rd tiny house where I live. A shop, a tractor barn, a chicken coop and my latest a 16 x 20 work shop Now with an 8x 16 enclosed porch. So yes I have learned a lot and borrower a lot of ideas from this very forum. It is a great source of ideas and reference when utilized. To all who help and supported me thanks to you all.

[Sparksalot]

Not a direct answer, but related. Back in the mean old days, before the lava cooled, many of us strived to get our tears “campable”. Structure done and weather tight. Then we finished up in a more leisurely manner. Mine was campable in 6 months. Mostly done in another 4 months. Continuous improvements since.

[OP827]

Posting on this forum helped me stay motivated. It took me a very long time to build my project, but with so much great support and advice it was much easier to (almost) complete the build. I am still working on my trailer improvements, mostly inside. I enjoy working on the trailer, it helps with brainstorming and creative thinking.

[FischAutoTechGarten]

this reponse was really long.... then I dropped all of the 'back story to it' and am reply with this one thing I did to help me with me next project. I joined the Green Valley Woodworkers club. Now, I can't build a whole camper there... but I can build components (galley stuff, doors, etc..). I just completed the required safety training and now am a bonefide member and can do stuff (use the tools)... I'm hoping working with a bunch of retired guys (I'm not retired, but can spend 2 afternoons a week there due to my schedule) will keep me motivated to do some of the small details.