So as mentioned in the last post the plan is starting to materialise and present itself. Without the van in front of me it was hard to visualise and seeing a million and one amazing ideas and stunning vans bothe helped and hindered.
So I went back to basics and literally wrote down (yes with a pen and real paper) my actual needs for the van. I feel this step bizarrely is almost forgotten about when some people plan their vans understandably so as it’s easy to get distracted by shiny things.
So my rough needs are as follows:
- It will be used all week every week as my daily driver
- I need to be able to transport tools from one job to another. I am a site manager responsible for delivering refurbishments so my projects typically last for around 10 weeks. My tools stay on site for the duration so essentially only transporting tools from one site to another 5 times a year.
- I tend to collect certain materials throughout the week so needs to be fairly rugged.
- I also travel for work and wanted to make the most of discovering the areas I visit. I predominantly stay in hotels but this could now be an option to do some more escapism and unwinding from the day to day.
- I do want the van to be a hobby and being a joiner by trade (ish) I wanted to design and carry out a good and functional interior. A word of caution I will be carrying with me and a lesson I learned is not too make the interior too prescribed and too perfect having a place for every individual thing. This can actually be counter intuitive as I found out to my detriment with my old little work van. More on that in future posts I think.
- I would also like to take it to shows (not to compete I don’t think I’ll be at that level) and camp out.
So as you can see it’s quite a list and will require some thought and a flexible approach. With that in mind I stumbled upon a very clever an innovative solution that ticks a lot of boxes called Ovano. I don’t know what you good people are like but when I hear a song for the first time regardless if the wrote it or the first ones to perform it that is the original and any other version is an imposter.
War of the beds
Sorry I went off track a bit there but it is relevant. So Ovano was the first massive pull out drawed CNC machined unit, bed type thing. The price seemed pretty steep although I am well aware how much R&D costs as well as the outlay for a decent CNC bed etc etc.. However, loosely being a joiner myself and a whole van shopping list already piling up it was going to be hard to justify the expenditure on this truly problem solving piece of kit.
So, back to my previous point about originality. Just when I was giving up hope and started designing my own version I stumbled upon a company called Cadco. Very similar to Ovano indeed. Who is the chicken and who is the egg. Interestingly in the comments on a Cadco post where they were highlighting the features of their offering it appears someone from Ovano popped up with some shall we say ‘pro Ovano comments’ having a little dig followed swiftly by a suitable Cadco repost.
I have to say though that the Cadco offering is a more cost effective offering and made me seriously consider putting the idea back on the table. Now I want to be clear, they both look great and I’m not judging the qualities of either.
In my investigation into this I do not want to join the bed wars but I will say this. Ovano seem to be the ones that initially designed this particular design and are the ones who are currently collaborating with the likes of Transporter HQ and Leighton Parts etc.. They also boast good green credentials so you can see where the extra cost goes. It is a tricky competitive market.
I think it could be even better
However, after consideration and the realisation that I could borrow the good elements relevant to my requirements coupled with a few fresh ideas that would take their ideas and improve them (at least for my needs). There was a few more spanners thrown in the works with the likes of The Ply Guys and JC Vans providing similar offers and impressive price points, but still I am un wavered and will be designing the mother of all bed, bench drawer thingy majiggies. Watch this space!
Have you got now/or considering one of these? What’s your take on it. Keep it civil though good people.