Ep165 – Lightweight Rooftop Tents with Inspired Overland

Listen to the full episode here:

From heavyweight tradition to featherweight innovation: we meet the tent techs who have taken over!

Ben and Lauren sit down with Ferdinand and Ronnie from Inspired Overland to unpack how they’re reshaping the rooftop tent game with cutting-edge carbon fibre technology. Our gear gurus explore the journey from hobby project to global distribution, the sacrifices made to keep weight down without compromising durability, and the community-focused values that drive their product development.

The conversation covers everything from materials and manufacturing processes to consumer feedback and future innovations. Tune in for a fascinating look at how obsessing over every gram can transform your camping experience – proving that sometimes the biggest breakthroughs come from thinking lighter, not larger!

Sometimes the biggest breakthroughs come from thinking lighter, not larger!

Shortcuts:

00:00 – Intro

00:46 – Introducing Ferdinand and Ronnie from Inspired Overland

10:17 – The Viral Video

11:44 – The Products: a Hobby Vs a Job

15:47 – Staying Loyal to Lightweightness: The Sacrifices

16:53 – From Concept to Distribution

20:20 – A Community-Focused Company

25:44 – Ferdinand’s Background

26:35 – Shout-Out to Ronnie’s Clothing Brand: Highland Trail Club!

26:55 – Materials: Talking Durability

32:30 – Innovation and Consumer Feedback

41:15 – Inspired Overland’s Global Representation

45:10 – Sponsorships and Reviews

48:05 – Other Parts and Products

50:12 – The Carbon Fibre Manufacturing Process

54:30 – The Downside of Carbon Fibre?

55:41 – The Stargazer

59:58 – The Future of Inspired Overland

1:05:00 – Less Weight, More Fun! How Weight Affects Your Camping Experience

1:09:00 – Final Words

1:11:35 – See You at the National 4X4 Outdoors Show in Sydney!

Mentioned in this Episode:

Brands:

Inspired Overland

Products:

Inspired Overland Standard Lightweight

Inspired Overland Carbonlite Rooftop Tent

Inspired Overland XL Lightweight Rooftop Tent

Other:

Highland Trail Club

National 4X4 Outdoors Show, Sydney

Transcript:

Intro

Ben 0:06
Hey folks, welcome to the next episode of the Snowy’s Camping Show. If you think you’ve tuned into the wrong show, you haven’t, and it does look different. We’ve had a last minute rush to get some guests in today, as you can see. Before we jump into who they are though, you can subscribe to our channel via YouTube via your favorite podcast app, and the conversation will continue on the Snowy’s Facebook group called Snowy’s Camping Banter. Myself and Lauren are here today, as usual, and we’re really excited to have some guests who find in from the US from a brand that we’ve been working with for six, twelve months now, maybe a little bit longer.

Ferdinand 0:39
It could be at least a year and a half, couldn’t be.

Introducing Ferdinand and Ronnie from Inspired Overland

Ben 0:42
Yeah, more than that from when we’re at Torrensville. So more than yeah. But anyway, Inspired Overland, we’ve got Ferdinand and Ronnie uh here with us today. Really excited. Yeah. Well, welcome to Australia, guys, and welcome to Snowy’s HQ. And welcome to uh remodeled studio for the first interview we’ve done with people in the actual room. So we’re all jamming in. Now, our videographer’s not quite sure how he’s going to cut this, so you might end up seeing some of the stuff that on the sides that we usually try and cut out. But uh don’t focus on the edges, just focus on the content. So anyway, welcome.

Lauren 1:13
Um guys haven’t flown in specifically for the podcast. So what are you doing here?

Ronnie 1:18
Um having a good time.

Lauren 1:20
Having a good time?

Ronnie 1:22
Yeah. Eating, uh, holiday, and obviously work, right?

Lauren 1:26
Yeah.

Ronnie 1:27
Kind of just mixing everything in between. But first and foremost, want to say thank you guys for having us on the podcast.

Ben 1:31
Oh, yeah. We’ve got the um this weekend, uh, and I think this episode will go out after the show’s been on, but uh this the Sydney 4×4 and outdoor show that is on this weekend, and where you guys have come over to be there, and we’re we’re joining a team and we’ve got a few other people joining us on the stand to showcase your range of lightweight, uh, hard shell well and tonneau top rooftop tents, which we’ve had in our range for a while. We’re really excited to have it. Um yeah, really innovative products. We were chatting in the room just before this, and really excited to be hear the background of you guys and where it all came from. So um, we hope to have one other exciting product. Maybe we’ll mention on it later at the show. Not quite gonna make it though. Uh the container’s still in the wharf or something, but uh anyone who’s at the show can ask us on the day. But anyway, firstly, a little bit, uh maybe we’ll start with you, Ferdinand, just a little bit uh about you uh and your position at Inspired Overland.

Ferdinand 2:30
So um my name is Ferdinand. Uh I am actually the founder of Inspired Overland. Uh Inspired Overland uh started as a you know, it’s still a family business. Um we we you know we own the factory, we own the brand ourselves. So uh everything that we make it’s uh basically in-house. Uh and really um what we want to do is um, you know, first started that uh, you know, uh I was a first responder for 10 years of my life. Um when I got there, I like to go camping, I like to work on the cars, and uh, you know, a lot of the stuff are so expensive and so heavy, you know. As someone that works on cars, and you know, um looking at how you know the more weight you have on top of your car doesn’t make sense. Uh how can I create something that are um affordable and also uh lightweight? So that’s kind of how Inspire Overland first started. So yeah. Yeah.

Ben 3:24
Yeah, the the innovations you were talking about next year. I’m not sure how far we can go into some of those things, all the stuff that’s going on in your head. You you say you’re like a big kid, really.

Ferdinand 3:32
Yeah, yeah, the best the best way to explain it to uh people, and by the way, this is the first, I mean other people trying to do part uh trying to do me an interview. You’re actually the first one, so this is my first time doing it. So I’m a little bit nervous, but I’ve I’ve got a couple of recasts of people. Hey, can you tell the story of uh you know how you started and how inspired, how my background basically can I bring my background and what I do to uh Inspired Overland. But yeah, one of the things that I usually explain to customers, if you, you know, if you see us in Sydney, you know, you’re more welcome, talk to me in person. You know, it’s basically I’m uh I’m a kid that like to build and work on Legos, and uh luckily, you know, our family have a factory and turn that into an actual product. Uh that that’s all it is. Uh, you know, I’m just uh my father in-law always tell me the three things that you need in life is uh artwork, luck, and timing. Yeah, and uh all uh you know it’s been aligned the way it is. So and I’m trying to bring that to uh to the people too, which is keeping um a lightweight, affordable product um you know, for the masses because uh I I’ve been there before, but I couldn’t afford uh stuff just to go out camping. And uh, like I said again, uh you know, I’m lucky enough to bring that to an actual product and why I’m charging so much money for something uh for you know you and your um kids to go out just to try it out there. And uh that’s true, is that’s why they bring that to the product, the the standard rooftop tent. Uh well in the US we we price it at $999. Um, to convert that, but uh uh uh that price will never change as long as I’m the head of the company. Yeah. Because the the true goal of the standard rooftop tent was really um for families

Ben 5:15
Accessible.

Ferdinand 5:15
Uh yeah, for accessible. Really someone just to, you know, had a Subaru or a small car just trying to go out there and enjoy uh um the outdoors and uh you know get get get something just to try it on, you know. Uh and and that that’s really the goal. I mean, uh I wouldn’t want to uh charge somebody a lot more money for the product that you know you know basically more accessible. So it’s for the masses. I mean, Ronnie liked to say, and my team would say, you know, I’m I’m for the people, but that’s uh there’s some truth to that. But again, I I I really do uh you know, uh for my background growing up, it’s that you know, if you can do something for someone and um, you know, just just make them happy. I mean, I I if I can sell the product, make someone happy, that works more to me than making money. You know, of course, as a business, you have to make money because there’s an overhead, there’s things that cost you, you know. But at the same time, again, the the standard that $999 in the US, uh, it would never change if I’m the head of the company uh because whatever it’s in tariff or whatever you want to call it, still the same. Because again, the goal has always been uh uh for the people, yeah. Because as a first responder, there’s you know, we I met a lot of first responders out there that couldn’t afford to buy things, just to have a break after their 72-hour shift, you know, three days on the on the bus or or on the rig, and you know, just want to go out and you know, buying three, four thousand dollar tens and weigh 200 pounds. Like that doesn’t make sense for someone just want to go out.

Ben 6:40
Yeah.

Lauren 6:40
And for those sort of tents, you also need a huge four wheel drive that has the right roofload capacity and GVM, and then you’ve got to pay the fuel to run that and whatever. And so your rooftop tents allow people who have a daily driver to get out and experience the same thing without having to invest.

Ferdinand 6:58
I mean, that there is an enthusiasm uh and there are offer true off-roaders that we build their cars, you know, like uh one of the people that work with with King’s Off-Road, right? They you lift up your trucks and you know, or Dobbinson, right? Full on a roof rack and everything, but the majority of the people uh they have one car.

Ben 7:17
Yeah.

Ferdinand 7:18
Uh and all they can do is um you know that one small car that do daily and also go outside. And so with our tent, you don’t really have to go get aftermarket product. You can use your OEM rack and again, again, simplicity accessible. Just go out there, you know, just want to go out there with my son or my daughter or just by myself, you know, or just hang out with a bunch of buddies during a couple of beers, you know.

Ben 7:40
That was uh when we’re talking next door, because uh what we’ve been in communication via uh you know email and online, but this is the first time we met in person. And I did feel pretty excited coming into this episode after speaking to you next door because of that connection with community. But um, we should touch on Ronnie because Ronnie’s sitting there quietly. Um so you uh apparently you’re the you’re the finance why he’s he’s the big kid. Is that how it works in the business?

Ronnie 8:01
Uh well a little bit different. Um, I mean, he’s the guy, right? He’s the guy that wears all the all the multiple hats.

Ferdinand 8:11
So I don’t like title. Um some people that do know me, they they know I’m you know the founder owner of the company, but for people they just know me as the manager. Yep. I don’t I don’t I like to put title uh,

Ben 8:23
Okay

Ferdinand 8:24
Because you know I’m like I say again, I’m I just like unless you really know me in person or you you know like talking on my team, like yeah, I I’m just I’m just a guy. I’m just gonna work in the background, you know? Yeah, and just on too much. I’m just Ferdinand, yeah.

Ben 8:40
I love it. It must be great working in the in that company. Like it must be a great uh ethos with with everyone that works.

Ronnie 8:47
It is, I mean it’s it’s I guess Ferdinand runs the business. We all run the business is like a family business, right? Um we all treat each other with respect, we all understand things have to get done within the business, so we understand that aspect. Work is work, and then we like to have fun, like you said. We like to go out with each other and go camping, take trips like this, right, with our families together.

Lauren 9:08
So, how big is your team?

Ronnie 9:10
Um total, I want to say stateside about five or six total on and off. And then of course everything else, factory-wise, about a hundred or a hundred and fifty.

Lauren 9:20
Okay, and but that takes in all of your manufacturing facilities and yeah,

Ronnie 9:24
And then our finance team, our accounting team, we have our marketing team as well. So everything’s taken into account.

Lauren 9:29
And when did you join?

Ronnie 9:31
I wanna say I’ve been in the background for a year and a half, two years, helping out with a little bit of the marketing, social media. Um and then finally came on board officially October 1st of 24.

Lauren 9:46
Okay. Yeah.

Ronnie 9:47
And so I’m in charge of I’m a director of business development for Inspired. So I’m in charge of, of course, as you know, handling uh all the dealer account network or the dealer network, the distribution network. Um yeah, and having fun.

Lauren 10:01
You said you were in the background before. Were you uh um did you use Inspired Overland products before you joined the team?

The Viral Video

Ronnie 10:08
Yes, I was uh yeah, I guess a previous customer. Yeah, previous customer, loved the products, loved the lightweight aspect of it. And I think I was was I the first one that lifted up the tent by myself.

Ferdinand 10:19
Yeah, you did. You did that. Well, you know, when everybody else was kind of copying where he literally just lifted up, put it on his GX.

Ronnie 10:27
Yeah, I remember I was like,

Ben 10:28
That was before you were,

Ronnie 10:29
Yeah, right. So I was like, hey guys, I was telling Joey and I was like, hey, record a video of me really quick. Let me just lift this up. And I’m pretty short, right? And so I’m about I don’t know what the conversion is, but I’m about like five, six, five, seven. And so I was like, grab the tent, they recorded the video, and I just threw it up on my car and and we posted it and it went viral, right? And everyone’s like, how did this small guy just pick up this tent?

Ferdinand 10:50
What’d you do with the you know pictures? Like, no, there’s lying, there’s gotta be a hook somewhere.

Ben 10:54
No, I was holding it up. There’s a photo of me holding it up, but and it and it’s 36 kilos, so it’s not that heavy to hold. But the the balance thing was hard. I had to like hold it and then that’s a little bit change just to kind of okay, there’s the odd.

Ronnie 11:06
It’s a little bit odd, yeah.

The Products: a Hobby Vs a Job

Ben 11:07
And then and and the wind’s picking up, and I’m like, all right, go now, go now, quicker. Because as soon as it started to go, it would, it was too much to kind of balance. But yeah, you can hold these tents over your head, like it’s a one-person lift when we’re talking um, you know, a 60, 80, 90, some of them are over 100 kilo rooftop tents. You guys are less than half of that, and even some of the innovations you’ve got you were talking about previously. I don’t know how much we can we can allude to there. Um, you’re still talking half the weight. Yeah, well, I’ll I’ll let you mention what you want. I know I know that there’s the Stargazer that we’re hoping to have the show. That’s out there anyway, that’s on your website. But um, yeah, we should get into the the product a little bit because the big thing is weight, right? Yeah, I mean you guys have got photos of these rooftop tens on Lamborghinis and you showed us stuff before about designing something that just is more aerodynamic, which is suiting um the smaller SV SUVs in the market. Um, but even so, the big four drives can shave 60 kilos off their rig weight with one of these on on the top. Like there’s it’s it’s really changing how you think about what you load on your rig. But um, yeah, I mean let’s start with uh where what was the first product and and where like how did that how did that start

Ferdinand 12:21
Well again, you know, started off as a um I I gotta give props to I guess the OG of the lightweight rooftop tent. It’s actually GFC Super Light. Uh they’re one of the first ones that come out with the uh super lightweight, a true super lightweight.

Ben 12:37
Is that a different brand? It’s a different brand. It’s called GFC. Okay.

Ferdinand 12:40
Um they’re they’re into campers now, but uh the main thing one of uh that they that intrigued me was that they were making uh they call it a super light, and it was it was pretty lightweight. It’s uh it’s very similar to what we’re having uh that we currently have. And uh yeah, so GFC, you know, first came out. And so it’s kind of uh triggers me. And uh, you know, how how can I make something that are also similar? And uh again, before then I already start, you know, how how can I go out? And how and then you have to make that and then uh you know, kind of focusing on on building the Inspired Overland as, again, lightweight, affordable, and functional um product, you know, for Inspired Overland. And so that’s kind of how I first started. And uh luckily again, you know, I have my engineers and my cad design team, and they basically, you know, hey, let’s let’s do something. Uh and then pushing the envelope and being lightweight. And so if you notice the the first um standard uh rooftop tender has actually gone to about four or five iterations within the first year.

Ben 13:44
Oh right.

Ferdinand 13:45
Uh again, because it it when it first came out, it’s really out there. People like it against um, you know, one thing that we like is uh we told customer, you know, when you tell us the feedback, you’re basically talking to someone that are actually designing product, have the manufacturer actually make it themselves. So you’re basically talking to someone to actually create the product itself, which is a a huge benefit for a consumer and for us. Uh basically any feedback, good or bad, it goes directly to us.

Ben 14:09
That’s that stood out to me in the conversation before you said this is a hobby for me. Yeah, like I’m I’m not all there just to sell a heap of stuff. I just and and I guess it makes sense with how uh working with you, there’s always like new ideas, or this is kind of there, but there’s not really available. You’ve always got new i new stuff in the markets, and you’re not there just to mass produce something and and sell it. You it’s it’s a hobby for you.

Ferdinand 14:30
It is. It it it is it it it it is fun, you know. It’s uh pushing the envelope and and of course there’s other product, other brands, other things out there, right? But that that’s always the way my mindset has always been how can we make it better? How can we uh make it lightweight? That’s again as it’s someone that uh, as you can mention, especially um this is what I understand. If correct me if I’m wrong, in Australia and I believe in Africa, it’s the same thing they they they weigh your car, right? Correct? They they charge. I mean, I know in Europe, you know, they they weigh your tax based off how heavy your car, right? So a lot of this stuff are are are uh uh are affecting and then and and it just worked out that way where you know, hey, let’s let’s stay lightweight, you know, there’s something simple, you know. Um if if if if a lady um you know if she wants to go out there by herself, you know, why uh why does she need a 200-pound tent? Where you know, because there’s a lot of people who tell me, hey, you know,

Lauren 15:26
Yeah, I can lift it by myself.

Staying Loyal to Lightweightness: The Sacrifices

Ferdinand 15:27
Some back problem. I have some this I just want to go out by myself, you know. I don’t I don’t I don’t I just want to go out there and and to me that that’s where the lightweight comes in. It’s always, you know, and and with the Inspired, and we we’ve got a lot of consumer. I mean, we take a lot of feedback seriously, and we know people give us feedback, hey, why don’t you make us different tent? I mean, it’s kind of what we have in line now with different test stuff. But when it first started, it’s like can you make this? You know, you know, we want more features in the tent, but then uh you would say no, because again, how does that affect in terms of the weight? At the end of the day, you’ve always always been lightweight. You have to stay true to the company, which is a lightweight product. I can add on so many different things, but if that’s not lightweight, then what’s the point of Inspired Overland? That’s the way I see it.

Lauren 16:10
You have some sacrifices, right? You just that’s just a balance that you can make.

Ben 16:14
We’ve answered so many questions based on your products that said, nah it’s a no for me, it doesn’t have this or it doesn’t have that. And you know, what it if it had that, it it would just be another Me Too product, right?

Ronnie 16:22
It’s it’s not and I think uh I think an important part of our product offerings also is just the reliability in terms of not having to have such a great impact or wear and tear on your suspension components. Yeah, because when you’re top heavy like that and you’re constantly hammering down on suspension.

Ben 16:41
Gearbox drivetrain, all of those things.

Ronnie 16:43
Everything you know is affected, right? So having something obviously a lot lighter and not being top heavy like profile, you’re kind of just you know floating over most of the bumps.

From Concept to Distribution

Lauren 16:51
And so you mentioned before that you had five different iterations when you sort of first launched it. What is your timeline from I guess concept to manufacturing and distribution? And then what’s your sort of test in in-field testing process? Like how are you how do you know if you’re gonna make a change, whether or not it’s the right change to make and if it’s per permanent and things like that?

Ferdinand 17:15
Well, so it’s it’s depending on how integrated or how um difficult the product on working on, right? Like the carbon fibre is um the advanced level that’s a little time because it is an actual carbon fibre, so it takes a little bit of time. But uh we have the true entry level product. Basically, we have two different lines, right? We have the entry level, which is the standard, the tonneau cover top, and you have the advanced level, which is the carbon fibre more intricate. So to answer we could basically it’s I would say three, six months uh when we start from a prototype to project uh to actually trying on the field, you know, my team would try it, or uh somebody else’s that uh we know would try the product right out the gate. Uh and then we just test it right away.

Ronnie 17:57
And then we just send multiple variations. And then we keep sending them out, Joey and I and everybody will test them, we’ll slam up, figure out like, okay, I don’t like how this is and I don’t like how that is. I love this part of it, right? And then we’ll just like okay, I think we’re ready to go to market.

Ferdinand 18:13
I think we’re we’re different. I mean, the there’s only certain companies out there that are actually that manufacture their own products, right.

Lauren 18:19
Yeah, yeah.

Ferdinand 18:20
To name a few is uh GFC, AluCab, um, James Baroud, right? All there’s a lot of these other companies. I mean, sorry to say that a lot of them just basically um white labeling their products, they just like the logo on it, right? Yeah. So because the difference with us when you’re talking about iteration and different stuff is because one, we actually use a product, uh, second is uh we’re just gonna consumer feedback directly, right? And third thing is by owning our own manufacturer, um you know, I can go out to talk to my cousin in law and it’s like, hey, I need this, this is this need to be done rather quickly. Uh I need this before I’m flying back to a factory and checking all this stuff. Uh that that’s the biggest thing. That’s why um, you know, we we try to kind of slow down and doing a lot of improvement all at the same time just because uh we do know people want one sort of the thing. But yeah, we we we just love improving product. I mean that here’s go back to me being a first responder, right? Um when I went to ENT and Fire Academy, one of my fire captain always tells me that uh the day that you stop learning, you should turn in your badge because you can kill somebody. Right?

Ben 19:23
Right. Yeah.

A Community-Focused Company

Ferdinand 19:25
I I basically kind of do the similar thing. I mean, it it it’s the day that I’m gonna start learning and start uh uh stop listening to people uh and or stop you know um just having that career of idea. Maybe maybe somebody else should take over because again, if you stop learning, the day you stop learning, and this day you’re gonna kill somebody. Yeah. That’s the way I I kind of approached, you know. And a lot of a lot of Inspired Overland based off me personally, uh, you know, having uh my first passion was being a first responder and uh you know helping the community helping people out. I did that for about ten years, right? And again, I lucked out and do my second thing that I’m passionate about, which is Legos and having family business and turn that into a product. So I’m kind of carrying that over to uh my I guess mindset and how I treat the community and being a public servant to the company. Yeah. Same thing. I mean, not a lot of people know this and in, you know, uh again, since the first interview happened. So before I get Ronnie on board, one of the things is, you know, he he would love to be on board with with us for for a while. And I keep telling him that, hey, you know, I don’t I don’t just hire anyone, you know, I I I look at you. I I’ve been in corporate, like I’ve been working that. I look at him as you know, as a human being. I he has family, like I’m I’m responsible for you, your wife and kids, and and whatever it is that you do. That’s why you know when you’re first trying to get on board, it’s like, oh, you know, kinda I like you to be in my team, but I you know, I have to I’m responsible, not just um you know, the company, I’m responsible for you.

Ben 20:59
Yeah.

Ferdinand 21:00
Uh and again, you know, that mindset of carrying people looking at him as a human being, not uh numbers, the same thing with the product again, you know, like that. Not at a price for the community would never change, you know.

Ben 21:11
Yeah.

Ferdinand 21:12
And yeah, just just my passion about helping people. I mean, I s I you know, I I just love being helping people out, you know. He’s the guy that count the finances and he’s gonna hey, you need to stop doing uh a giveaway or a support, you know, you gotta look at the event, you know. This one we’re one of the probably the only company at doing a lot of giveaways and supporting charities. I mean, yeah, one of the first one uh company um event that we got invited was Rodeo n Rigs. Uh it’s a small uh what’s say it’s like a community base in LA. Uh it’s by Jason. He’s actually in his, I believe, third remission of Cancer. He just got another one. But he’s uh one of the ones that you know uh kind of invited me and Inspired Overland. Like, hey, you know, let’s let’s do a gift way of a product and And uh it’s now it’s kind of trickled down to other events. Like we we probably one of the only ones that do give away to a lot of charity and different projects. Uh like Cal 4 Wheels in California. It’s a lot of uh they they work with conservators, uh, helping the open up the um select the landfill for you to go off-road and stuff. So we actually starting off this year’s sponsoring uh all the events this year doing giveaway of tents. Uh with Rodeo n Rigs, we basically have understanding and commitment, as long as you’re open, uh, you know, whatever how many years, we’ll be giving away tents for your events because it is for community, it is for charity.

Ronnie 22:36
Yeah, and this there’s a big one too that like uh it’s called Pure Four By Four First Fridays, and so they hold an event every Friday for the community and stuff like that. And we also give away tents every single first Friday of the month, you know, just to get people into the community and just be a part of the community.

Ben 22:55
I think I’ve I’ve known you guys in person, and I’ll probably speak for both of us for about two hours now, but clearly it’s not just a business, it’s a whole community and a passion and a hobby, and there’s a lot of layers to Inspired Overland that I didn’t realize was there uh until now. So it’s it’s really refreshing. It’s so refreshing to speak.

Ronnie 23:12
I think it’s I think we genuinely, sorry to cut you off, we genuinely really enjoy people. I think that’s one of the things, you know, that you don’t find a lot of other companies, right?

Ben 23:22
I think it’s reflected in your products too, because you uh we’ll talk about the Stargazers, it’s a clear top on it. Like it’s I think you said you wouldn’t weren’t necessarily the first to the market, but it’s so innovative and new, and it’s not it’s not a me too product. You’re not just going, oh we know that, so as you’re gonna it seems like you just go, that’s pretty cool. Let’s make some of them. Yeah, yeah, and and just talk to people about it and hear what they say, and then I’m assuming modify it and just keep keep doing what the community wants. Yeah. I mean there’s such a cool process.

Ferdinand 23:50
You know, you community is the biggest thing, right? I mean, the the this this only sort of thing that myself and my team can think of a product or uh make something out of, right? Uh the community is the biggest one. The feedback, the the the thing that you know, the crazier the ideas that you have, you tell me, I can try to turn that into an actual product, right? I don’t think that’s that’s stay true, you know. It’s like there’s thousands of people out there that have thousands of ideas. And then you know someone always tell me once before it, you know, you can make as much money as you can, but how you make people feel different, those are gonna stay with them and yeah, other than any money you can make, you know. Um money and running business is it it’s gotta be there. I mean, you know, I have to have an overhead, I gotta pay, but yeah at the end of the day, you know, we we love to give back. It’s because um my background is first under, you know. I’ve been there, I’ve seen how hard it is, I’ve been to disasters. Uh that’s one of the things that uh, you know, there’s recent like LA fire disaster and there’s North Carolina and hurricane and slide, and someone contacting us, uh, you know, it it’s no question right away, like what tents, whatever we can get you, we’ll send that out. I mean, it’s it’s it’s just not it’s not second guessing there’s no, you know, um, because I’ve been there. I I you know been as a first responder, respond to the situation. I slept on the ground, you know. Some people just need something to sleep on in after a hurricane and devastated the whole place or a fire, just roll out your whole neighborhood, you know. And then so really um, yeah, I I I I enjoy doing this. It’s not uh yeah, like I say, money is money, but uh it’s it’s just a hobby, it’s just something fun, and I can relate to the people and connect it, you know. Yeah, yeah.

Ferdinand’s Background

Ben 25:43
Your your background, you didn’t you weren’t born in America, were you? Yeah, you you were like tell us a little bit about your background.

Ferdinand 25:49
Yeah, so so I was um I was an immigrant. I was actually um uh from Indonesia. Uh my parents moved to the US about 2001, 2002. So I was about uh I would say six, seven grade. Uh so yeah, my parents moved to the US. Um and yeah, I mean it it’s also being an immigrant, you learn how to survive in a new country, learning the language, and you know, just trying to blend in and uh yeah, um, I think that’s that’s you know, I uh I can definitely relate to the uh comedian and then the hardship and we’ll bend throughout there.

Ben 26:29
Uh that’s cool. Yeah. And you are you’re American from the get go.

Shout-Out to Ronnie’s Clothing Brand: Highland Trail Club!

Ronnie 26:34
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Born and raised.

Ben 26:35
Nice. Did you want to do a little shout out to your uh clothing brand? Oh yeah. So he’s wearing a hat.

Ronnie 26:41
Yeah, so it’s Highland Trail Club. Um you can find us at Highlandtrailclub.com.

Ben 26:46
In in the US.

Ronnie 26:47
In the US, yeah, yeah. But we I mean we ship it here. Yeah, yeah. It could be ship all over.

Ben 26:51
We’ll have to we’ll have that conversation. They’re pretty cool.

Materials: Talking Durability

Lauren 26:54
Now, can I um I want to ask a question about sort of like your materials and things like that? Because one of the main things, I guess, when people see the Inspired Overland tents, especially your standard and your XL, is a tonneau cover. And there’s no other brand that we have in Australia that does that as a tonneau cover. And so obviously it’s a soft material. Um, and I think sort of fairly people do raise questions about durability because it is such a new material for that type of tent. So, can you speak to your choices with using that tonneau cover and what you’ve seen over, you know, the the long-term usage with those tents?

Ferdinand 27:32
Yeah, so um one of the uh key things that we use in our product, we call it a hybrid, right? Like you said, the hybrid for mattress hybrids. So the uh the standard and XL is technically not really a soft or hard cover, it’s actually a hybrid, right? Because it’s it’s a basically a tunnel cover, vinyl cover on top with aluminum on the inside, right? So the best way to explain it is basically um a truck bed cover. That’s that’s what that is. And so a truck bed cover been used for years.

Ben 27:59
Yeah, I use it with the we call it Ute, right? But yeah, the Ute covers the with the elastic sides on it, it’s the same material.

Ferdinand 28:06
Right. And then all you need to do is uh do like a vinyl 303 spray and to kind of coat it and then it’ll last you for a very long time. Yeah, that’s exactly what we use for the product. Um, just because we know that it’s been tested for years already by people that have a truck. Uh, and by doing that, it’s making it lightweight. That’s pretty much kind of like for start is half the weight, just being being able to change the top uh to using the the hybrid uh material, just tonneau cover.

Ronnie 28:36
And it’s weatherproof, right?

Ferdinand 28:38
And it’s weatherproof. Yeah, it’s proven here. It’s waterproof, yeah. It’s waterproof. It’s uh you can take it a lot of places, you know. It’s uh and also uh it’s very durable. I mean, it’s been proven. I mean, if you have a truck and you have a tonneau of cover, it’s basically what that is.

Ben 28:53
Yeah, I mean, even hardcover rooftop tents wear out over time, right? UV just eventually um yeah, gets to everything. Um, and then you’ve got the bedding, the the base of it is is different with the you’ve got slats and then like a dense, I think it’s an um expanded polyethylene foam and then another mat to to save weight there. So just a totally different uh the the things people question, I suppose, go it doesn’t look very comfortable. But I’ve laid in it and like if you’re sitting up, you can feel it, but you’re not you you lie down when you sleep, right? So and and it just evens out and it’s perfectly comfortable.

Ferdinand 29:27
Yeah, again, it’s um it’s really different iterations, and we try to get as much feedback as we can how we can save weight at the same time. You know, how can we uh accommodate uh you know different people with different views? And so what that’s where the hybrid foam mattress basically comes in, right? Uh with the standard tent, we want to be um again, the the idea of standard tent is to be as lightweight as possible and have the biggest view as you can. Uh, and so you know, you get the just regular foam mattress, not really nothing fancy. Uh you know, just for people to go out there. And so the (inelegible) being uh with the carbon fibre, you have all the hybrid mattress, different materials. So what we’re trying to do is we, you know, how can we bring some of this down from more our advanced product to the what we call the entry level? Uh, but we don’t want to add these on directly to the product and raise the price for the consumer because we do not uh some people you know that are experienced that go outdoors and stuff, you already have your own setup, right? Okay, why are we forcing someone to buy uh and uh up the price if if you already have your own setup, right? For some people, they are fine with whatever comes up with the standard mattress because they already have the other stuff that they uh they use before. But if you want to upgrade, then hey, we do have some stuff that are trickling down from the advanced level. Uh they can buy us a la carte like the hybrid foam mattress to the tent, uh, you know, and and make it more comfortable. Yeah, okay. Um but in terms of the slats-wise, um, you know, uh again, uh the new development, like you just talked uh a few hours ago, is that you know, we’re making basically common fibre with the the honeycomb bottom. That’s kind of the next level that we’re trying to do. But of course, that’s more the advanced product, right? But again, we never know how uh if you never push the boundaries or you never try something uh out there, you will never know what you’re gonna get, right? I mean, if you just stick with the rules, right? It’s kind of like how, you know, um like Tesla’s when they first come out, like Apple, they’re pushing the boundaries, right? And then uh simple as it’s like iPhone. I mean, you have the the 16 Pro Max, but then you also have the iPhone Light or whatever you want to call it, right? Yeah, that that is one for everyone.

Lauren 31:42
We do Pixels, guys.

Innovation and Consumer Feedback

Ferdinand 31:43
Okay, Pixels. The way I see it, the the line has always been um you need to cater to the 99% of the market, which is that’s what the entry level, the the Standard, XL’s the the the new one is gonna come out, the Trail peak, right? Yeah, so for the 99% of the people that we need. Uh someone just wanna go out there, get the products, but then there’s also the the two, three uh percentage that know what they want, and or you know, they want more advanced product. That’s when the cover fibre comes in. So really you want to hit up all the markets. You do want the 99%, but you also want the two, three percent that are uh that are willing to spend the money and that are you know, hey, know what they want because they’ve been using it for what they’ve tried different tents. And uh yeah.

Ben 32:31
Can we let’s while we’re on that path, you’ve mentioned a few new products and stuff there. Let’s uh let’s talk about the innovation because there’s you say you don’t sleep, you just power map and you and you call these guys at all sorts of random hours because you just get ideas come into your head.

Ronnie 32:45
Uh it can be any time of the day or night. If I shoot him a text, you can always count on him to respond within the first 45 seconds.

Ben 32:54
Right, okay. You’re just flicking through your phone when we were speaking before, and you’re just you’re just pulling up photos going, oh, there’s this, and then oh, there’s this too. And you’re just flicking through your camera or bringing up all these cool different ideas. But so we talked about the Hybrid foam, that’s not a new one. We’re actually getting those in our next shipment, which should be arriving any any day now. That’s a self-inflating mat for those who haven’t seen it yet. That’s an upgrade to the existing mats.

Lauren 33:16
Can I hang on, can I stop? I want to interrupt there if that’s okay, Benji. Sorry. Because one of the main things that we have with our customers as well is that majority of self-inflating mattress brands, they don’t actually support self-inflating mats being kept in rooftop tents. Like use them in the rooftop tent, but take them out in between your trips and things. Um, primarily that comes down to um the the really large variance in temperature, especially in Australia, that rooftop tents are subject to and the effect of the bonding and the between the foam and the materials and things. But noting that your rooftop tent, your carbon one, comes with that self-inflating mat. So do you guys just confirming you guys have no issues with having those mats in the rooftop tent all the time?

Ronnie 33:59
Yeah, what we what we suggest though, if it’s in there that it’s fully deflated. Um, but as far as like the heat and what have you, it’s it’s fine.

Lauren 34:08
Yeah, cool.

Ronnie 34:09
Yeah. I mean, I know your guys’ heat is a little bit a little bit different. A little bit different than ours, right? But I mean we’re we’re pretty close in some some areas, you know, where like the 112, 115 range, which is I don’t know what that means.

Ben 34:22
That’s what about 40, isn’t it? Yeah, yeah. Up about 20, yeah.

Ferdinand 34:26
40 something.

Lauren 34:27
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Ferdinand 34:28
So I mean again, this is uh, you know, talking about the new products and different iterations.

Ben 34:39
Yeah, it’s it’s endless. Yeah, it’s a lot of things.

Ferdinand 34:42
Again, it’s it’s really, I mean, that’s why we, you know, we when we talk to consumers, we always thank them for their support, thank you for that time and giving them you know the feedback because all these ideas come in uh from the consumer, right? Uh Stargazer happened because we made the Carbon lite, and people say, hey, I kind of want to leave the bedding in there a little bit more, you know, I kind of want to give up more rooms and kind of look at the stars in the sky, right? So that’s that’s kind of again um just the ideas and the feedback from the consumer. Uh, you know, we are always trying to improve our product. Uh again, it’s that’s because we are the direct manufacturer, we make the product ourselves. Uh, you know, the there’s a few things that are mass-produced, so you know, we just bought that. But for (inelegible), people look at it that there’s no carbon fibre tent out there like ours, basically, right? Yep. Um and so again, it’s really, you know, you always tell the consumer we buy a product, you know. Please uh tell us the feedback, good or bad, regardless, whatever it is, you know, because that’s the only way we can improve. And I feel like a lot of with the especially after COVID, um we’re gone to technology too much that we don’t really interact with people anymore. And so I think that’s that’s that’s what it lost, right? To to really uh talking to a manufacturer, a company, you know, with an actual person responding to you instead of an AI, right? I mean, you can you can still, I mean, consumers still can reach me. Um, I’m the owner of the company, you can still reach me in person. Okay, that’s that’s kind of rare to have uh, you know, um, and of course, you know, with the help of my team, you know, Ronnie, Joey, you know, Ethan Annie, that kind of helps to low down the low to me because I’m I’m more focusing on uh really uh pushing that product and pushing that invention out there, right? But hey, consumers still can email me and call me and talk to me and that’s you know, just just to chat and and and then you know, I and again I appreciate all the feedbacks because that’s as someone that actually designed a product, make the product, that’s huge. I mean that there’s only one brain. Yeah, if I have 10, you know, in this room that’s three different brains and tell me all this feedback, you know, good or bad, that that makes me think, okay, how can I do what you just requested or what she requested, what he requested, and how can I make this to a product? I mean, it’s it’s all it’s all it is, you know. You’re the consumer is always consumer the consumer always have um, you know, I would say, you know, you have to be able to listen to consumer. Yeah, I think that’s that’s what’s missing with a lot of these things. You know, they just I make product and just sell it and make money out of it. Yeah. But then again, I’m I’m doing this because I it’s my hobby. I I love doing this, and I like to talking to people and and understanding what their needs and yeah, what have you. I mean one of the stories that I have is uh there’s a lady can’t remember her name right now. I believe she’s in Colorado, and one of the things um she has a little bit of a back or um problem with she can’t really lift up her arm, right? And so our time was the only one that lightweight and works for her Tacoma or here you have the Hilux, which I’m very jealous by the way. You don’t get Hilux in the US.

Ronnie 37:53
You guys yeah, you guys got all the cool cars.

Lauren 37:55
We have the co cars, yeah, we do.

Ferdinand 37:57
So yeah, see, see bartan because oh man, this is amazing. Like I can go out by myself, you know. I have a little bit of uh disability, and uh man, I I love your product, you know. And again, that alone is makes me happy because I I actually created something that can help somebody out, you know. That’s awesome. Uh another story was um, I believe he was in Missouri. I met I met a firefighter. Uh his son was uh he was uh I believe a fire captain, his son was trying to be fireman too, and again, uh he couldn’t afford uh expensive product heavy. And we just kind of relate, and then when we start talking, it’s like, oh, like you were a like, yeah, uh you know, I was the first one, you know, this is how it first started. And um, you know, we we actually worked out where you know he ended up picking up our tent and uh I don’t even knew. We we actually I believe we refunded him uh um just because you know um again um I can relate to what he’d been through. Yeah. Not being able to afford product out there, uh, you know, and trying to go out and and just you know you’re an assistant. You can make something care of people.

Ben 39:10
Yeah, it’s just so engrained. I can yeah, I just pick up the yeah, this connection you’ve got with people is is amazing.

Ferdinand 39:17
Yeah, I mean if you if you can make something good and um do it for the masses, why are you holding it for yourself? Right? That that’s the way I see it. Like why of course you gotta make money. That’s a business. I have family to feed, why I have you know, why enjoy you have the factory workers too? Hey, but at the same time, again, why why am I charging someone three thousand dollars when based in the US, right? $3,000 when the product doesn’t we cost that much and and it really helped the people out. If you’re a single parent, you just want to go out with your kid, you’re already having a hard time buying milk and eggs. Yeah, why am I charging you three thousand dollars just for you to go outdoors, right? Yeah, it doesn’t make sense. My brain just tells me it doesn’t make sense. Yeah, if you if you can afford it and there’s then I thought yeah, you can buy the advanced, you can buy the comfort fire, right? You you know, there’s people out there. But again, um I don’t know. I I I just love I guess my background being an immigrant and see my parents come in here and then and really, you know, work and and trying to put food on the table and then me as versus responder and then you know um seeing it as a public servant helping people out, it’s kind of stay true to record the company. And then that’s why, you know, we don’t just hire anyone within our company, you have to gel with us and you have to make sure that you know that that stay true. Yeah, um, you know, again, it’s it’s it’s uh I don’t look at you as a number, I look at you as a part of the family, and that’s why we tell people you’re part of the Inspired Overland family, and then because it is it is true, like we we we care you, and then there’s no other company either that if you have a damaged tent and we’ll replace you with a new tent right away. Uh that there’s no other company that does that. We yeah, uh you could tell them at the end, the different issue. Yeah,

Ben 41:08
Yeah, such a good ethos.

Ferdinand 41:10
Yeah.

Inspired Overland’s Global Representation

Lauren 41:10
Um Ronnie, can I ask you? Sorry, Benji. Um, you business sales um uh spoke to a lot of customers when we first got Inspired Overland who were really excited because they already had Inspired Overland and they’d come to you guys directly in the US and got it sent to Australia because they couldn’t get it here. Do you what’s your representation globally? Like we’re obviously distributing in Australia. Do you have other distributors in other countries around the world or do you ship around the world? Can you tell us a bit more about that?

Ronnie 41:37
So we have a few. Um, we have a few new ones that are coming out. Can’t really mention it yet because of obviously contracts and what have you, but we’re globally, I would say yes, we’re in a lot of places.

Lauren 41:50
Have you have you? I know that’s kind of I know that’s kind of like uh thanks for that. You’re really in-depth answer. No, but I mean, have you found um I know you’ve mentioned that you’ve not been with the company very long in your current capacity, but the timeline for Inspired Overland in terms of when you started versus now and growth, especially into other countries. Can you speak a little bit more about that and potentially what what’s behind potentially that um increase in distribution?

Ronnie 42:18
Yeah, it’s it’s well, first and foremost, it’s been incredible, right? Um the growth from when I started or when the company started to when I started into now has been an incredible journey.

Lauren 42:29
Yeah.

Ronnie 42:30
Um like Ferdinand said, it’s timing, luck, and hard work, right? It’s the three that have really pushed as far as as as a team and being able to have him take meetings because he’s he never sleeps. And I’m like, hey, I need this meeting. I need I need you to take this meeting because I’m I’m dead. It’s not gonna be for you know, it’s gonna be for the Middle East. I can’t say which countries, but yeah, yeah. And he’s like, I’ll take it. Right. And so we have, of course, as you guys know, Canada, it’s already out there. We have you guys in Australia. Um and we’re just sort of venturing out slowly, not slowly, but I should say rapidly. Yeah. I say slowly because I’m always I’m always the one that wants to keep pushing and pushing and pushing. And I’m just I’m the one that’s you know hammering calls.

Lauren 43:17
Yeah.

Ronnie 43:17
You know.

Lauren 43:18
So Are you do you have um targeted marketing strategies in other countries or is it organic?

Ronnie 43:24
It’s uh it’s half and half.

Lauren 43:26
Okay.

Ronnie 43:26
Yeah. Um, I’ll scour the internet and be like, oh, this company looks pretty cool. You know, I wonder if I wonder if they have a presence, you know, and I’ll do a little bit of digging, do a little research, and I’ll just I’ll personally call them on my cell phone. And I’ll tell them, Hey, this is my cell phone number. I want to let you know I’m reaching out, you know, see if we can work with you guys.

Ferdinand 43:46
Yeah.

Ronnie 43:47
My my whole thing is like I look at a company and if I really enjoy who the people are behind it, I’d love to work with you. If I love that vibe, if I’m getting a vibe from you, I’m like, dude, let’s Let’s have fun. You know, first off, let’s have fun. You know, yeah. Like I come from a very corporate I came from commercially equipment finance. And I was a VP of sales at multiple companies and I did that for the last 15, 16 years. Yeah. And so yeah. And so to me, like he was like, hey, I want you on board. I quit. Yeah, yeah. I don’t want to do banking anymore. I don’t, I’m done. Yeah. I quit, you know. And so that’s cool. Yeah, it’s been really fun.

Lauren 44:34
I’ve noticed um there’s quite a few Inspired Overland Subreddits and things like forums are online. Are they things that your customers have generated themselves or do you plant the seed for those forums?

Ronnie 44:45
Oh no, they they generate ourselves. Yeah. I’m I’m like not on that side of things. I don’t like looking at it, you know. And so they always bring it up like, dude, check out this. Have you seen this Reddit? Yeah. You know, have you seen this YouTube review? I’m like, no, send it over.

Lauren 44:58
Yeah.

Ronnie 44:59
And I’ll look at it for like a solid 45 second. That’s pretty cool.

Lauren 45:02
Yeah, yeah.

Sponsorships and Reviews

Ferdinand 45:03
Continue on that. And you know, um, but we we don’t do retention, right? So that I don’t know if you guys know what I mean. It’s uh we pay someone to run our product. Yep. And then we give you the uh the reviews and everything, right? We don’t do that. We don’t do contracts when we sponsor it’s genuinely if we really like you and you vibe with us, and yeah, you actually show up and you come talk to us and just you know, just chilling with us, then you know it it works. Like uh it’s more genuine, isn’t it? Yeah, a lot of our photos in Instagram and reviews, everything, it’s really genuine reviews. It’s people are willing to giving us photos and reviews, and again, it’s because we’re probably one of the only ones that don’t do contract when we do like even you know just a sponsorship adopting just because you know um we think your your car is cool or you know we’re connected somehow, whatever that is, right? Uh we don’t do retention. So if the first thing you ask us or my team is like, hey you know how you know we need you to pay some. So our money’s like, nope, that’s out of the question. Because this taking the true review out of it. Okay, we’re we’re open. Good or bad of the product, you have to tell us. That’s the only way we can improve. Yeah, we’re probably the only company don’t that don’t do retention because there is no point of doing retention. That’s that’s that’s like you’re paying someone to give me a four-star, right?

Ben 46:22
That’s influencer marketing, right? Here’s a free product, so you just say good things about it regardless. Yeah, yeah. We’re we’re we’re the same. Videos we know the same. If we kind of say good things about the product, we just won’t do the video. Yeah.

Ferdinand 46:34
So like your the count of your Instagram followers doesn’t really matter to us. You can have as low as five, but you if you actually enjoy the product, yeah, that would be more uh feedback for us than anything else.

Ben 46:50
Five good quality followers to 50,000.

Ferdinand 46:53
50,000 paid or whatever you want to call it. So again, we uh people are shocked when we when you know before they were really on board and people just talk to me directly, you know, you know, I have this like a first like like you know, if you meet us, come us at a show and whatever you talk to us and you’re cool, then you know, hey, I I I I I would offer you a sponsorship, like you know, yeah uh like I told people like you know um like I say those those numbers don’t matter to us and we don’t do retention. Just let me get clear out there because we do I mean the way the brand grows, we do we get a lot of those people asking, it’s like my team already knows that that’s straight up no because we don’t that’s this is honest to the consumer too. And this is honest to us as some of the actual descendant product. I want your feedback. Yeah, that’s the only way, yeah.

Other Parts and Products

Ben 47:39
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s the only way to move forward as well. Yeah, yeah. Um, I want to ask about um see expanding um uh uh rapidly, but on your website, and you’re a uh maybe both of you, I know you’re a cars guy. I know you’re talking about a new product innovation before you were talking about something vortex or something on the top to break off and you’re just like a racing wing on a on a car, like you had all these relations to uh to racing cars. Um but on your website you’ve got there’s some like suspension parts and a few other things. Is that just kind of one of those ideas you had overnight and then you made it? And then or or is that a is that a big part of your business as well? Because we only have the rooftop tents here at the moment and maybe a few other fringe items that we’re we’re talking about. But yeah, how far does the range expand?

Ferdinand 48:23
Um the range is it’s pretty big. So so we’re our factory is based off aluminium and now it’s uh carbon fibre. So we we can do a lot of different things and make different things. Uh and uh but yeah, but but we’re right now we’re we’re really focusing on more of the really uh we picked the outdoors and and then the rooftop tents. Those are really our main focus just because um you know the the more you split up of different products, the um the harder it is for you to focusing on and improving. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But but we another new product we’re coming out, it’s basically uh cargo box, uh, which is uh carbon fibre cargo box.

Ben 49:01
Okay.

Ferdinand 49:02
Uh those are uh things are very cool because no one really done a carbon fibre uh cargo boxes out there. Uh and for you know the sports cars and everything with the forged carbon, I think that looks uh pretty cool. Uh and in terms of the vortex more things, you know, the uh I always have an idea how can I improve my miles per gallon of my car, my EV range, right? And so one of the ideas is like, hey, you know what? Can we bring some of the wings from like a Porsche and different design of the Vortex and making an actual tent? And uh I’m definitely excited. It’s kind of my long-term project that I just like say had to find. I mean, I don’t know if it’s gonna be an actual uh uh product that we sell or just maybe just a,

Lauren 49:38
Is it gonna whistle as well?

Ferdinand 49:43
But uh you know, like if you guys ever want one or you know, just just really make it for something fun, you know, because you know we make a prototype, we come out with three, four different ones and that we try and do uh go out there and just talking different colours and stuff as well. Yeah, we can do different colours that will improve with the Vortex file. You can improve your miles per gallon and EV range and,

Ben 50:02
Reds reds faster, so if you get a red one, so yeah,

Ferdinand 50:06
Careful with the uh with the cars out there, don’t they do the red?

The Carbon Fibre Manufacturing Process

Ben 50:11
So you own your own factories, um, and uh our boss went and caught up with you guys uh and saw the factories, and they were talking about some submarine shaped things to do with carbon fibre manufacturing. And can you elaborate on that? Because I’m really curious on how the whole carbon fibre manufacturing process works and how these submarine things fit into the whole story.

Ferdinand 50:32
A lot of carbon fibre product, we we lay them down, we kind of mold them, right? And we put them in a what they call it, like the pressure cooker. That’s what that is. Okay, and then you pressure in and then they’re becoming a hard uh carbon fibre product. Right. So um we started with the small one because that’s with the first one there. Uh we basically invented back to the factory, you know, we gotta start something small, and then it goes to a like a giant uh mid-sized submarine, and that’s gonna be another bigger one, right? It’s it’s dependent on the size of uh the carbon fibre mold that you were trying to make. Gotcha. Uh, because those are laid on by hand and make them and then basically put them in like a pressure cooker and make them into um a product.

Ben 51:11
Gotcha. Okay. So basically, if it’s a bigger carbon fibre product, you just need a bigger pressure cooker. So that goes in as the shape. So your carbon fibre tents apart, so that you’ve got the the the top panel and then the the rails, so they go in and uh for shaped and then pressure cooked.

Ferdinand 51:28
So the there is a lot of uh so that’s a different thing. That that that’s some of the layer, right? For the the the um the uh just lost uh like the the slats and everything and and then the the frame. Uh those are have some uh a couple of secret ingredients in there that we can’t tell you. But that’s basically you kind of mold it into like a smaller pressure cooker. It’s like uh a bunch of different slats, you put it in the presser and then press down, and you basically build up the secret ingredient in there and then become um you know the product.

Ronnie 51:56
It’s like a vacuum as well, right?

Ferdinand 51:57
So like a vacuum as well. Okay. So we do have a bunch of different machines. Uh the one that Laine is talking about, it’s basically more like the bigger product, the one you’re laying down. But for the slats and the carbon fibre uh outer, uh is in the true carbon fibre with the secret ingredients on the inside, and it’s basically molded to uh product, yeah, like a vacuum.

Ben 52:17
So the the hinge, so the star gaze has got it is actually a different design than the three we’ve got on our website at the moment. It’s got an X hinge, you call it. So it lifts up to give that extra foot space, which is one thing that the tall people have said, I can’t fit my feet. In the end, this solves that solution. But that’s carbon fibre as well, right?

Ferdinand 52:35
Yeah, so a lot of product, it’s uh people think it’s uh because we used to have uh carbon fibre coating, right? Just a layer. But until you actually see our product actually touch it, people’s like, oh, it’s an actual carbon fibre. It’s like, yeah, it’s it’s uh it’s not a gimmick, it’s not uh like a layover, it’s an actual so none of it’s a coating, it’s all yeah, it’s all true carbon fibre. Yeah, yeah. We make uh yeah, it’s a it’s a real carbon fibre, yeah.

Ben 52:59
So the the um Carbon lite has an aluminium and carbon composite um construction. Is the but why not carbon fibre frame around the top? Is that a strength thing or is that a cost thing?

Ferdinand 53:11
Um I think you’ll see it on the uh it’s more for um you’ll see in the Star gazer. The Star gazer bottom is actually full on carbon fibre. The frame now it’s a full-on carbon fibre.

Ben 53:21
Right.

Ferdinand 53:22
Uh, but the top is still aluminium uh because uh, you know, it just the way when we put the um lid on either the carbon fibre or the the clear acrylic glass, uh, you know, you have something to hold on. So, you know, uh we still use aluminum for the top. But who knows? I mean, we might be able to figure out another stuff, and it’ll be really 100% full on carbon fibre. Yeah. Which actually we we did um when we did a CEMA uh last year, uh one of the Porsche 997 has a basically a single person uh full carbon fibre tent. The top and the bottom and actually a full on carbon fibre. Wow. Uh again, it’s but that’s just like one off prototype that, you know, where we’re just having fun making it. Yeah. How can we be different? Uh again. Yeah,

Ronnie 54:09
It’s still a lot of testing for testing products. You know, I think I think one thing is like the when you’re out there, I think having a whole carbon fibre frame that we haven’t obviously like we haven’t tested it. And so if you do hit trees or branches, we don’t know how it’s gonna hold up.

The Downside of Carbon Fibre?

Ben 54:27
Yeah, is it not is that is that the downside with carbon fibre? Like it’s strong, but is it is more is it more brittle? Is that what’s if it gets hit, it can crack easier rather than dent? Like what’s what’s the downside, I suppose, of course. What’s the fibre there?

Ferdinand 54:41
Without our circuiting it in, it’s actually it’s a it’s a full on seal on the inside. So it’s it’s it’s like the filament, yeah. Yeah, it’s it’s a it it’s we are actually able to figure out how it makes it as strong so it’s not as easy to crack or break.

Ben 54:55
Okay.

Ferdinand 54:56
Um you know, right understanding for rest cars like dumping a BMW on the roof of the car, it’s a full-on cover problem. You can’t really put weight on top, right? Because it’s a one-layer piece of the us with the molding and how it’s set up. You can actually, I mean, I’ve I’ve I actually took it to King of Hammers and really jumping. I don’t know if you King of Hammers is uh basically when people go up crazy up the Johnson Valley, going out in the desert and just mobbing in a car and driving fast and rock crawling. So I actually took my uh GX there and just following a Can am with the carbon fibre tent on top and really, we were doing jumping. We had three people in the car, we were flying off inside the car. And the tent is fine, yeah, it’s it’s there again. So yeah, we we we actually tested and try our product out there and yeah, that’s cool.

The Stargazer

Ben 55:39
Yeah, that one person I know Star gazer. I was gonna say the solo. Is that is that um is there a market for that? Because I I’ve always thought yeah for myself, like one person would be cool because you’ve got I can’t take surfboards and stuff. Yeah, uh, one person on one side and you’ve got room for your surfboard or something on the other. Yeah, so it’s it seems like is there a market for it? Do you get a little bit more?

Ferdinand 55:58
No, that there’s a market for that. Yeah, we we have we sold uh those two and then pre-order it again. Those ideas actually come in from um a couple people that uh cycle, right? Because bicycle is a very expensive carbon fibre one, right? And you don’t just want to leave it in a car and get stolen. And so they’re like, hey, why don’t you make a solo tent? And so we actually have one that are with tonneau of cover, but then I was like, oh you know, that’s just tonneau cover, let’s do something cool. And that’s where the solo Stargazer came in, and people actually love it because it it’s a whole different design, and then it’s you know it’s it’s pretty cool. And you say you can put stuff on top uh next to um whatever you have out there, like you know, bicycle or uh surfboard.

Ronnie 56:40
It’s for the adventurer. For the adventurer, yeah. The solo single nomad that just goes by him or herself, right?

Ferdinand 56:46
Or or if you just want to snuggle a little closer.

Ben 56:50
Really tight quarters. Another question on the Stargazer, and I think there’s um a vehicle sports vehicle related answer to this. I remember looking at it last week, but I can’t remember. I’ve forgotten what I researched. Anyway, um, the clear top, I reckon the first thing people always go is oh, it’s just gonna get scratched up and won’t look very good over time. But I think there’s you’ve actually put something like a vehicle wrap type thing over the top of that to to stop that from happening.

Ferdinand 57:16
So so we use a PPF cover on top and we put ceramic coating on the inside so that holds covering just like a PPF cover on your car. And inside we use the same thing like for your windows ,

Ronnie 57:26
A clear ceramic film, yeah, yeah, uh UV rejection as well to obviously reject the heat.

Ben 57:32
Right.

Ronnie 57:32
So during the day you can just slide it down and still be in direct sunlight, and it won’t be as hot.

Lauren 57:39
Not a solar oven.

Ronnie 57:40
Yeah.

Ben 57:40
So it’s acrylic and then there’s ceramic and it’s PP V is a paint.

Ronnie 57:46
It’s a paint protection film. Yep, okay. Yeah, um, so it’s kind of like um I believe most vehicles will wrap their entire vehicle at like three or four millimeters. Correct me if I’m wrong. I and then I heard PPF is usually around like seven to ten, a lot thicker. Okay.

Ben 57:59
So it’s like a vehicle wrap. Or why they use a vehicle wrap and other jobs.

Ferdinand 58:03
Yeah, okay. All right. But also for people when they see Stargazer, they they see an open, they say, wait, where’s the closure? Like, no, you can actually close the inside, yeah, and you still have uh a barrier just like uh inside the tent. Yeah, you can close and open. It’s not just like strictly Stargazer, kill like you know, sun beaming all all day long.

Ben 58:21
Yeah, yeah, it’s cool. Well, that’s that’s a limited uh product at the moment, isn’t it? And we are getting one here in our Adelaide store, hoping to have it for the 4X4 outdoor show, but it’s not going to arrive in time. But um, anyone who’s going to the Sydney show, which will be gone by now, that being gone. But hopefully, if you’ve uh had your questions answered there on that that tent and anything else. But otherwise, yeah, we’ll have it in the Adelaide store. And if if it becomes a thing, we’ll get it up in in Brisbane and stuff as well. All these so great to have these innovative products in there. So that’ll be four in the range then. Two standards, a carbon and um and the Stargazer. Yeah. Two sizes of the Stargazer. Yeah. But uh not readily available, right?

Ferdinand 59:00
Yeah, yeah, not just not yet. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, it is a limited edition. I just you know, it’s it takes it takes time to set those um tent, you know. It’s not and with carbon fibre, also it’s not as easy, just start making them. It’s it’s a really you know, it takes a lot of time. It’s more like we can mass produce them, but you know, you’re rushing things, it and you know, it’s just kind of better to put more.

Ronnie 59:24
It’s more so the curing process of the acrylic and just bonding everything together. The production time’s a lot greater than the carbon fibres. And so we’re trying to of course not stray away from our original designs and well, we are straying away because we’re always pushing the boundaries, but in sense in the sense of straying away from production time and allocating more time towards the stargazers, you know.

The Future of Inspired Overland

Lauren 59:51
Because obviously they still have to be viable, right? And you still have to keep your normal product line up. Correct. Yeah. So um are you like the future of Inspired Overland? Are you still very much focused on rooftop tents and trying to sort of push the boundaries within designs and stuff there? Or are you thinking you might expand out into other things like awnings or other sort of four wheel driving accessories in the future?

Ronnie 1:00:14
Yes. So that is the future. Um currently we have a 180 awning that’s going to be coming out as well.

Lauren 1:00:22
Okay, cool.

Ronnie 1:00:22
It’s actually gonna be carbon fibre. So it’s gonna be a hybrid. You know, obviously we’re the carbon fibre guys, right?

Lauren 1:00:27
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ben 1:00:28
So you were saying you were just holding that with one hand whatever.

Ronnie 1:00:31
So we I just I just got a sample over. And I remember when I was installing it, I was actually just grabbing the 180 awning, holding with one hand and putting the bolts on onto the brackets. That’s so good. My neighbor came by, sorry to cut you off. My neighbor, my neighbor, my neighbor came by and he was like, is that an awning? And I’m like, Yeah, he’s like, he’s like, did you just did you just hold it?

Ben 1:00:51
I’m like, really strong.

Lauren 1:00:53
That’s so good.

Ronnie 1:00:54
Yeah, yeah.

Lauren 1:00:54
Yeah, no, because I was thinking recently, I was like, oh, like what’s my setup for the next couple of years going to be because my circumstances changing and kids getting older and all that sort of stuff. Like, I really want to get an Inspired Overland rooftop tent. And I was like, Yeah, but then you know, I want an awning as well. And it’s like I’ll put this 36 kilo rooftop tent on my car, and then I’ll put like this 65 kilo awning on the side. It’s like it’s you know, such a random um misalignment there.

Ben 1:01:22
That’s right, these tents are the same weight as these awnings people are buying.

Lauren 1:01:25
Yeah, yeah, it’s um cool to hear that you guys are expanding entirely.

Ronnie 1:01:29
So just like just like how Ferdinand said with customer feedback and like what our customers want to see from us and what the market wants to see from us is we’re slowly but obviously rapidly designing other things, right? Like awnings, carbon fibre chairs, yeah. Um camping tables that I keep pushing for carbon fibre.

Lauren 1:01:52
Yeah.

Ronnie 1:01:52
But

Ben 1:01:55
Is that another crazy far off idea?

Ferdinand 1:01:57
No, I can the way I see it, there’s nothing uh there’s nothing crazy out there. You just just email us, let us know what you have in your mind, and uh we can get any product. I mean another one that we’ve talked about. It’s the the four person king size bed.

Ben 1:02:09
Yeah, I was gonna mention that.

Ferdinand 1:02:10
Yeah, it’s uh currently it’s about uh 125 pound, which is uh very light. Uh you know, about seven, so ten centimeters. I’m trying to convey 10 centimeters in terms of height when it closed. It’s a king-size bed. Uh, you know, very lightweight. Uh again, it’s uh people have been asking us with the family. You know, how you know what can please make this for us, you know. Uh keep it, you know, trying to be as affordable, but also as lightweight. I mean, the main thing has always been lightweight. And then at this years SEMA, you know, uh in November, we’ll be bringing that out. Uh a four-person king size bed for a king size bed for a family. Uh again, really, that’s that’s,

Ronnie 1:02:49
I just converted it. It’s uh 56.7 kg.

Ferdinand 1:02:54
Yeah, 56 or uh four size, four king bed size for king size. Yeah,

Ben 1:02:59
How good is that? Yeah.

Ferdinand 1:03:00
Man. I think it’s gonna be it’s gonna be awesome.

Ronnie 1:03:02
Um I mean, I I want it, I’ve been waiting for it. I’m like, dude, we gotta do it now. Uh so I have obviously you met my wife earlier, um, and then we have three children as well. So I’m like, we usually gotta bring another you know separate tent on top of our rooftop tent. And so if we could be able to have that, yeah.

Ben 1:03:20
I didn’t get a rooftop tent because …

Lauren 1:03:22
It’s just push it to the top of the list.

Ben 1:03:25
We spent four months on the road as a family, and I considered a rooftop tent for easy setup, but I couldn’t justify the weight of the four-person rooftop tents that were on the market at the time, and we just used a regular tent, but would totally think uh totally change how I would view that if it was 50 kilos. Yeah, yeah. Um, because that well that that’s how much is on the roof anyway, just for sleeping arrangements almost by the time I put a canvas tent and the swag that I put inside the tent.

Lauren 1:03:55
It’s the weight of your cargo anyway, yeah.

Ben 1:03:57
It’s almost 50 kilos, whereas that’s all that’s all included and it sets up in a portion of the time. Yeah, which in like 45 degree heat and 80 percent, 90% humidity is the last thing I wanted to be doing was tying stuff on a roof rack in the hot sun. Whereas if you could just pop that up and kids got somewhere to sleep. But that’s pretty exciting.

Ferdinand 1:04:14
Yeah, and also another one, the the Trail peak, the one I’m pretty sure that’s gonna get it to us. It’s is uh entry level, so it’s telling a cover top, you know, weighed uh 93 pounds, so that’s about 40 something kilos. Uh someone that are 6’2, 6’3 or taller. Uh you can actually sleep there and sit down and look at our side, and then it’s still very lightweight. Uh again, uh might have a carbon fibre version out of it. But again, it’s just we always first product come out, it’s always gonna be aluminum and tunnel cover first and see how uh you know how that works.

Ben 1:04:51
And and that had the the side, it almost looked like it lifted up more so it had.

Less Weight, More Fun! How Weight Affects Your Camping Experience

Ronnie 1:04:56
Yeah, so instead of the wedge instead of the wedge it comes up and to the side, yep, kind of like a clam, I guess, right? If you say it. And um, and you you’re able to utilize the full 200 and 208 centimeters, I believe.

Ben 1:05:12
Yep, that’s cool. So even tall people, yeah.

Ferdinand 1:05:15
Even tall people you can sit there and hang out and yeah, yeah.

Ronnie 1:05:20
All about having a good time, guys. Remember, we always gotta have good time.

Ferdinand 1:05:24
So you know, less money and and buying the tent and use the money to buy all the other fun stuff, you know, to take out to go camping, right? That’s the way you look at it. Wagyu stakes, yeah, yeah, the crap beers. Yeah, you know. The gas, right? If you don’t have your stuff you have in the car, the more gas or petrol that you would use for your car, right? Yeah. So now with the lighter product, you can have extra money to do other stuff.

Ben 1:05:50
Yeah, less white, less fuel so positive.

Ferdinand 1:05:54
It affects a lot of things. I mean, I mean, as a car guest, like you, you know, you understand when you build cars, like it’s affected your The fact that your suspension, the fact that your roof, uh it’s fact that a lot of different things. It’s everything.

Ronnie 1:06:05
It’s all it’s all your components, your tires, your wear and tear, just the wheel and everything.

Ferdinand 1:06:10
It’s everything. And most people have one car and that’s what they use for all around.

Ben 1:06:14
And so it’s a lot to get the worker back every day. Exactly. I think there’s a companies out there that know that, right? And there’s, you know, probably young kids just want that that look, and they go and they just get everything on the car. And if you’re gonna get that, you need a suspension upgrade as well, and you need this in your bad ties. And yeah, all of that, and then you’re gonna have to service it twice twice as often because everything’s wearing out twice as quick. So yeah.

Ferdinand 1:06:36
Um probably still like Apple, right? That’s the simple product is possible, the better it is, right? So yeah, simple, put it in the car and just watch it.

Ben 1:06:46
They’re uh their ethos, yeah. Yeah, I love that you brought Apple up. I can’t think of the statement, but it’s something along the lines of not just creating a computer but creating a beautiful product is kind of what their ethos was, which kind of getting that vibe from Inspired Overland as well.

Ferdinand 1:06:59
It’s it’s it’s it’s again they’re giving a prop to like GFC Super Light, also in the beginning. It’s it’s really taking all these ideas to different things and then kind of combine them and making something um that really for the people that want it, you know. Then I mean I mean that there’s no such thing as 100% perfect product, right? But but there is uh that you can take ideas from different things and kind of try to combine them, but then still stay true to what the the the companies uh uh was created for, yeah you know, and uh and we will say no, uh like you say, you know, if you want to add in more stuff, we say we say no, no, that’s that’s not what the company doesn’t want the brand, what’s the product are for? Like we’re gonna…

Lauren 1:07:39
You’re not getting a carbon fibre table Ronnie, okay?

Ronnie 1:07:43
No, that’s that’s what I that’s not that’s what I’m hearing.

Ferdinand 1:07:47
Yeah, yeah.

Ronnie 1:07:50
Oh, I want everything, trust me. I want I I I Joey and I push it, our team pushes it. Like, I want to be able to go camping and literally set everything up and have carbon fibre chairs, carbon fibre table, carbon fibre awnings, carbon fibre rooftop tent.

Ben 1:08:04
I’m I’m all about lightweight and and compact as well. So uh there’s you get big chairs and they’re really comfortable, but then you spend 10 minutes trying to fit it in the car amongst all the other stuff. And I just love the ease of when you’ve got compact, lightweight stuff that you can just put it in easy, take it out easy. It’s it’s not weighing your vehicle down, you’re not restricted by towing heavy trailers and all that sort of stuff. You can get wherever you want. Uh yeah, I’m all for that lightweight compact setup.

Ferdinand 1:08:31
Following up on that, right? And then so we don’t just make our product, we use our product our software. That’s that’s the difference, right? That people that are um they’re not that they’re you know getting product set up the logos and it’s just the salesman and sells the product, like they don’t never try the product. That’s the biggest difference. We actually use our product, yeah. You know, you you use the product, and then that’s how we also uh know what we need and what we don’t need.

Final Words

Ben 1:08:57
Yeah, that’s cool. Have you got anything else you want to add? Like we’ve we’ve spoken for over an hour now, and we did go on for ages. Which is really good.

Ferdinand 1:09:05
It’s very good. Like I like I said, this is my first time ever. Like there’s a couple people that want to do like an actual of how Inspired and how I uh uh you know how we got it started. But you you know, this is the first one, so that’s uh I don’t know, maybe maybe maybe the first and the last one.

Ben 1:09:19
That’s right, yeah. Well, usually we we’re trying to make sure that uh uh an interview doesn’t turn into a sales pitch. That’s not what we’re all about. It’s about getting to know the company and it’s been really good getting to know Inspired Overland, and it certainly reflects a lot of Snowy’s values that particularly Lauren and I, all about the the community. Um we just think of ourselves as one of the mates around the around the campfire. We’re just the people who can get the gear for the for the mates.

Lauren 1:09:40
Yeah.

Ferdinand 1:09:41
When we first met and came here with Snowys, right? One of the first things I flew in here, you know, just because I’m a little old school. My parents always taught me, you know, before signing any deals, you have to meet the person in you know meet the person in person. Like uh signing everything online is fine, but I I want to meet you, I want to see you in person. I I’ve talked to any other distributor, you know, people I I want to meet you in person. It’s because again, are we vibe? You have to vibe, my boy. Someone told me this too before. Um shout out to DK with uh Toyo tyres. He said, um, you know, when someone come and talk to you, he said, um he said, um how can you represent us, the brand, better than we can represent ourselves? Right?

Lauren 1:10:23
Yeah, yeah, that’s a good one.

Ferdinand 1:10:24
Right, that’s an extension of you’re not just selling my product. You you know, you have to you know, how are you gonna treat your consumer, right? That that’s really at the end of the day, you know, again, money is money, but how can you represent us better than we can represent ourselves? And that is really what stuck out to us. That’s why we don’t just work with anyone, you know, it’s not really yeah. I mean, as you say, I mean, uh you don’t fight with Ronnie or us with it it’s not gonna work. Yeah, you know, you can you can fake it, you can push it, but that’s you know, fake it, you can only certain amount of time and then it’s not gonna work.

Ben 1:11:03
You know, we I think we we saw the products first, we went, who’s this? We’ve never heard of them before. Look at the products, and you always approach with caution. But we’re um we’re really happy to be partnering with you guys with these tents in Australia. Um and uh to see the innovation and new stuff come through is it’s exciting too. It’s not just me too. It’s there’s there’s cool stuff to talk about that um keeps people engaged. Yeah.

Lauren 1:11:28
Sweet.

Ben 1:11:33
Have you got any more questions?

See You at the National 4X4 Outdoors Show in Sydney!

Lauren 1:11:33
I’m, all good, I’m, good.

Ben 1:11:36
Guys, that was awesome. Uh Inspired Overland, the innovation and all about the people. It’s um pretty excited. Uh, really looking forward to spending the weekend this coming weekend at the Sydney 4×4 Outdoors show with you guys. Um, it’s gonna be a bit late by the time this episode goes out, but hopefully, if you’re listening to this and you were there, you called by and uh had a look at the the tents that are on display. Um got any questions about any new stuff, then uh hopefully you’ve asked us. If you didn’t, you can jump on the Facebook page uh and we’ll answer that. We’ll see if you guys can jump in there too if you want and answer questions directly. Yeah, absolutely. If not, we’ll um we’ll certainly get the answers from you guys for the community.

Ronnie 1:12:15
Thank you guys for having us.

Ferdinand 1:12:16
You can always call us. You can always call me. You can always email us.

Ben 1:12:19
Well you’re awake, right? Yeah, so that’s awesome. Thanks so much for joining us.

Ronnie 1:12:25
Thank you guys.

Lauren 1:12:25
See you later.

Ben 1:12:26
That’s another episode of the Snow’s camping show. Done and dusted. Thanks for joining us. I hope you enjoyed that. Any questions for Inspired Overland, uh Ronnie or um Ferdinand, just let us know um however you can get in touch with us. Uh, we’ll see what we can find out for you. But otherwise, uh, if you’ve got nothing more, we’ll see you next time.

Lauren 1:12:44
Catch you later, guys.

Ben 1:12:45
Bye.

Thanks for listening, tune in again for next week’s episode!

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