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Sleeping in your car used to be a dirtbag necessity and time honored tradition.
But these days sleeping in your car usually means thousands of dollars spent on a vehicle or creating a bulky wood platform that's a pain to move around and takes up all your space.
Enter the Hideaway from Pacific Adventure Works! A modular and adjustable sleeping platform perfect for wherever you want to put it. It's the gear we're talking about on this episode of Gear & Beer as Colin & Justin are joined by Pacific Adventure Works founder Reed Frick to learn the origin of this category changing piece of gear.
And you can't have Gear without the Beer. The pairings for this episode? Reed and Justin crack open a couple of Lagunitas Daytime IPA's while Colin enjoys a 10 Barrel Juicy Drama.
Because what beats a great IPA before crashing in the back of your truck? Absolutely nothing.
Please follow and subscribe to Gear & Beer and give us a 5 star rating wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a written review on Apple Podcasts and reach out to myrockfight@gmail.com to claim your free Gear & Beer sticker!
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Episode Transcript
Colin (00:01):
Welcome to the Gear and Beer, the podcast for Gearheads beer buffs and adventurers with discerning tastes in the latest edition to the Rock Fight Podcast Network. I'm Colin True, and I work for brands and makers in the outdoor industry for over 20 years.
Justin (00:15):
And I am Justin Housman, senior editor at Adventure Journal, professional Gear Reviewer and Certified Cone, also known as a beer expert.
Colin (00:24):
When did you have to give up your amateur status to be a professional gear reviewer?
Justin (00:29):
Took
Colin (00:29):
That first paycheck. Is that what it is? That's how it goes,
Justin (00:31):
Yeah. Oh, they're very strict about that. They're very serious about that. Yeah.
Colin (00:35):
Well, today I gear and beer, it's all about where you sleep. Because joining us today to talk about the Hideaway platform from the company he founded, a company called Pacific Adventure Works is Reed Frick. Welcome to the show, Reed.
Reed (00:46):
Hey, how's it going guys? Nice to be here.
Colin (00:49):
Yeah, man. Good to see you. You got your hat on, you got your rep in the brand
Reed (00:52):
Swagged out, but I got a pressing question for Justin. Can you consist around? Still go to the Olympics?
Justin (00:58):
I was just about to get into that. Yeah, no, no, we're very pure. We're the last holdout against the commercialization of amateur things in general. So no,
Colin (01:12):
Today we're going to be breaking down the Hideaway platform and sleep systems in general. But before we get to that, we've got a couple of housekeeping items for our gear and beer listeners. Be sure to follow and rate gear and beer wherever you're listening. Clicking follow on your favorite podcast app and leaving that five star rating is the best way to help the show. And while you're there, be sure to check out our other show on the Rock Fight Podcast Network, the rock fight. That's where we talk about outdoor industry and community topics and headlines. And you can find it wherever you're listening to this podcast. Justin, while we're here, you know, where else can our listeners follow along, even reach out to us? What could they do?
Justin (01:45):
We are at all of these standard channels. We even have an email address. You can send us some emails
Colin (01:51):
Just like it's 1999.
Justin (01:53):
Yeah. At my rock fight@gmail.com. We are on Instagram rock fight.co. Is our handle there, Colin? Are we not on TikTok?
Colin (02:02):
We are. Same thing. Rock fight. I think it's Rock, rock Fight, something like that. Yeah, we're on there. I we're on the tiktoks.
Justin (02:09):
I don't really do TikTok. Sign up for rock fight's newsletter by heading to rock fight.co and clicking join the mailing list. There's a lovely button right there. Your finger's going to be drawn to it naturally, and you're going to want to click on it. You would enjoy reading newsletters on Sundays.
Colin (02:23):
I did send Justin a TikTok the other day that made him download the app just so he could watch it.
Justin (02:27):
Yeah, but it was confusing. It wasn't like Instagram, I don't think at this point. Now, if you don't have TikTok, don't bother. Instagram reels does everything you need. I've downloaded it and I'm like, okay. I'm like, oh, this is a kind of more complicated than Instagram and it doesn't know me, and I'm just like, yeah, I'm never going to open this again.
Colin (02:46):
Plus on Instagram you can get to the OnlyFans link way faster.
Justin (02:50):
Really? You can't do that through
Reed (02:52):
TikTok.
Colin (02:52):
You got to go to Instagram. They'll block them on there. Yeah. Oh my God. God.
Reed (02:56):
Is that for Rock fight.co. Only fans.
Colin (02:59):
We're starting The Rock. What announce today? We're starting the Rock Fight Only fans. It's going to be just Justin and I sitting around drinking. We know what else
Justin (03:05):
To do, so something's got to stick.
Colin (03:08):
Alright, well Reid, the gear you brought today to Gear and Beer is the Hideaway platform from your company. Like we said, Pacific Adventure Works. So let's just start. Let's tell the audience what it is. What is the product? What does it do? Let's just start there.
Reed (03:20):
Yeah, it's a modular, lightweight sleeping platform for the back of your SUV truck, crossover wagon, whatever vehicle you have for car camping.
Colin (03:28):
That's it.
Reed (03:30):
Pretty straightforward. It's dead simple, man. Yeah,
Colin (03:33):
No, but what is it? What's the difference? What problem are you solving with it? It's a modular platform. What does that mean? Let's get into the specifics of the product.
Reed (03:41):
Well, so if you've ever tried to sleep in your car, you got a couple issues. One is if you have a flat surface that's pretty lucky, usually it's pretty uneven. You got the seat back that's angled at a weird angle and stuff. So when you try and sleep there, you're half folded up, which is not very comfortable. The second issue is where are you going to put your gear? So put a mattress in, even if it's flat, your gear's got to be outside or under the car before you go sleep in there. So with the Hideaway, it not only lets you level out the surface, but it lets you raise that and it's adjustable so that you can stash all your gear underneath.
Colin (04:30):
So how'd you come up with the idea?
Reed (04:32):
Just necessity. Just necessity. It was on a surf trip down to Baja. I've got an old Land Cruiser from the eighties and I was going down there with my buddy who had a Westie from the eighties and I was like, man, I can't be sleeping in a tent. He's his, A
Colin (04:48):
Lot of smokes. Were probably burned in those two vehicles back in the days. There's a lot of smoking going
Reed (04:54):
On. Oh yeah, we still got the ashtrays and everything. But yeah, I wanted to sleep in the truck. And the land cruise is slow. It's terrible on gas. It's top heavy, so I didn't want a rooftop tent. I'm older now, or at least I feel like I'm older now, so I can't, you take a leak in the middle of the night, you're climbing down a rooftop tent and you're like, Ugh, I don't know about this. So I would wanted to have a platform in the Land Cruiser, but I didn't want anything permanent either. It's my daily driver, so I need that to go to the grocery store. I need that to put the car seats in there. So I didn't want anything permanent and super heavy. So that's kind of how this was born. It was like I needed something easily removable, lightweight, not permanently installed. I needed it to be height adjustable and make it so it levels out the surface.
Colin (05:54):
Justin, where do you come in on rooftop tents? Because I had a really brief period where I was really thinking about getting one when I got my van and then immediately is when I started kind of digging around. I'm like, I don't think I want this.
Justin (06:05):
I fell in love with them at first. It kind of depends on your setup, obviously also where your living situation is huge. I mean, if you don't have a garage and if you don't have the ability to, honestly, I wouldn't have one if I didn't have, well, I don't anymore, but if you don't have a garage and you don't have a hoist, you can just hoist it off and just leave it in the air. I wouldn't bother. It's just too much of a pain in the ass. Driving around with a rooftop 10 on all the time sucks unless you have a pickup truck and you have a go fast or those style of rooftop tents, which is not exactly the same, but basically the same thing. But then I also don't like those because now you've heard me gripe. Now you've just compromised the fact that you don't really have a pickup anymore.
(06:46):
You have a SUV with a weird storage capability. And so I don't know. They're really comfortable. They're so comfortable, which is great. That's the one thing I really liked about having one. I've had a few different styles, but I mean they're so much more comfortable than a ground tent. They're way easier to set up. You just unfold and that's great. But yeah, they're not really for me anymore. They look cool, but it seems insane to have that thing on your roof all the time too. So many people just year round have it on their roof.
Colin (07:18):
Well, let's get a little deeper into the product. Before we get to that, I also want to get, Justin has actually tried the Hideaway platform, so we're going to get into his thoughts about it. But first things we need to do, guys, we need to crack open a beer. So
Justin (07:28):
Yes, we do.
Colin (07:29):
Let's go. So Justin, as our cone, you said let's go. IPA What? Go
Justin (07:34):
Ahead. I wanted to get a humble sea. I don't think you've mentioned it yet, but Pacific AdventureWorks is based in Santa Cruz. I didn't, yeah, and Humble Sea is, boy, I don't know if I, they're the best brewery in Santa Cruz, but they're definitely one of the best and one of the sexiest. I love their beer. You can get it in San Diego. Collins didn't have time to find it. So that was my initial suggestion. But we don't have that, so at least I don't. So we're doing a log. Anita, daytime, IPA, at least me and R are Colin, I dunno about you, but which is actually a really good call because this is kind of what in a lot of ways, sort of what the Hideaway does, it's really versatile. This will go with anything.
(08:21):
It's flavorful, but it's low alcohol. So it kind pairs just about wherever you want to do. You can be a hardcore IPA lover and you'll like this. You could be someone who isn't really sure they like IPAs and they'll like this. You could be in the mood for something that's going to be big, rich beer and you'll probably still like this, but you could also be in the mood for something you can just sip and ignore and you'll like this. And the Hideaway is super versatile. I mean, Reid, it's his product. He knows it better than I do. But one thing he didn't even mention just now is that the platform will fit in a weird crossover. It'll level out the sleeping space in crossovers that are big enough if you fold the seats flat for you to lay in. So it's an insanely versatile product. So yeah, this beer makes sense with it.
Colin (09:01):
So you decided to go with the Lagunitas too? You had a couple of options.
Reed (09:05):
Yep. Got the Lagunitas, but forgot to send you guys a o plus it o'clock in the afternoon.
Colin (09:09):
Oh man. I know, I know. We only use Puff and Drinkware. Kies on this show. We have an exclusive agreement with that and then we burn them afterwards and
Reed (09:19):
Protest. They're disposable, right? To
Colin (09:21):
Inhale the hydrocarbons. Exactly. So I ran into some, I couldn't get out and look for beer, but I did have a few IPAs to your point about, and I simple, relatively mild A BV brew. I have the exact opposite. I pulled out from a 10 barrel leftover Justin of a juicy drama. That's why
Justin (09:39):
It sounded familiar
Colin (09:41):
And I'm kind of excited. It's been a while since I've had one of these and I remember how good these taste. But it's also 9.6. And if you haven't listened to our episode where we featured this beer, this is a dangerous beer. It's very drinkable, but it's a lot of booze. So I'm going to do my best to pace myself here while we're talking about Reed's products.
Justin (10:03):
Well, good luck, man.
Colin (10:05):
Let's crack 'em open you guys. Let's
Justin (10:07):
Do it. Right
Colin (10:07):
On.
Justin (10:10):
Oh, we didn't count down. Oh, sorry. I jumped the gun. What am I doing? There's mine. Go rego.
Reed (10:14):
Excuse you. Excuse you. I
Colin (10:16):
Jumped the gun. Cheers everybody. Cheers. Yeah, that's it. God, that's good.
Reed (10:24):
Cold's freezing. I think I heard Justin's crack and I was like, oh man, I'm late. And so then I cracked.
Justin (10:29):
No, I totally blew it. Usually we do it on three, but just something habit took over.
Colin (10:34):
Dude, you've had a busy summer. You're a lot of practice on gear and beer. It's fine. You'll get it back. Yeah, thanks. It's like spring training right now.
Justin (10:40):
Hey, that reminds me, I've tried to find the guys the text where my buddy sent it to me, but I wanted just to give a shout out to the guy who listens to the golf podcast, who also listens to our podcast, who called me out about, oh, there it is. Let's see, where's his name?
Colin (10:53):
This was the coolest thing ever. George,
Justin (10:55):
I hope he doesn't mind me mentioning his name on the air. George Bryant, who apparently listens to my cross the street neighbor Andy's podcast about golf and Andy, Andy was making fun of me on his well, sort of making fun of me on his podcast for taking a beer to go from a old get together that he had. And so anyway, everyone that listens to his podcast has been weighing in on it, but it just is great that our worlds have collided. So George, so George
Colin (11:18):
Listens to both. He listens to our show and Andy's show.
Justin (11:21):
Sure does.
Colin (11:21):
And you don't know George?
Justin (11:23):
I do not know George. No.
Colin (11:25):
See that's awesome. It's not even like it's a buddy of yours. It's like, oh, I've been in your neighborhood. I know Andy and Justin. It's like, Nope, nope, nope.
Justin (11:33):
Well, you might be a friend
Colin (11:33):
Of
Reed (11:33):
That's even better than meeting online. You met via podcast. Totally.
Colin (11:38):
Thanks for listening to George. George, if you hear this, send your address to either Justin or whoever you emailed before or my rock flight@gmail.com. We'll send you some stickers. So alright, first note, first thoughts on the beer. Everybody happy with their beer? We're good. We got a couple sips in.
Reed (11:51):
It tastes like post surf for me.
Justin (11:53):
That's great. It just tastes like hot weather to me. I always have this when it's hot and
Colin (11:58):
It's hot. So actually let's start with you Justin. So you've used the Hideaway platform. What was your experience using, you actually used it when you and I went camping in May and so what was your experience with the product?
Justin (12:08):
Well, first of all, the reason I even got into it is I'm a big Camp cot, sleeper honor, we've probably talked about this on the pod before, but I don't know when I got into it, but a few years back it just kind of dawned on me that like, oh, a cot is better than an air mattress every single
Colin (12:27):
Time. I think objectively,
Justin (12:29):
Obviously if you're not backpacking, you can carry whatever you want. A cot makes all the sense in the world. And so whether it's me by myself in a ground tent or me in the back of the truck because the weather's super nice or me just on the ground. I always use a cot now and I was happy with the cot I had. I'd used an REI Kingdom, kingdom Cot for a really long time, a little bulky, a little bit weird to deal with, but really comfortable. And then I just left it in the rain on accident for days at a time. I just didn't realize it was outside and it was raining and so it got all moldy and rusty and ruined. And so right about then I heard about the Hideaway platform and so I thought that I would like the idea better. It's a bit more of a, the REI one was Fabricy, so this one was a bit more robust, a bit more all weather. I could probably kind of ignore it a little bit more. And I just liked the idea of it a lot and I liked the idea that mean re's crying now he's a little sad about the way you're treating his product.
(13:29):
I like the idea that I haven't tried this, but I don't think it would be big enough. I don't think the RAV4 seats fold flat enough, but theoretically maybe it would. If my wife and I get a Highlander someday, I could probably use it in that. I just like the idea that it's super versatile for that reason. And I like that it's like burley made of metal, that kind of stuff. So I got one and yeah, I guess I think that was the first time I used it was on our camping trip, but I used it in the tent on that trip, which is just as easy as using it anywhere else. I mean it's just so much nicer to sleep above the ground. And so ever since it's been my go-to, but I've used it in the back of the truck a few times. I've used it on the ground a couple times. I've used it just out in the open. Not that it's any different than being in a tent, but one of the things that's really nice is that even on a flat-ish spot, whether you're dispersed camping or in a developed campground, it's usually not really that flat. And it's really nice with this thing that you can level out your sleeping space. So even if you're just cowboy camping, which is often what I'll do with it, my sleeping space is perfectly level, which is really, really nice.
Colin (14:36):
Well, even that campground we were in, which was a developed campground, we got this tiny ass, it was a beautiful campground. I think we got the smallest site in the entire campground and we were definitely on a bit of a hill and I'm just in a tent on a typical sleeping pad and definitely sliding downhill all night. And you were able to mitigate that, correct me if I'm wrong, you still needed some sort of pad on top of it, right? It is not
Justin (15:00):
A pad. Yeah, it is just a platform, which is in the name of course. But yeah, so the other thing is I've had a sleeping platform built into a truck before, but in the way that Reid described wanting this thing to be, I used to have a Tacoma and I had a very slap dash wooden platform or just throw a couple of two by sixes in the slots in the bed and put a three quarter inch sheet of plywood over the top of that and I could take it in and out. I could sleep on it when I needed it. And then obviously if I wanted to put something bigger back there, I just pull it out real fast because again, I don't love the idea of a permanent installation in the back of any vehicle. I mean, we've talked about my soft topper before. I love having the open bed most of the time. And so that was also what drew me to this is that ever since, now that I have a truck again, I'm like, oh, I wouldn't mind having a platform again. I just didn't want something permanent. This is fantastic. I mean, I guess Reed and I've talked there, maybe there is another kind out like REI made one or something.
Reed (15:59):
Yeah, there's a couple other options out there, but there's pluses and minuses to them all but not
Colin (16:08):
Yours.
Reed (16:09):
Well obviously, yeah, we've been drinking our own Kool-Aid over here. But no, it's a little bit different than an actual cot. REI makes one called the Trail Gate and that's just fabric suspended.
Colin (16:22):
Yeah, this is not that.
Reed (16:23):
This is rigid aluminum slats, kind of like a rafting table if you've ever been on a rafting trip before so you can hit it and it's like clunk. It's a solid surface under there.
Justin (16:36):
Yeah, it's definitely not a cot. So even though I've been talking about cots, don't imagine a cot, you're not like Taco Wing in the middle of this thing or it's not like a hammock type deal.
Colin (16:47):
Well I think the thing that to your point about, even though you built kind of a builtin for your truck before Justin, which you could actually remove, it wasn't permanent. I still was I'm sure relatively bulky when you pulled it out.
Justin (16:58):
Oh yeah. I
Colin (16:58):
Mean it was
Justin (16:59):
Not like you got all this wood to deal with and it's like climbing in the back of a pickup with a shell and it sucks. There's not a lot of space. So I mean theoretically, well this is so much you just literally either keep it the way that it is, you just take it out of the back. What does it weigh? 30 pounds? It doesn't even weigh 30 pounds. How much does it weigh?
Reed (17:19):
Yeah, it ranges like the singles 23 pounds and the Excel is like 28, so call it 25 hits,
Justin (17:26):
Hits the edge. Is that with the topper or just the legs?
Reed (17:29):
With the topper and everything top.
Justin (17:30):
So without the frame. So the topper weighs like nothing. The frame, the frame is super lightweight.
Reed (17:34):
Yes.
Justin (17:35):
So
Reed (17:35):
Exactly.
Justin (17:36):
I just keep that in the same to the length of my pickup and it's just always in that length. And then I just kind of put it in my rafters in my garage, so it's out of the way, but I mean it weighs nothing. You can easily just put it up in the rafters and then I have the topper just rolled up and put it with my camping stuff. But yeah, it's fantastic. You just whip it out, throw it in. You don't have to crawl in the back of your truck. It's great. But again, I do want to try it though in a Subaru or something like that. I think that would, mine is too big I guess, but the single or something like that would be awesome to try out in the back of a Subaru. I'd love to give that a go.
Reed (18:09):
Usually in the Subaru's, like a Forester and outback, you can fit the single or the double in there and yeah, my wife and I slept in her forester. That's the silver forester you see all over our website and it works.
Colin (18:23):
Yeah, so there's a single and double how many different models or variations of the platform are there?
Reed (18:29):
Three. A single double and Excel.
Colin (18:33):
Okay.
Reed (18:33):
Yeah, so the single and the Excel is what I
Justin (18:35):
Have.
Colin (18:36):
Okay. You had the Excel, so the single starts at $599. I got to think, I mean I'm sure if you went really bare bones building the one you built, Justin, you'd probably save a little bit of money, but it doesn't sound that much cheaper for the convenience you would get with a Hideaway platform. If you were going to build a wooden thing in the back of your pickup truck that you couldn't adjust, is that, I mean it would probably be somewhat cheaper, but I think it's probably 99 seems like a very good price for something. All the features and benefits we're talking about,
Reed (19:04):
We definitely get feedback from that. Yeah. Justin, did you, sorry to
Justin (19:08):
Interrupt today. I was going to say I feel like that's kind of, when I first looked at it, I was kind of like, oh, I bet this is like 500 bucks. That feels about right to me. I mean the CO that I used, I think it was, was like 300. I think a lot. I mean stuff costs a lot and this is obviously nice metal, it's not some chintzy thing. When you have it, you're like, oh, okay, I get it. But yeah, I'm trying to think of what I paid. Lumber's not super expensive anymore,
(19:34):
But when I put mine in, that's like a hundred bucks worth worth of wood at least. And then I had to figure out, well, I mean had a buddy help me, but there was cutting involved, there was measuring, we had to trim it. The Tacoma has kind of strange angles in the back in certain spots. We had to trim it to fit and all this sort of stuff and I cut it in half so I could have one half open if I wanted to put stuff next to me. And then if I wanted to, my wife wanted to sleep with me, then we could put both halves in. It just was like a lot of work. And so at least a hundred bucks in the lumber, if not more, plus all the solid day it took to actually build it and get it measured and get it in there. It's like, I don't know, that's worth five, 600 bucks to me.
Colin (20:10):
Well, and then I think the two biggest selling points here is the adjustability, like you guys said, because how many times, even like I mentioned that campsite you and I were at, right? If we wanted to sleep in the back of either of our trucks, we still wouldn't have been level unless we had brought something to lift to drive up on our tires to truck. You
Justin (20:26):
Don't have to do that, which is cool.
Colin (20:28):
So you can make it level regardless of where you are. And then the storage factor, both storage factors, one, the fact that it can go up, roll up and go into a StuffSack, which actually I want to ask you about that, but then also to your point Reid about that maybe you had a more modular one in the back of your truck, Justin, but it's still probably limited the amount of stuff you could put in the back of your truck having a big wooden, wooden thing.
Justin (20:47):
It also was limited to that specific generation of Tacoma. When I got rid of that truck, I couldn't use that in mine now.
Colin (20:53):
Yeah, that's moving it
Justin (20:54):
Over. Don't even know if, I'm sure the generations have different shapes in the bed, so it's probably doesn't even work year to year, but this does, which is awesome. So that's another thing for it. You could have it forever and just whatever vehicle you have, it'll fit for the most part.
Colin (21:11):
We're going to get into some more of the customer response in a minute, but Ree, when you were designing this, when you came up with the idea, what was the number one thing? If you look at the comfort, the ability, the versatility of the sleeping platform, the ability to level it out, and then obviously the storage, was it all, did it all come together or was there one thing that you're like, oh my God, I want to be able to put this thing away in my gear closet and not have to worry about it?
Reed (21:35):
Man, that's a good question. I think you can say all of the above. I thought
Colin (21:42):
I'm a genius
Reed (21:43):
Terry Gross over here. No, I think it was the not, I didn't want to permanently modify my vehicle and I didn't want to permanently mount this. And so if you're doing that, you can't rely on bolted in brackets or strapped down whatever. And that means it's going to be lightweight and so it's going to have to be flexible enough and adjustable enough to fit my vehicle and others. So I think maybe the biggest, not breakthrough I want to say, but this is very simple stuff, but is when we thought about doing the telescoping, so does telescope. And so when you are able to do that, you can suddenly fit many, many different vehicles because that telescope section will sit on top of the seat back in a Subaru Forester Toyota four runner and in a pickup like yours, Justin, I think you had a short bed on the frontier. And so you're like, well, I can't sleep back there. Well just put the lift gate down and then you telescope it out and now it's six feet long and it works great. So I think that was kind of one of the critical features or design points that really cracked this open for us.
Colin (23:10):
I think it's important right now that we kind of check in on the new segment of this podcast. Let's call it the second sip, which is open for sponsorship. Anyone to sponsor the second sip, send your request and suggest a sponsorship rate to my rock fight@gmail.com. Let's have a second sip everybody. I've already had several second sips. This is like my eighth sip, so Colin's hammered. Yeah, I should not have had the juicy drama.
Justin (23:33):
It's just nice on a hot day, even though it's a Tuesday in the afternoon, it's nice to just have a couple sips of this freezing cold beer.
Colin (23:39):
So what's the response been, Rita? Well actually first let me ask you this. How long has it been in market and then follow up, what's the customer response been like?
Reed (23:46):
Yeah, we shipped our first product January 30th and this year? Yeah, this year. And it's been quite the year because my wife and I had twins on the 23rd of January, so just a week before. So it's been a little busy, but the customer feedback has been super positive. We've got a lot of, I mean I guess all our reviews are five stars. We are just starting out, so there's not thousands and thousands of reviews there yet. But I think what has been really resonating people is just use what you have. You don't need to go buy a third vehicle for your adventures. You don't need to go buy a van, you don't need a rv, crazy truck slide in camper thing and just use what you have. And for the majority of people you're camping. I mean, I'm going to be thrilled if I go camping four times this year and probably that's like most of us is like you're super busy, you got your work, your kids and stuff and is it worth it for $200,000 van? Maybe for some people, but for me, no. So that's been great to hear from people.
Justin (25:05):
That's awesome. Yeah, I don't even think we really touched on that other than just pointing out that there goes lots of different vehicles. But yeah, I mean I'm a big proponent of the best adventure vehicles, the one in your driveway. I mean it's fun to geek out about bills and stuff like that, but I mean really, I dunno, I kind of miss the days when you'd go camping and you'd see plenty of people in a Prius out where it shouldn't be or a Toyota T like, God, how'd you get out here? Or even that you understood how they did. Maybe it wasn't even that bad of a road, but you're just like, wow, it took a lot of moxie to just drive that thing 12 miles on this dirt road when you weren't sure what you're going to expect. I miss that. It kind of sucks when you pull up to a camp spot and there's just nothing but overbuilt tacos with the showers and starlink and stuff like that. So yeah, agreed.
Colin (25:51):
So what's the category? We talked a little bit about, you mentioned some things from REI, this is where we kind of get into the whole stuff. Ter idea of where does this kind of fit in on this sort of the stuff ecosystem of the outdoor space, right? So when you were, I mean it's recent, you just launched this year Reed. So as you're sort of creating this and you're looking at the landscape, I mean, were you pretty particular to be like, ah, there's nothing quite like this, or was it like, well it's like this, but it's kind of different in only subtle ways. When you take a look at who your competitors are, how do you sort of evaluate the space?
Reed (26:22):
Well there's certainly, like we talked about the DIY, I mean that's probably the simplest and easiest way to get going here. But after that REI trail gate thing, I think that's only been out a year or two maybe. So I had started working on this before that. So obviously now there's another option like that. But between the DIY and Goose gear, some really super high quality, permanently installed, modifying your vehicle for a couple thousand dollars, there's kind of a gap between that a hundred dollars DIY thing and a couple grand. And so there's another great solution, luow Air Mattress or something like that
Chris DeMakes (27:12):
That
Reed (27:12):
Fits new vehicle.
Chris DeMakes (27:13):
I've had those,
Reed (27:13):
Which is awesome. But my issue is that was I don't know where to keep all my stuff.
Justin (27:19):
And
Reed (27:19):
So if you travel light or if you're backpacking and you've just got everything in your bags and you're camping at the Trailhead, it's probably great. But for my purposes it didn't work very well. I think now there's a couple other sleeping platform brands that have popped up, but kind of in essence is a new category because when you walk into your local REI or mom and pop sporting goods store, there is no sleeping platform section. You don't go look at all of 'em and then choose the one you want. So yeah, it is kind of interesting we're a new brand and kind of establishing a new category too.
Justin (28:03):
Well, it also feels like for so long it was extremely uncool to car camp. If you were a cool back country person, I mean you could go offroading and camp out somewhere or dispersed camping, but again, pretty far from the beaten path, that was fine. But car camping always had a weirdly dorky connotation to it. I developed campgrounds, families, generators, that sort of stuff. But I think Overlighting kind of opened the door for people being like, yeah, it's actually okay to be comfortable while I'm camping. It's fine. And I don't have to go backpacking to have a pretty true outdoor experience as long as you're finding remote camp size and stuff like that. So I don't think there was room for this until fairly recently until people started. I feel even if it's not meant for hardcore over, I mean obviously works great for hardcore, but even if it's meant for a more broad application, it probably took the rise of overlanding for this segment to even exist
Reed (29:02):
I would think. A hundred percent yes. And the rise in van life and our visas are cool now too. So sleeping in your vehicle's cool. And now you're kind of anchored to, oh well a van for like a hundred, 200
Justin (29:16):
K
Reed (29:17):
Or a sleeping Hideaway sleeping platform for 6, 7, 800 bucks. It's like the gateway drug to Van Life.
Justin (29:26):
That's like a third of the prize of a rooftop tent.
Reed (29:30):
And one of the other things between a tent, either ground or roof tent, you still have that flapping wind noise, it can get wet or damp, it can get a little chilly or hot or something. And kind of what people have been coming back after, they use it a couple times, they're like, man, my car is weatherproof, my car is quiet, my car is lockable. And so be it. If you're freaked out about someone in the campground or a bear next door or something like that, people have enjoyed sleeping in their vehicles.
Colin (30:10):
Alright, well first of all, last couple, few questions, Reid. Number one, where is this thing manufactured? What are some things that maybe you're unique about the product itself? And then lastly, where can people actually get it?
Reed (30:21):
So the Hideaway is actually made in USA. We have a couple key vendors in the US and I've been in the out outdoor gear industry for a little while now and I really, really wanted to make this product in the us We're trying to be more sustainable. We don't want to be shipping stuff across the ocean, and we also wanted to support our community and employ people in our community and small vendors across the country. So we're really, really proud of that fact. One of the other unique parts about the platform compared to some others is that it's modular. And Justin, I know you touched on that earlier, but what that means for us is that you can easily, if you change a vehicle, you can easily swap out the leg kit or swap out the topper and upgrade or modify your current hideaway to fit your next vehicle. So you're not chucking it, selling it on Craigslist and then buying a new one. You're just modifying what you currently have.
Colin (31:28):
Yeah. Where can people get it?
Reed (31:29):
Yeah, you can find it online@pacificadventureworks.com. We're early. So this is D two C only, but hopefully soon here you can find a set. Some retailers too.
Colin (31:43):
Well Pacific Adventure, it's not hideaway.com. So what's next from Pacific? What do you got cooking? You got to tease us. What's the next product?
Reed (31:51):
I know Well, anything above the
Colin (31:54):
Twins have one product launch. You got to be onto something else, right? Yeah, give a guy a second.
Reed (32:01):
I think it's like the overland bassinet maybe is next
Justin (32:06):
Swing. It hangs on the outside of your car so you can just drive
Reed (32:09):
And have some pieces. Exactly, exactly.
Justin (32:10):
It's like an old burley cart. You drag behind your vehicle
Reed (32:13):
Mounts in your hitch. No, we're doing a lot of, I dunno, kind of small accessory stuff around the product. So like storage bag and maybe investigating some taller legs for vans and stuff like that. So we're definitely, the wheels are turning.
Colin (32:33):
Well, I'd like to invite everybody to join in a final sip, another Sponsorable segment, final sips, I guess. Sip. Final sip. Nice job everybody. Cheers. Cheers. Little drink. Justin, any final impressions about the Hideaway platform from Pacific AdventureWorks?
Justin (32:48):
I would just say that it's probably one of the most like, oh no shit, like products I've seen in a really long time where you just kind of wonder why this wasn't already a thing. I love DIY too. I mean, I love building my own stuff, but this is just a lot easier and unless you're already a woodworker, it's going to come out better than what you're going to do.
Colin (33:09):
But a lot of times those projects, the thing you could buy is objectively worse than just doing it yourself, but you compromise like, ah, I'll just do it anyway. This seems like you can make the case of like, no, this is really a better solution in a lot of ways, unless you just really want to build something yourself. Exactly. Yeah.
Reed (33:24):
You can build your kitchen table at home, but do you build your kitchen table? Yeah, that's a good point. No, yeah, you buy it from the store.
Colin (33:30):
See this couch I made this weekend, it's sick. Exactly. No, and I think the stuff thing's important, I think it's interesting. I think that's an interesting part of this conversation. A lot of stuff that Justin and I talk about in the show, we might really like it, but we're not short on a lot of things in a particular category, right? So this is pretty cool. Pretty cool, man. Nice job. Congrats on launching the brand.
Reed (33:51):
Yeah, yeah. Thank you.
Colin (33:54):
All right, well Gear and Beer is a production of Rock Fight LLC for Justin Hausman. I'm Colin. True and big thanks to our guest today, Reed Frick, and here to take us out is the voice of the Rock Fight podcast network Kristen makes, and he's going to perform for you. Now live the Gear and beer theme song and we'll see you next time.
Chris DeMakes (34:18):
We have experienced lots of tails to tell, just like you're your pals out on We Adventure gear there with the perfect beer. Now let the games begin. So glad that you're here at the break, the Trailhead, we're going to crack the beverage where we can celebrate those losses we hold. So line, get.
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