Innovating and Adding Value to Everyday Kayak Gear, and fun names too - with Steve Whetman

WEBVTT

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Welcome to Paddling the Blue. With each episode, we talk with guests from the

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Great Lakes and around the globe who are doing cool things related to sea kayaking.

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I'm your host, my name is John Chase, and let's get started paddling the blue.

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Welcome to today's episode of Paddling the Blue.

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Steve Wettman is known for putting a different spin on everyday paddling kit.

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And Steve joins today's episode to talk through his creative and engineering

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processes when he decides to work on a new piece. It's a fun conversation that

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gives a good look into the process with a few laughs about the lighter side of the business.

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Before we get to today's conversation with Steve, James and Simon at OnlineSeaKyaking.com

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Enjoy today's episode with Steve Wettman.

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Hi Steve, welcome to Paddling the Blue.

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Hello John, thank you for the invitation. Yeah, this is going to be a fun episode.

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We're going to talk a little different than what we normally talk about.

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We often talk about trips and paddling specifically,

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but today we're going to talk a little bit about something else,

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not necessarily the trips,

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but things that we use on trips so tell us

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a little bit about you first well i am

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an obsessive paddler and i've been kayaking pretty much all my life and so today

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i'm now in to me a privileged position of earning a modest living making kayaking

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equipment and and having the excitement of,

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sending it out into the market and and seeing people's responses

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to the kit yeah yeah

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that's that's basically what i do very cool so obsessive paddler

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so tell us what kind of paddling you normally do oh i don't really mind to do

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anything as long as i get it on the water and i've got variety of different

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craft from river kayaks to sea kayaks to an open boat to pack raft an inflatable

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double to take my wife down.

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So yeah, it's all sorts.

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It's always great. Any time is fun in a boat.

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Yeah. And you can just create all sorts of different adventures,

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depending on the weather and who you're with and what kind of water is accessible that day.

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So I really don't mind. Okay.

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I mean, given the choice, I would...

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Get out on a lively day in a lively sea state with some friends or indeed fire down some local rivers.

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And that's just a great tonic, a great way to spend the day for sure.

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Good. So it sounds like you prefer lively water rather than flat water.

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Well, I'm getting to that age where I do appreciate a nice cruise.

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And so, yeah, we do have some lovely flat

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natural places around here to uh to glide

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silently and encounter wildlife so

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yeah and i i do like a bit of that as well good and in multiple craft makes

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for uh i would guess good product development because you've you've got to be

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able to make these products for all different sorts i try to yeah it does obviously

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help to understand you know sort of the different,

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types and situations that people get themselves

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into sure so you are known for developing

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kind of a different spin on everyday paddling products

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so tell us how did you get your start in product development gosh

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well that would be about 10 years ago where i

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basically resigned from a well-paid job and decided to start my own paddling

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company making kit and the product development is is a strange one it's not

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something which you can sort of structure it's it's a bit,

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random it can be triggered by observations or chatting with friends or chatting with,

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newcomers or or just something that just niggles you or you just wake up one morning you think.

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Kit is just could be better i think

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i'm just gonna scratch my head and have a

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brew and think about it and and stare

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at that piece of kit and remember the kinds of scenarios that

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i've been in myself or observed or

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just thought well that escalated and went out of control and ended up in the

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right pickle because of that little piece of detail and it just snowballed from

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there so those are the kinds of thought process that start me down that long

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and exciting road of creating something.

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How long does it generally take from that initial sit down with a brew and stare

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at the product to actually bringing it to market?

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Well, it's actually sometimes takes a couple of years.

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Other times it can take six months. i'm in the sort

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of privileged position that i have

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a very small company so i don't need to go and

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present it to a committee or a group or a team so

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i can shortcut quite a lot of that and get

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stuff made or created or developed fairly

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quickly so yeah if it's

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a tricky one then i mean looking back and

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looking at my stuff I know that yeah for example that

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one took two years that one took six months and

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that's down to either it's complicated or it's a critical piece so you know

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that it has to be right otherwise you could end up presenting something which

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could put somebody in a compromised position and you know some things do need

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testing they need sort of

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testing or you just think about all the sort of scenarios that have to be ticked

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off before you you're happy to present it to a market it's a tough one because

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as soon as you start running through a new idea and you think wow actually that's

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going to be head and shoulders above.

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What's already out there then your excitement

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your eagerness to show it and actually offer

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it to people so they can benefit from it has to

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be suppressed otherwise you sort of end up short cutting your legit logical

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process because you're so eager to to offer get it out there and get people

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to to see it so i'm used to that now a lot of the time now i,

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It's a great buzz to do it. It's what I love, actually, about the whole thing.

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But I do have to stop and think, right, no, we have to slow down a little bit,

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suppress my excitement, sleep on it, and then sleep on it again.

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And kind of like, okay, so let's play devil's advocate. What isn't right about this?

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And then you go and show it to a friend or a coach you

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know or an ambassador or a shop and

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say hey i'm just working on this what do

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you what do you like about it and tell me what you

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don't like about it and then you revisit those

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kind of loops and then you revisit again and sometimes

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you end up going down a dead end you think right okay this

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just isn't going to work and other times those people

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help you sort of move and pinball around through the

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whole thing and you end up not where you expected to

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be at the end but you end up with something good yeah

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so that logical process what's what's

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that logical process look like for you i can

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i'm i can visualize it in my head so i'm

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i'm lucky that i can picture a

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whole structure in in my head in the pathways so

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to me it looks like a spider diagram there's arrows and there's bubbles and

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there's intersections and there's bridges and there's no-go areas on a big whiteboard

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but it's inside my head okay I don't know if that makes sense but it's kind of all over the place.

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But you have to be open-minded. You have to allow people to ring you up and

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say, Steve, that was rubbish. It broke.

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And take it on board and not sort of push back and say, hey,

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you don't know what you're talking about. Take it on board.

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And I thought, right, okay, why was that response like that?

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What have I not recognized?

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What have I not considered in the development of this thing?

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The day when you launch it and you think, right, that's it, done now,

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it's quite nervous. It's because you think, oh my God, have I missed something really obvious?

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How many products have you brought to market? Gosh, I think I've got about 50 or so.

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And that's sort of naturally grown over the last 10 years of trading.

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I started with one product, which was the contact line, the Sea Kayak contact line.

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And that was purely because I went in and I spoke to one of my local shops.

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And I said hey this is my plan what do you any ideas what do you think's missing from,

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and then Liam who works in the shop said Steve make a contact line everyone

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makes their own and they're homemade and they're all a bit sort of strange and

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wonderful but sure you could make one.

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So that was that was the first thing that I presented.

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So you went in and weren't sure what you were going to design and said what

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what else does the market need or did you have an idea in mind already?

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I didn't have a I was kind of open minded I didn't want to just make a whole

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sort of generic range of kit which was.

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A branded version of things which already existed that's just it's just a bit

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boring and and and you know there's no reason why why would they want to buy

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my stuff it's just a different color different brand hey maybe they like me

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so they might buy it but i needed to have a proper.

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Sort of reason to raise people's

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eyebrows for them to catch an interest so for

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sure i would be looking to if possible

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if there was a if there was a benefit in

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and re-looking at a a problem

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or a particular device then for sure my

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brain was going to be all over that and and just

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expanding and it's it's it's basically why i

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i started the business because my wife

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said look you hate your job you're

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doing now you're not happy why don't you just go

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and make your own paddling company

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i said because she said you're always

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in the shed making weird stuff to to tweak

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your your kayak or or motorbike or

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whatever so i said well all right well i could do but we're not going to have

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a regular income for a while so yeah so i guess with product development it's

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it's yeah that I would only start looking at something if I thought I could

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add value to what was already on offer.

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And the contact line was a classic. That was obvious because nobody had one on the market anyway.

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So that was a good place to start. So I started looking at, all right,

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well, what does it require? What do people want from that particular device?

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And yeah. So for that contact line, what made yours wild and wonderful?

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What was different? Well, it was...

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Had a few abilities you could adjust its

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length which is quite useful

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so once you've connected then you might decide oh it's

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the the floating boat next to me is too close or

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too far away or the bow is going to

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sort of stab me under my ribs so i want to lengthen the

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contact line a little bit and it has

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a quick release element so with

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british canoeing that's one of the sort of unwritten

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rules is whenever you connect to something you really

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need to be able to quick release certainly in

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case you in case you have a malfunction or get compromised so

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that is into the device as well and it's

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pretty simple really i mean it's got two connectors so you

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can use it either to the starboard side

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or to the port

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side so it just deploys either side and it's

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developed quite a lot over the years i.

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Started with a quick release which

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is a acetyl high density plastic

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cam buckle in the middle and i used climbing

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carabiner snap gates which i got from from dmm

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in wales and the other brands were

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using the same kind of connectors and that was the most appropriate i think

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at the time but they weren't 100 reliable given that they were climbing they

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They were made of aircraft aluminium and you put those in salt water and sometimes

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they're going to malfunction.

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So over a period of a year or so, I was getting a few reports back from people

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who were saying, hey, my connector, it doesn't work anymore.

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And so, of course, I take that quite personally. Oh, it's my product.

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I love it. But they don't like it anymore because it's not working.

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So I looked at the connector and I thought, right, well, yeah,

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surely there must be a better connector about.

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That carabiner is the right size for the job. it's

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it's got a clean nose there's no hook on

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it but it's failing it's either getting

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it's seizing up or it's actually corroding in

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obviously in the salt water so that started

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me down the road of right have to find a

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much better connector around and so other

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brands were using connectors which were really

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small they were sort of they bought from the yachting market

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or they were using a strange plastic

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high density plastic connector which was really chunky and bulky and the the

00:14:48.435 --> 00:14:53.935
actual opening part was really quite difficult to use certainly would be hard

00:14:53.935 --> 00:15:01.295
with cold hands and certainly not sure if it would would have been strong enough in a tension situation,

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so that alone then started me thinking right well i'm going to have to try and

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find my my own connector so does that mean i'm going to have to design my own

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carabiner surely that's not.

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Necessary there's loads and loads and loads of carabiners out there in the market

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so i thought right well before i do that i'm going to hunt around the market

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to see surely there must be one already made so i went to quite a few big trade

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shows sort of supplier shows,

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searched around everywhere to to see whether it existed and then once i was.

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Sure it didn't exist then that basically was

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the was the green light for me to write come on then let's get

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on and and make my own connector that's the

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kraken yes so i started telling my friends hey

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i'm gonna i'm gonna design my own carabiner and

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they said what why would you do that i said

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well i think it's worth it yeah so that was that's how the

00:15:59.465 --> 00:16:02.605
kraken was born so it was primarily to improve

00:16:02.605 --> 00:16:05.685
the contact line that was why i why i started

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down that road how often does one

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product create another product quite often

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the other element which i again designed

00:16:16.065 --> 00:16:18.985
from scratch believe it or not is the quick release which you

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see today in the contact line it's a stainless cam buckle so i spent about a

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year developing that because you had to have the ability to it for it to quick

00:16:31.865 --> 00:16:36.385
release whilst it's under tension so it's you've got a tensile force applied to it.

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Which actually if you've got the wrong kind of

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cam buckle you can't open it

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because the tension in the webbing holds it

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down so it's a critical point

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where it has to be strong enough to hold that load but

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equally as it has to have the

00:16:54.725 --> 00:16:57.625
right ergonomics the the angles of

00:16:57.625 --> 00:17:00.725
the teeth and the can such that it's able

00:17:00.725 --> 00:17:03.905
you are able to release it so there's

00:17:03.905 --> 00:17:06.985
a little bit of sort of drilling into the detail of that particular item but

00:17:06.985 --> 00:17:11.765
off the back of that i then used that to create a couple more products so i

00:17:11.765 --> 00:17:17.245
thought right back to the the mantra of people want a quick release in their

00:17:17.245 --> 00:17:21.385
system let's just offer them a modular quick release.

00:17:22.528 --> 00:17:25.368
So that's now a product which sells pretty well.

00:17:25.588 --> 00:17:29.828
People can just buy what I call a deck quick release.

00:17:29.988 --> 00:17:35.408
It's a piece of webbing integrated with that stainless steel cam buckle.

00:17:35.628 --> 00:17:40.928
So they then can link it into whatever system they have on their boat,

00:17:41.068 --> 00:17:43.088
canoe, kayak, or whatever it is.

00:17:43.788 --> 00:17:47.668
It's safe in the knowledge they now have a quick release into their system.

00:17:48.468 --> 00:17:52.208
Interesting. So you mentioned that redesign process too.

00:17:53.028 --> 00:17:56.188
Of you've put a product out to market you recognize that

00:17:56.188 --> 00:17:59.108
the the connector for example the carabiner just didn't work

00:17:59.108 --> 00:18:02.248
so you have to go back to the to the drawing board how often

00:18:02.248 --> 00:18:05.788
would you say that those kinds of things come up where over time

00:18:05.788 --> 00:18:09.088
you know the new things come out of the market now you can redesign that product

00:18:09.088 --> 00:18:16.548
to make it even better i think that's probably my my method of working a lot

00:18:16.548 --> 00:18:22.488
of my products have gone through that process otherwise i kind of think well well,

00:18:23.028 --> 00:18:27.208
I'm not really interested in offering the same product again.

00:18:27.728 --> 00:18:32.528
So a lot of that has actually gone into the products. I'm just browsing through

00:18:32.528 --> 00:18:35.248
my own catalogs here, sort of reminding me what I do.

00:18:37.048 --> 00:18:40.308
Yeah, I see there's an element of that, some of it more than others,

00:18:40.608 --> 00:18:42.268
which goes through all of them.

00:18:43.765 --> 00:18:50.465
I mean, the Kraken was a long, it probably took about two years, I think, to evolve that.

00:18:50.945 --> 00:18:58.385
Because you had to sort of think about, right, so it's only going to be designed for sea kayak use.

00:18:58.765 --> 00:19:03.785
Well, what's happening in a sea kayak? What are the forces involved when you're

00:19:03.785 --> 00:19:05.505
using it in the sea kayaking?

00:19:05.765 --> 00:19:08.965
And what's it connecting to? It's connecting to a thin rope,

00:19:08.965 --> 00:19:11.545
and that rope is a deck line.

00:19:11.545 --> 00:19:18.565
So unusually it's it's actually backed by a solid surface and you're clipping into that.

00:19:19.245 --> 00:19:22.165
Which is unusual for a carabiner carabiner can

00:19:22.165 --> 00:19:25.025
do lots of things obviously but it's mostly clipping onto sort of

00:19:25.025 --> 00:19:28.985
loose webbing or rope and it's

00:19:28.985 --> 00:19:31.965
obviously in this in the sea environment you want

00:19:31.965 --> 00:19:35.305
to be able to clip it on easily and off relatively easier

00:19:35.305 --> 00:19:38.265
as well so it doesn't

00:19:38.265 --> 00:19:41.325
have to be a climbing carabiner as in load rated to

00:19:41.325 --> 00:19:44.845
a high tension tensile force

00:19:44.845 --> 00:19:47.705
which the climbing ones are so i did quite

00:19:47.705 --> 00:19:50.705
a lot of testing with load cells

00:19:50.705 --> 00:19:53.545
and testing in the water to find out what

00:19:53.545 --> 00:19:57.245
sort of forces are being applied when you

00:19:57.245 --> 00:20:00.945
are towing so that was quite an eye-opener and that

00:20:00.945 --> 00:20:04.945
basically sort of governed the sort

00:20:04.945 --> 00:20:08.405
of loading that i thought was appropriate for some

00:20:08.405 --> 00:20:12.225
maximum loading for the kraken itself and

00:20:12.225 --> 00:20:15.025
it was just a man in the shed job i started by

00:20:15.025 --> 00:20:17.985
making them out of a polymer clay or sort

00:20:17.985 --> 00:20:21.445
of femo type stuff that kids use to

00:20:21.445 --> 00:20:24.085
get the shape and then i started pretending to clip it

00:20:24.085 --> 00:20:26.865
onto to deck lines and looking how.

00:20:26.865 --> 00:20:30.125
The shape works and complements the

00:20:30.125 --> 00:20:33.085
shape of the side profile of a sea kayak

00:20:33.085 --> 00:20:35.925
how does it feel in the hand if my

00:20:35.925 --> 00:20:39.445
hand was cold and wet could i use it and then

00:20:39.445 --> 00:20:42.605
i i luckily my wife is a silversmith

00:20:42.605 --> 00:20:45.405
and she's she in the shed shed's divided

00:20:45.405 --> 00:20:49.525
in two so i've got one half she's got the other half she's got casting equipment

00:20:49.525 --> 00:20:56.885
sand casting and and kits so she helped me then make a mold in pewter so i could

00:20:56.885 --> 00:21:02.365
then get a feel for the weight I could put a spring gate onto it and play around

00:21:02.365 --> 00:21:05.325
and see whether it worked connection-wise.

00:21:06.721 --> 00:21:10.881
And then from there, she made one for me in a steel.

00:21:11.801 --> 00:21:16.661
Which was the first time I could then sort of put my theory that this was going

00:21:16.661 --> 00:21:22.421
to be strong enough to the test by loading the steel to see whether it was actually

00:21:22.421 --> 00:21:26.001
going to be able to resist the appropriate loads.

00:21:26.221 --> 00:21:29.141
And then it was a case of, right, well, who's going to make this for me?

00:21:29.901 --> 00:21:36.161
Anybody in the UK? So I approached DMM, who I've already done a lot of business with,

00:21:36.161 --> 00:21:39.581
i went up to see them and they

00:21:39.581 --> 00:21:42.561
they were quite interested but i mean their quantities

00:21:42.561 --> 00:21:46.761
they wanted me to sign up for 10 000 to make

00:21:46.761 --> 00:21:49.501
it worth their while i said right okay well that's

00:21:49.501 --> 00:21:52.901
very kind of you i'm not sure i'm ready to do that so

00:21:52.901 --> 00:21:55.781
yes i had to go further afield but it was

00:21:55.781 --> 00:21:58.881
an exciting time when i finally got

00:21:58.881 --> 00:22:01.781
got one ready to offer

00:22:01.781 --> 00:22:04.401
that was that was a good day so i

00:22:04.401 --> 00:22:07.141
was going to ask earlier but you kind of answered the question i was thinking

00:22:07.141 --> 00:22:10.381
sorry you're still doing this in the shed at your home or and and

00:22:10.381 --> 00:22:13.241
to some degree yes you're still doing it in the shed at home

00:22:13.241 --> 00:22:15.981
well the shed is still there and i

00:22:15.981 --> 00:22:19.661
do use the shed for sure but i

00:22:19.661 --> 00:22:22.721
now have a proper business unit 10

00:22:22.721 --> 00:22:25.761
minutes from from the shed which is dry doesn't

00:22:25.761 --> 00:22:28.621
have any mice inside it and there's no leaks in

00:22:28.621 --> 00:22:31.901
the roof and it's relatively warm so

00:22:31.901 --> 00:22:36.621
it's a bit of an upgrade although it was a bit crazy because i i got the keys

00:22:36.621 --> 00:22:42.361
to this place the same month that we initially went into lockdown back in the

00:22:42.361 --> 00:22:49.961
covid days so that that was a a bit of a crazy moment so of the 50 products that you've developed,

00:22:50.381 --> 00:22:56.521
how many fails occur that never even come to market? A few, not too many.

00:22:57.861 --> 00:23:04.201
So, what have I got up in the loft? There's an inflatable kayak that I,

00:23:05.622 --> 00:23:11.922
Did it fail or I just stopped doing it because I think it became too much work?

00:23:12.182 --> 00:23:13.402
Yeah, just lose passion.

00:23:15.422 --> 00:23:18.902
I was advised by some shops that said, Steve, why are you doing this?

00:23:21.082 --> 00:23:24.722
Focus on your accessory kit range.

00:23:25.062 --> 00:23:30.702
There's specialized companies who are focusing on inflatable kayaks and look,

00:23:30.802 --> 00:23:31.602
this is what they're doing.

00:23:32.122 --> 00:23:35.102
So i think i i think i took that advice

00:23:35.102 --> 00:23:38.722
and yeah i think they're right it's not

00:23:38.722 --> 00:23:41.782
that i couldn't do it and i had upstairs i've still

00:23:41.782 --> 00:23:45.302
got one that i take out the family out with but it

00:23:45.302 --> 00:23:48.062
was a case where you have

00:23:48.062 --> 00:23:51.542
to get them made in the far east and to get

00:23:51.542 --> 00:23:54.542
the detail all the critical details and the elements

00:23:54.542 --> 00:23:57.762
correct i'd have to go out there and watch them

00:23:57.762 --> 00:24:00.522
make it and really take a lot of

00:24:00.522 --> 00:24:04.062
time out of out of my day-to-day work so i

00:24:04.062 --> 00:24:07.102
was thinking well nice idea but maybe i might revisit

00:24:07.102 --> 00:24:10.602
it one day so that was one i which soaked up

00:24:10.602 --> 00:24:13.722
quite a lot of my energy one time other there

00:24:13.722 --> 00:24:16.582
there's a few others not luckily i think it's

00:24:16.582 --> 00:24:19.622
not too many and i haven't got too many disasters where

00:24:19.622 --> 00:24:22.782
i've got boxes of something which i know will never sell

00:24:22.782 --> 00:24:25.562
but there is

00:24:25.562 --> 00:24:30.162
risk obviously for sure and yeah

00:24:30.162 --> 00:24:33.002
it's my own money i don't have any shareholders or any

00:24:33.002 --> 00:24:36.162
other partners so yeah the responsibility

00:24:36.162 --> 00:24:40.402
is with me and whether i run with something or not so

00:24:40.402 --> 00:24:46.782
yeah it's it's quite tough and in terms of that risk so with some products kind

00:24:46.782 --> 00:24:50.642
of you had alluded to this earlier failure is not an option so how do you manage

00:24:50.642 --> 00:24:55.342
testing for those products a lot of the testing on on the kind of things that

00:24:55.342 --> 00:24:59.902
i provide i call this of in-house testing so you're basically.

00:25:00.742 --> 00:25:04.102
Creating your own conformities and making

00:25:04.102 --> 00:25:06.842
sure it's fit for purpose so there aren't

00:25:06.842 --> 00:25:09.942
any en standards or bs standards applicable to

00:25:09.942 --> 00:25:13.722
pretty much all of the all of my range which

00:25:13.722 --> 00:25:17.522
is a good thing in a way because it means there's less bureaucracy but

00:25:17.522 --> 00:25:20.862
it means that i'm i have to protect myself i have to make

00:25:20.862 --> 00:25:23.862
sure that i've done things in and apply due

00:25:23.862 --> 00:25:27.242
diligence to whatever it is obviously some

00:25:27.242 --> 00:25:30.102
of these things are load bearing that sort of they have to

00:25:30.102 --> 00:25:33.682
hold certain tensile strengths so

00:25:33.682 --> 00:25:36.862
the way i do that is i start

00:25:36.862 --> 00:25:41.262
with my own load cell testing which i can do in the shed or in the business

00:25:41.262 --> 00:25:48.442
unit and then i send some of the elements off to an independent tester most

00:25:48.442 --> 00:25:54.622
this is for tensile testing which i've actually i've just sent some off this week so they'll,

00:25:55.828 --> 00:25:58.748
basically load them up to a maximum which i've

00:25:58.748 --> 00:26:01.728
i've stated or to destruction and they'll

00:26:01.728 --> 00:26:05.688
send me back the results so i will see the amount of

00:26:05.688 --> 00:26:11.648
stretch and the the load applied on those things so i'll then file that data

00:26:11.648 --> 00:26:18.368
and keep that to hand if anybody ever asked for it or god forbid if there's

00:26:18.368 --> 00:26:23.268
any any need to defend my product so that's that's generally how you do it.

00:26:24.608 --> 00:26:28.188
Apart from that you know the general things is you show it to as many experienced

00:26:28.188 --> 00:26:32.488
people and say hey what do you think can you see any any pitfalls in what i'm

00:26:32.488 --> 00:26:39.088
what i'm doing here any idea any suggestions so yeah that's it's fairly basic

00:26:39.088 --> 00:26:40.688
i suppose from that point of view,

00:26:41.968 --> 00:26:46.888
with no standards because you mentioned there really isn't a tensile strength standard.

00:26:47.528 --> 00:26:53.168
How do you know that you're at the number that you need to be at good

00:26:53.268 --> 00:26:57.268
question nobody knows the tensile

00:26:57.268 --> 00:27:02.488
standards or stentile forces going on in sea kayak towing because nobody's ever

00:27:02.488 --> 00:27:08.508
done any any testing in it i mean i've done some and i've got that data from

00:27:08.508 --> 00:27:14.228
for my kraken and my other toe things so i have a reasonable and sort of understanding of.

00:27:14.708 --> 00:27:18.148
The forces involved and what what what it

00:27:18.148 --> 00:27:21.688
should do and so yeah

00:27:21.688 --> 00:27:24.748
if i was in in the dock one day to defend my my my

00:27:24.748 --> 00:27:27.628
product then i would be be happy to do that

00:27:27.628 --> 00:27:32.048
other things for example river rescue slings there's

00:27:32.048 --> 00:27:35.548
a there's a kind of unwritten rule that

00:27:35.548 --> 00:27:39.568
they have an expectation that they should hold at

00:27:39.568 --> 00:27:42.728
least 10 kilonewtons to be

00:27:42.728 --> 00:27:46.228
fit for purpose for their job which is

00:27:46.228 --> 00:27:50.688
kind of generally accepted and that's there's

00:27:50.688 --> 00:27:54.208
there's more sort of research and development done to come

00:27:54.208 --> 00:27:57.288
up with that number so that's kind of

00:27:57.288 --> 00:27:59.988
considering scenarios where you're doing a

00:27:59.988 --> 00:28:02.788
mechanical advantage system loading up a pinned

00:28:02.788 --> 00:28:06.128
boat and using this kit so you you

00:28:06.128 --> 00:28:08.908
can actually sort of do the physics and add a

00:28:08.908 --> 00:28:13.028
load cell on and you can look to see what kind of forces are

00:28:13.028 --> 00:28:21.048
being applied to to these things so that again is it's in it's within the industry

00:28:21.048 --> 00:28:26.888
the industry as in paddle sport has created that number there isn't any bs standard

00:28:26.888 --> 00:28:29.028
or en standard on which is.

00:28:30.379 --> 00:28:34.539
Come through with that which again i think it's quite a good thing that i think

00:28:34.539 --> 00:28:35.739
we've just sorted our own house

00:28:35.739 --> 00:28:41.119
out and come up with sensible numbers for that i mean if you looked at,

00:28:42.059 --> 00:28:46.199
somebody is doing a three to one mechanical advantage and you've got one man

00:28:46.199 --> 00:28:52.319
pulling on it or a woman then that is going to be a an input force of about

00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:56.279
60 kilos so 600 newtons input But three to one system,

00:28:56.439 --> 00:29:00.399
so you've got 1800 applied to some of the rigging there.

00:29:00.979 --> 00:29:05.179
Okay, so that's 1800 newtons, 1.8 kilonewtons.

00:29:05.479 --> 00:29:11.719
If you then got three people pulling on that thing, then you could potentially multiply it by three.

00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:14.899
So that's like six kilonewtons. So that's quite high load.

00:29:15.339 --> 00:29:19.799
So that would be a typical scenario. I mean, so if you've got a thing which

00:29:19.799 --> 00:29:21.579
is rated to 10 kilonewtons,

00:29:21.579 --> 00:29:25.019
then you're kind of covered for that

00:29:25.019 --> 00:29:27.719
sort of situation so that just gives you

00:29:27.719 --> 00:29:32.259
an idea really of how things are developed in in the paddle sport i mean obviously

00:29:32.259 --> 00:29:38.759
with buoyancy aids pfds there are for sure en standards and un standards u.s

00:29:38.759 --> 00:29:42.659
coast guard standards which are cover because of the nature of what they do

00:29:42.659 --> 00:29:46.119
given it's ppe buoyancy aid life jacket type stuff,

00:29:47.479 --> 00:29:50.599
what's the most challenging product that you develop and why.

00:29:52.719 --> 00:29:57.019
Gosh probably the one i'm developing right now which hasn't yet come to market,

00:29:58.232 --> 00:30:01.352
so i'm developing a

00:30:01.352 --> 00:30:04.612
bilge pump and the reason it's challenging is first

00:30:04.612 --> 00:30:08.552
of all there's quite a lot of physics involved you've

00:30:08.552 --> 00:30:12.032
got to look at the pumps that are out there today and the

00:30:12.032 --> 00:30:14.812
ones that i've used and i looked at it and thought right well

00:30:14.812 --> 00:30:17.732
where did they come from did they get designed for

00:30:17.732 --> 00:30:20.812
kayaking or have they been pulled from a different market

00:30:20.812 --> 00:30:23.652
so i decided that yes they've been

00:30:23.652 --> 00:30:26.612
they haven't been designed for kayaking they're quite

00:30:26.612 --> 00:30:30.032
long and narrow and they they're difficult to use you

00:30:30.032 --> 00:30:34.092
get fatigue in your shoulder really easily so i

00:30:34.092 --> 00:30:37.012
thought i could design a better one but to do

00:30:37.012 --> 00:30:40.932
that i had to figure out well what size

00:30:40.932 --> 00:30:44.132
is better and how can i make it more

00:30:44.132 --> 00:30:47.292
useful shorter what sort

00:30:47.292 --> 00:30:50.232
of size is going to be and i was thinking right well i'm

00:30:50.232 --> 00:30:53.732
going to have to make one so how do i make a pump in

00:30:53.732 --> 00:30:58.392
my shed and because.

00:30:58.392 --> 00:31:01.312
If i can't make one and i can't test it and i can't actually

00:31:01.312 --> 00:31:04.312
then figure out whether it's a useful

00:31:04.312 --> 00:31:07.652
thing whether it's better or whether it's just you know just moderately

00:31:07.652 --> 00:31:10.512
interesting so that was that

00:31:10.512 --> 00:31:13.292
was not i mean it's not really a challenge it's great

00:31:13.292 --> 00:31:17.112
fun and it really gets my brain firing on

00:31:17.112 --> 00:31:19.972
all its all its cylinders to try and

00:31:19.972 --> 00:31:22.752
think about all this kind of like

00:31:22.752 --> 00:31:26.232
aspects that you you could uh you could input

00:31:26.232 --> 00:31:29.112
into it and try different things yeah so that

00:31:29.112 --> 00:31:32.052
that's quite a good one so why a

00:31:32.052 --> 00:31:36.012
pump i think it was triggered big

00:31:36.012 --> 00:31:38.892
i woke up one day i thought that was

00:31:38.892 --> 00:31:41.972
rubbish that thing i used yesterday and it

00:31:41.972 --> 00:31:44.932
was we were out in the sea and we were

00:31:44.932 --> 00:31:48.252
trying our best to use these pumps and because

00:31:48.252 --> 00:31:51.412
these pumps are quite long when you're

00:31:51.412 --> 00:31:55.032
sat in your kayak and you're using it your arm is

00:31:55.032 --> 00:31:57.972
actually stretched out and it's almost at shoulder

00:31:57.972 --> 00:32:03.892
level if not above and then you have to the exit stroke the one where the pressure

00:32:03.892 --> 00:32:10.252
is is when you're pulling up that's generally how the pumps operate so the exertion

00:32:10.252 --> 00:32:17.612
and the stress on your shoulder muscles is actually quite hard on those muscles.

00:32:17.852 --> 00:32:23.912
So if you're doing that for a few minutes, it's actually really quite strenuous.

00:32:24.612 --> 00:32:29.172
It's uncomfortable and you can feel your shoulder muscles aching.

00:32:29.312 --> 00:32:35.112
And I thought, well, we need to pump out for a good 10 minutes or even 15 minutes.

00:32:35.112 --> 00:32:37.352
And this is really, really hard work.

00:32:39.004 --> 00:32:44.144
So those are all things that I know that I think about every time I've used

00:32:44.144 --> 00:32:47.324
a paddle, but every other paddler thinks of the same thing when they use a paddle.

00:32:47.484 --> 00:32:51.124
Why has it taken so long for someone to think, boy, this is rubbish?

00:32:54.024 --> 00:32:59.984
Yeah, I mean, the paddles have, it's a wonderful example of loads and loads

00:32:59.984 --> 00:33:04.484
and loads of different ideas and designs have gone into those.

00:33:05.744 --> 00:33:09.344
And uh yeah i mean i wouldn't consider for

00:33:09.344 --> 00:33:12.164
example designing a paddle because i think there's loads of people doing

00:33:12.164 --> 00:33:15.324
a really good job of that and it and they spend

00:33:15.324 --> 00:33:18.764
the whole life focusing on on ergonomics of

00:33:18.764 --> 00:33:21.924
paddles but i just looked at that that

00:33:21.924 --> 00:33:24.964
pump and i thought this hasn't been designed for sea

00:33:24.964 --> 00:33:28.544
kayaking yeah it's been taken from probably yachting

00:33:28.544 --> 00:33:31.324
or dinghy sailing or something and they put their

00:33:31.324 --> 00:33:34.524
brand on it and given it as a sea kayak bilge

00:33:34.524 --> 00:33:37.684
pump and yeah it pumps water out of sea kayak but not

00:33:37.684 --> 00:33:41.124
very well and it's quite

00:33:41.124 --> 00:33:45.344
quite long it's bulky to you can't put it in your day hatch or behind your seat

00:33:45.344 --> 00:33:51.264
and it doesn't have to be that high you can have a much shorter one and still

00:33:51.264 --> 00:33:56.204
eject the water out of the boat well that's something i'm excited about well

00:33:56.204 --> 00:34:01.044
here i am pitching pitching for one of my new products.

00:34:02.204 --> 00:34:05.204
And it's it started in august last

00:34:05.204 --> 00:34:10.824
year and so now i'm in where are we now january this has been quite a fast development

00:34:10.824 --> 00:34:18.044
because it's almost finished now it's almost done all right and so So the first

00:34:18.044 --> 00:34:23.724
month was in the shed making the pump, which means I had to find some tube,

00:34:24.004 --> 00:34:27.844
decide on the diameter and the height of the tube and the volume,

00:34:28.044 --> 00:34:31.784
and then figure out where can I find these components to actually make a pump

00:34:31.784 --> 00:34:35.904
with a piston and valves and an exit tube and all the rest of it.

00:34:35.904 --> 00:34:43.064
And then I eventually made a video showing me pumping water out of a bucket

00:34:43.064 --> 00:34:44.144
and landing in the garden.

00:34:44.844 --> 00:34:49.684
And that was an exciting day. I thought, oh my God, this pump actually works.

00:34:51.607 --> 00:34:56.007
And, of course, I had some other branded pumps for comparison.

00:34:56.007 --> 00:35:00.547
So I was pumping loads of different pumps out of the bucket to sort of test different things.

00:35:00.887 --> 00:35:07.787
And I made a little video and I sent it to some of my usual sort of ambassadors.

00:35:08.307 --> 00:35:13.087
I said, what do you think? And that was the start of the excitement when they

00:35:13.087 --> 00:35:16.327
sort of, brilliant, that's a great idea. When's it ready?

00:35:18.787 --> 00:35:23.947
Right, okay. Right. You mentioned just a number of things in there that personally

00:35:23.947 --> 00:35:26.887
caught my interest and I know that will catch interest of other paddlers.

00:35:27.087 --> 00:35:31.207
And like you said, I've seen modifications for pumps that to make them shorter,

00:35:31.227 --> 00:35:34.567
to be able to fit behind the seat, that just seems like a lot of work and it

00:35:34.567 --> 00:35:36.127
doesn't really seem like it would solve the problem.

00:35:36.707 --> 00:35:43.147
For me, I can't put a knee tube in and just put the paddle underneath the deck

00:35:43.147 --> 00:35:47.187
because I've got the little guacamole bowl.

00:35:47.987 --> 00:35:51.487
That kind of the four deck pod,

00:35:52.527 --> 00:35:57.907
wouldn't work there so yeah it's interesting it is a tricky one and you see

00:35:57.907 --> 00:36:02.467
them being stowed all over the place and then and then people capsize and the

00:36:02.467 --> 00:36:06.227
pumps are floating around in the water or dangling on pieces of cord,

00:36:07.147 --> 00:36:13.667
and yeah and then others people well my pump has to be on my deck because if

00:36:13.667 --> 00:36:16.207
I need to use it then I don't want to.

00:36:17.336 --> 00:36:20.376
Open my spray deck or open a hatch i said

00:36:20.376 --> 00:36:24.116
okay so using it on somebody else for sure okay

00:36:24.116 --> 00:36:27.016
and but then if they're using it on their own if they've

00:36:27.016 --> 00:36:30.296
got a flood in their own boat then the pump

00:36:30.296 --> 00:36:33.176
could be inside their cockpit for example and if

00:36:33.176 --> 00:36:35.816
that's happy with that or indeed they could just shove it in

00:36:35.816 --> 00:36:38.556
their in their day hatch it's it's great everyone's got

00:36:38.556 --> 00:36:42.356
their own personal preference on where to put it and it

00:36:42.356 --> 00:36:45.276
does seem that pretty much every paddler has a

00:36:45.276 --> 00:36:48.516
pump so i'm looking around thinking wow everyone

00:36:48.516 --> 00:36:52.436
has a pump and they're all rubbish well in

00:36:52.436 --> 00:36:55.536
my opinion anyway i mean it's i just they're

00:36:55.536 --> 00:36:58.496
not really rubbish but yeah i think i can make a better one

00:36:58.496 --> 00:37:01.516
not purpose built yeah not not purpose built

00:37:01.516 --> 00:37:04.636
and it's all about reducing the amount of fatigue

00:37:04.636 --> 00:37:08.576
when you actually use it for real and it

00:37:08.576 --> 00:37:11.836
this all started this particular project

00:37:11.836 --> 00:37:14.656
because i was using one for real

00:37:14.656 --> 00:37:17.816
with some of my friends and they they

00:37:17.816 --> 00:37:20.956
were they were not helping us to

00:37:20.956 --> 00:37:24.016
to get out of the situation so that that was

00:37:24.016 --> 00:37:26.876
bugging me so that's that's caused me to uh

00:37:26.876 --> 00:37:30.296
be involved with this project for the last six months well

00:37:30.296 --> 00:37:33.416
it'll be neat to see that come to market it's great fun and

00:37:33.416 --> 00:37:36.456
it's all about yeah finding the right.

00:37:36.456 --> 00:37:39.476
Pump size but then then after that i then

00:37:39.476 --> 00:37:43.276
have to look at okay so let's look at the detail let's

00:37:43.276 --> 00:37:46.776
look at the detail in the detail and really

00:37:46.776 --> 00:37:50.936
think about okay what are you doing from the

00:37:50.936 --> 00:37:55.636
start to the finish of your day sort of focusing on that pump so again i'm getting

00:37:55.636 --> 00:38:00.876
obsessive which is what i do and i'm thinking about okay well you're going to

00:38:00.876 --> 00:38:07.336
handle it you're holding it with cold wet hands you're putting it you're stowing it somewhere,

00:38:08.596 --> 00:38:10.716
How can you make it better if you're

00:38:10.716 --> 00:38:13.996
just putting it on your deck with one piece of elastic over the top?

00:38:15.158 --> 00:38:19.478
Well, what you do is you add some grip lines, you add some little bumpers so

00:38:19.478 --> 00:38:22.958
that the elastic won't roll off the one end or the other end.

00:38:23.198 --> 00:38:24.878
And those are tiny little details.

00:38:25.238 --> 00:38:29.098
And then you think, right, well, what's it doing? It's sucking up water and

00:38:29.098 --> 00:38:30.678
then spurting it out the other end.

00:38:31.178 --> 00:38:35.978
Would it be worth rifling the exit output? What's the angle of the exit output?

00:38:36.438 --> 00:38:42.098
If I made the angle of the exit output point upwards rather than 90 degrees,

00:38:42.338 --> 00:38:44.198
then I can make it even shorter.

00:38:45.238 --> 00:38:51.558
Because it will just push the water up and out and across the gunwale of the boat.

00:38:51.758 --> 00:38:56.358
So instead of having to deflect it at 90 degrees, which slows the process down, I'm thinking.

00:38:57.158 --> 00:38:59.098
Exactly. Yes, indeed. Yeah.

00:39:01.298 --> 00:39:07.498
I was out showing one of my friends, local friends, an old prototype of this pump.

00:39:07.678 --> 00:39:10.378
And I said, oh, I forgot to show you this. What do you think?

00:39:11.198 --> 00:39:16.758
And he looked at it and thought, he the one thing he clocked on was the angle

00:39:16.758 --> 00:39:22.838
of the output snap which was angled up and he said that is the best innovation

00:39:22.838 --> 00:39:26.658
you could do on that pump so i thought hey excellent,

00:39:28.178 --> 00:39:33.458
so the kraken was a fun name do you have a fun name for this one well we've

00:39:33.458 --> 00:39:39.358
been through all sorts of names and some of them are a bit naughty so in the

00:39:39.358 --> 00:39:41.778
end we've come up with the sea stubby okay,

00:39:42.498 --> 00:39:48.098
I quite like the name Bilge Bailey which is a homage to a British comedian called

00:39:48.098 --> 00:39:51.718
Bill Bailey yep that was quite and then there was some yeah,

00:39:53.198 --> 00:39:55.078
Suck Norris which was a bit rude.

00:39:56.622 --> 00:40:05.382
Probably a memorable name. Might end up with a legal case on the back of it.

00:40:05.582 --> 00:40:09.962
But yeah, so that's probably what it's going to be. All right.

00:40:10.662 --> 00:40:13.902
So what's been the most rewarding product?

00:40:14.442 --> 00:40:20.522
I think it's probably the crab stick, I think, which is a whitewater rescue

00:40:20.522 --> 00:40:24.082
product, which is the smallest product that I offer.

00:40:24.082 --> 00:40:27.602
It's just a it's just a piece of plastic so

00:40:27.602 --> 00:40:30.542
what made that the most rewarding because it might

00:40:30.542 --> 00:40:33.862
help save lives and it might mean

00:40:33.862 --> 00:40:36.802
that people can reach and connect onto

00:40:36.802 --> 00:40:40.302
either a swimmer or a compromised kayak

00:40:40.302 --> 00:40:43.402
in white water without putting themselves

00:40:43.402 --> 00:40:47.262
at risk it's a very simple little peg essentially

00:40:47.262 --> 00:40:50.602
piece of plastic peg which opens up and

00:40:50.602 --> 00:40:54.202
holds open the gate of a carabiner so

00:40:54.202 --> 00:40:57.162
it's like a trigger so you can then generate create

00:40:57.162 --> 00:41:00.802
a paddle hook so you tie this carabiner lash

00:41:00.802 --> 00:41:03.702
it onto the the end of a paddle and you and the carabiner

00:41:03.702 --> 00:41:06.642
is connected to a piece of webbing which is connected to a rope on

00:41:06.642 --> 00:41:13.202
the riverbank you can then reach into the water and then clip onto the swimmer

00:41:13.202 --> 00:41:21.242
on the compromised boat and the little stick there will then trigger and and

00:41:21.242 --> 00:41:25.722
allow the carabiner to remotely connect onto the swimmer or the boat.

00:41:26.302 --> 00:41:33.502
So that's its purpose. Without that, if you reached across just with a carabiner, the gate wouldn't open.

00:41:33.682 --> 00:41:37.422
It's not possible to open that gate. Yeah, so that was one thing which.

00:41:38.123 --> 00:41:41.043
I don't even know why I created it.

00:41:42.343 --> 00:41:48.363
I started to drive from the UK to Germany to go and see Leppmann in Germany.

00:41:48.983 --> 00:41:52.423
And during that drive, the seed planted in my head.

00:41:53.423 --> 00:41:59.323
I think I had an old paddle hook from the 80s, which was very heavy and kind

00:41:59.323 --> 00:42:02.423
of worked, but you wouldn't really want to carry it around because it was a

00:42:02.423 --> 00:42:04.163
bit like a piece of garden equipment.

00:42:04.663 --> 00:42:07.583
During that drive I had the radio turned off and

00:42:07.583 --> 00:42:10.923
no distractions and my I just let my brain start to wander

00:42:10.923 --> 00:42:13.763
about and create a little sort of matrix in my

00:42:13.763 --> 00:42:16.643
head and and I started thinking about

00:42:16.643 --> 00:42:19.443
the paddle hook I don't know why but it was coming up all

00:42:19.443 --> 00:42:22.123
the time and then it popped into my head that if I

00:42:22.123 --> 00:42:29.263
had some sort of peg to hold that gate open then that would that would be sufficient

00:42:29.263 --> 00:42:34.483
to to solve the problem and then i thought all right okay well what would be

00:42:34.483 --> 00:42:39.363
the shape how would it work it's got a slot into the gate but also somehow hold

00:42:39.363 --> 00:42:41.103
onto the nose of the carabiner.

00:42:41.723 --> 00:42:44.603
Sufficiently to stay put but equally free enough

00:42:44.603 --> 00:42:47.563
to then slip off and trigger the closure of

00:42:47.563 --> 00:42:50.263
the gate i had eight hours to think about this on my

00:42:50.263 --> 00:42:53.043
journey to letman and i

00:42:53.043 --> 00:42:56.303
was getting more and more excited and i was running through different shapes and

00:42:56.303 --> 00:42:59.943
all the rest of it in my head by the time i got to letman i

00:42:59.943 --> 00:43:02.743
i got hold of jock and letman who was

00:43:02.743 --> 00:43:06.203
a busy man he's got a big business to run making all

00:43:06.203 --> 00:43:09.343
sorts of stuff there and i said jock and i've just

00:43:09.343 --> 00:43:12.603
been driving for eight hours i've come up with this this new

00:43:12.603 --> 00:43:15.263
idea so i explained it to

00:43:15.263 --> 00:43:17.983
him he listened to me he said come with me we make it

00:43:17.983 --> 00:43:20.823
now so he stopped what he's doing we went

00:43:20.823 --> 00:43:25.263
into his big workshop and i said okay what do you want to okay so he found some

00:43:25.263 --> 00:43:31.963
random pieces of plastic got his bandsaw out and we made one okay and he got

00:43:31.963 --> 00:43:36.823
it immediately he sort of he comes from a whitewater background anyway and he

00:43:36.823 --> 00:43:38.383
could see the benefit of it.

00:43:39.086 --> 00:43:43.206
And that's where the crab stick was born. This, I think, was maybe my second

00:43:43.206 --> 00:43:45.886
year of trading, of doing business.

00:43:46.206 --> 00:43:52.106
Then I went to the European Paddle Sport Trade Show and had a tiny little stand

00:43:52.106 --> 00:43:58.706
and showed my contact line and other bits and bobs and the crab stick and some

00:43:58.706 --> 00:44:01.706
other things I was doing with slings, some new ideas.

00:44:01.986 --> 00:44:08.446
On then day two, one of the staff came up to me and said, Steve, you've won an award.

00:44:09.086 --> 00:44:14.106
And I go, yeah, right. And I said, yeah, you have to come up tonight to the

00:44:14.106 --> 00:44:16.066
ceremony. And I go, what do you mean?

00:44:16.446 --> 00:44:21.846
And then they rushed off somewhere else. They didn't actually bother telling me what I'd want it for.

00:44:24.646 --> 00:44:30.166
Later on, the organizer, Philippe, he came up and said, yes, you have. Well done.

00:44:31.846 --> 00:44:38.606
Your devices were amazing. We were all so impressed. and you have won this award,

00:44:38.606 --> 00:44:41.006
please come up and be presented.

00:44:41.366 --> 00:44:50.146
So that was a massive, massive day for me because it was like David versus Goliath.

00:44:50.746 --> 00:44:57.746
I'm just nobody working in his shed up against all these big brands across the world,

00:44:58.206 --> 00:45:03.926
big teams of designers and lots of budgets and there's just me on my own just

00:45:03.926 --> 00:45:07.206
coming up and winning one of the awards.

00:45:07.566 --> 00:45:10.926
It's certainly a confirmation that you're on the right track.

00:45:11.186 --> 00:45:17.706
It was. It was fantastic, and it was really emotional for sure.

00:45:18.606 --> 00:45:21.506
So that was a real sort of thumbs up.

00:45:21.866 --> 00:45:29.226
Ah, congrats. It just kept me forging through in the same direction for sure.

00:45:30.106 --> 00:45:33.206
So what advice would you have for someone who has a product idea in their head

00:45:33.206 --> 00:45:34.706
but isn't sure how to bring it to market.

00:45:35.266 --> 00:45:39.606
Tell me about it. It's not me. I'm just thinking of our listeners.

00:45:39.786 --> 00:45:43.806
If someone's making their own drive somewhere and thinks, what about this thing?

00:45:44.046 --> 00:45:46.546
Why could we do that? But they're not sure where to go with it.

00:45:47.146 --> 00:45:50.806
I'd say if you can, run with it and be creative.

00:45:51.166 --> 00:45:56.786
Enjoy discovering what you create and try it yourself.

00:45:57.046 --> 00:46:00.986
And if it works for you, then that's fine. Just use it for yourself.

00:46:00.986 --> 00:46:05.666
I mean, if you think that everyone else will want it as well.

00:46:06.903 --> 00:46:15.083
If it's that beneficial, then that's the time to consider, is it actually a

00:46:15.083 --> 00:46:17.203
product which people would want to buy?

00:46:17.763 --> 00:46:21.903
There's a big difference between the two, and I've seen loads and loads of sea

00:46:21.903 --> 00:46:27.183
kayakers especially creating their own little wonderful gadgets which work for them.

00:46:27.463 --> 00:46:31.563
It's a much harder thing to make it work for most people or everybody.

00:46:31.563 --> 00:46:36.403
Well, thank you for having that critical eye and taking a look at products and

00:46:36.403 --> 00:46:38.243
thinking, how can I make that product better?

00:46:40.283 --> 00:46:43.303
No problem. Yeah. So how can listeners connect with you?

00:46:44.503 --> 00:46:48.603
They're welcome to find my website on wetmanequipment.com.

00:46:48.823 --> 00:46:53.103
And so from there, if they wish to, they can contact me and email me.

00:46:53.703 --> 00:46:59.543
I'm on Facebook as well and Instagram. and so you can message direct and obviously

00:46:59.543 --> 00:47:01.543
browse through our activity.

00:47:01.923 --> 00:47:05.243
On my website, I've done loads of videos.

00:47:06.323 --> 00:47:13.563
So mostly they are obviously presenting the kit and I try and be a little bit entertaining as well.

00:47:13.703 --> 00:47:16.423
So it's not too dull watching through the kit videos.

00:47:16.803 --> 00:47:21.263
All right. So it's not all an engineer talking engineer stuff. It's fun.

00:47:22.203 --> 00:47:25.683
Well, no, I try and keep the trade secrets a secret.

00:47:25.683 --> 00:47:30.063
It all right and in terms of product so the kit you can purchase that directly

00:47:30.063 --> 00:47:33.583
through your website at weapon equipment if they wish to yeah there's an online

00:47:33.583 --> 00:47:37.403
store equally there are many very good,

00:47:38.163 --> 00:47:43.623
stockists around the world now actually including america got a few there where

00:47:43.623 --> 00:47:48.823
you can usually find the kit as well fantastic how many countries are you uh distributing in.

00:47:50.178 --> 00:47:54.458
Well, there's throughout Europe. I've got, gosh, what's the furthest we do to

00:47:54.458 --> 00:47:58.378
Israel, for example. I mean, somebody in Japan is taking some.

00:47:59.098 --> 00:48:03.678
I think there's somebody in Australia now. Somebody in Chile, they take it.

00:48:04.938 --> 00:48:09.158
So, yeah, there's a big stockist list on the website as well. Super.

00:48:09.478 --> 00:48:15.798
So, yeah, you can find it. Otherwise, if need be, just drop me a line and I'll sort you out.

00:48:16.178 --> 00:48:19.878
We'll make sure that we put links in our show notes to Weppman Equipment.

00:48:19.878 --> 00:48:23.798
So folks can find the kit that you have there and then find it through their

00:48:23.798 --> 00:48:26.738
favorite stockist wherever that, whoever that may be.

00:48:27.318 --> 00:48:31.758
Yeah, yeah, definitely. One final question for you, Steve, and that is who else

00:48:31.758 --> 00:48:34.538
would you like to hear as a future guest on Paddling the Blue?

00:48:35.338 --> 00:48:43.978
Well, I would like to listen to my friend Rick Cooper, who I've known for many years.

00:48:43.978 --> 00:48:46.758
He's a local paddler in my neck of the woods.

00:48:46.758 --> 00:48:50.238
He's also an excellent sea kayak

00:48:50.238 --> 00:48:53.158
coach and very well

00:48:53.158 --> 00:48:57.118
respected in the coaching fraternity but

00:48:57.118 --> 00:49:00.338
also I do actually have many

00:49:00.338 --> 00:49:03.218
great days of paddling on the water with

00:49:03.218 --> 00:49:06.918
him and we always get up to some sort of mischief and

00:49:06.918 --> 00:49:10.078
I bounce my ideas off him and he

00:49:10.078 --> 00:49:13.478
tells it to me straight whether it's good bad or ugly so

00:49:13.478 --> 00:49:16.718
yeah try and get hold of rick he's a bit elusive but

00:49:16.718 --> 00:49:21.318
he's worth it all right well we'll uh we'll work on reaching uh reaching rick

00:49:21.318 --> 00:49:24.798
and getting him on the show as well steve it's been a pleasure having the chance

00:49:24.798 --> 00:49:28.718
to talk to you and to learn about the kit that you have developed already and

00:49:28.718 --> 00:49:32.158
to learn about the c stubby and and we'll look forward to seeing that come to

00:49:32.158 --> 00:49:35.038
market thank you yeah you're very welcome thank you.

00:49:36.188 --> 00:49:39.748
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00:49:57.408 --> 00:50:01.308
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00:50:01.308 --> 00:50:05.188
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00:50:21.808 --> 00:50:25.728
That was a fun look into the mind of a product designer with some pretty unique items.

00:50:25.868 --> 00:50:28.568
I sure wish he was able to use the Norris name for that pump,

00:50:28.588 --> 00:50:30.888
but I understand the complications that could bring on.

00:50:31.448 --> 00:50:35.928
Like many of you, I do look forward to a purpose-built pump coming out to market,

00:50:35.948 --> 00:50:37.148
so we'll be watching for that one.

00:50:37.308 --> 00:50:40.788
And I'll include a link in the show notes so you can visit Steve's website,

00:50:40.948 --> 00:50:42.408
Wetman Equipment, as well.

00:50:42.788 --> 00:50:46.948
Thanks again to our partners at OnlineSeaKayaking.com for extending a special offer to you.

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Visit OnlineSeaKayaking.com, enter the code PTBpodcast to check out and get

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00:50:55.148 --> 00:50:58.188
Until next time, thanks again for listening, and I look forward to bringing

00:50:58.188 --> 00:51:00.368
you the next episode of Paddling the Blue.

00:51:00.888 --> 00:51:04.128
Thank you for listening to Paddling the Blue. You can subscribe to Paddling

00:51:04.128 --> 00:51:09.448
the Blue on Apple Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

00:51:09.608 --> 00:51:12.588
Please take the time to leave us a five-star review on Apple Music.

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We truly appreciate the support.

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And you can find the show notes for this episode and other episodes,

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along with replays of past episodes, contact information, and more at paddlingtheblue.com.

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Until next time.

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Music.