Will From Bowman Gear Drops By To Talk About Making Custom Packs

Will tells all about backpacks, companion bags, fanny packs, thwart bags, portage bags, interior & exterior frames, and how important it is to him to keep the company Canadian.

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Transcript

00:00 - 00:04
Hello, and good day. Eh? Welcome to the Super Good Camping podcast. My name is Pamela.

00:04 - 00:04
I'm Tim.

00:04 - 00:04
And we

00:04 - 00:09
are from supergoodcamping.com. We are here because we're on a mission to inspire other families

00:09 - 00:11
to enjoy camping adventures such as we have with our kids.

00:11 - 00:15
Today, we're talking to William Malyon, who is from Bowman Gear.

00:15 - 00:19
He hand makes bags, packs, and gear largely for canoeing.

00:20 - 00:24
So pack for your seed, a handy tortilla for your water bottle, other things you might need at

00:24 - 00:27
hand, fanny packs, companions for your backpacks, etcetera.

00:27 - 00:29
They're based on Ontario, and they can ship anywhere.

00:30 - 00:32
And we're really honored to have you here with us today.

00:33 - 00:34
Yes. We are. Thank you.

00:34 - 00:36
So how did you get into this, William?

00:36 - 00:37
Like, what made you inspired?

00:37 - 00:42
Like, I found personally in the past when I have felt motivated to make something myself, it

00:42 - 00:47
was because I, I was frustrated with the lack of something, in my life, something I didn't,

00:47 - 00:48
I had, it just wasn't optimal.

00:48 - 00:49
I wanted to make it better.

00:49 - 00:51
Is that how you got into doing what you do?

00:52 - 00:58
Yeah, eh?. I mean, I, there's not a lot of great options and everything seems to be super expensive to bring in.

00:58 - 01:03
Like, especially like not, you know, gear that's made in North America or anything.

01:03 - 01:07
Like, to get stuff brought from The States is super expensive and I can't afford that.

01:07 - 01:11
So and, you know, I was like, why can't I just make it myself?

01:11 - 01:12
Awesome. You know what?

01:12 - 01:18
Just starts with, you know, I good to get lent to a sewing machine from my aunt and it was just

01:18 - 01:22
to sort of learn how to alter some clothes and I kind of wanted to mess around making a few

01:22 - 01:26
little pouches and it just kind of took off from there.

01:26 - 01:28
Awesome. So it's not not on that little sewing machine eh??

01:29 - 01:31
You're using something more industrial now?

01:31 - 01:35
No. Yeah. I'm using a full industrial machine now but I still use the other machine.

01:35 - 01:41
Sometimes it's better for, lighter materials and it can do like a zigzag stitch.

01:41 - 01:45
And so that's the only downside to the industrial machines.

01:45 - 01:48
It's the only do one stitch. One thing really well.

01:49 - 01:51
Does it automate some of the stitching or no? It just,

01:52 - 01:54
oh, no. No. I still gotta eh? very fine.

01:55 - 01:55
Program it

01:55 - 01:58
to do stuff. No. No. Not that advanced.

01:59 - 02:01
Eh? are some that you can, but not this

02:03 - 02:08
one. Cool. So it's when you're like, if you're making something, excuse me, like a like a fanny

02:08 - 02:11
pack, you can make it there there are options. Right?

02:11 - 02:16
Like, you have you probably have a sort of a standard idea of of what you make for a fanny pack,

02:16 - 02:18
but then it could be zippers.

02:18 - 02:19
It could be waterproof zippers.

02:19 - 02:22
It could be Velcro for as your closures

02:24 - 02:26
Yeah. Is that No. For sure. Yeah.

02:26 - 02:29
I mean, it's kind of, you know, to fit your needs.

02:29 - 02:31
I mean, if you want a waterproof zipper, that can be done.

02:31 - 02:36
If you, you know, if you want a pocket on the front, if you want a pocket on the back, if, you

02:36 - 02:40
know, it's just kinda adjustable, customizable for now.

02:40 - 02:47
I mean, Good like to get a website going and that would limit the amount of customizing to be done, I think.

02:47 - 02:54
But, for now, I think I could still be able to add, like, have options for eh?, you know, have

02:54 - 03:00
a base model and then, you know, you know, you add on a waterproof zipper, different colors, few different options.

03:00 - 03:04
And then if you want something super customized, then you'd have to reach out.

03:04 - 03:05
And do a one off sort of thing. Yeah.

03:05 - 03:06
That'd be day great idea.

03:06 - 03:11
So here's here's this and then and then options to just like buying a car.

03:11 - 03:15
Yeah. Exactly. I mean, that seems to be what I'm doing now.

03:15 - 03:17
Most of the time is people are like, oh, I saw this.

03:17 - 03:21
Like, can you change it this way or can we do this color or can you know.

03:22 - 03:23
Or added this material or

03:24 - 03:26
Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. So this is more materials.

03:26 - 03:31
Sorry. So this is more reasonable than somebody just buying it already made?

03:31 - 03:34
I do. Most of the stuff is made to order right now.

03:34 - 03:35
Wow. It's amazing.

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How much time in a given week do you spend in your little room there with your sewing machine?

03:40 - 03:41
It depends on the week.

03:41 - 03:43
It depends on what I got going on.

03:43 - 03:48
You know, I gotta work and then I come home, gotta do everything that is related to living.

03:48 - 03:50
And then I gotta, you know, try and get on.

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If I have something, I gotta make someone.

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And if I don't, then, you know, I might come on and just sort of play around with some ideas

03:57 - 04:00
I have or try and draw some things out.

04:00 - 04:05
So in terms of the the patterns for these, this is just it's your own designs. Right?

04:05 - 04:08
It's it does not say you can just order a pattern.

04:08 - 04:13
No. I don't yeah. I don't have patterns the way you typically see patterns.

04:13 - 04:18
It's all I have it all written down in a notebook and I kind of draw things out and then I figure

04:18 - 04:24
out how big it, you know, I want it to be at the end and then I kind of work backwards from there

04:24 - 04:25
where,

04:25 - 04:29
you know, I if eh? just computer programs that maybe I should get that would help, you know,

04:29 - 04:35
you design it on the computer and then it sort of creates the pattern for you and that would

04:35 - 04:40
take some time out, but I don't have that. So did

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you teach yourself all of this?

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Yeah. Yep.

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That's that's wild.

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Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, when I when my aunt gave me the machine, she showed me how to, you know,

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the basics of how to, you know, thread the machine and how to use the machine and then just

04:58 - 05:00
trial and error Curse me.

05:00 - 05:02
Eh?, if it was me Starting over. A lot of error.

05:02 - 05:03
It'd be a lot of

05:03 - 05:09
frustration here. It's a steep learning curve, especially, you know, you wanna learn different

05:09 - 05:12
fabrics and then all sort of different fabrics, different needles, different eh?.

05:13 - 05:15
Threads. Yeah. Yeah. That's why. It's

05:16 - 05:21
a it's a lot of learn it's a lot of trying, failing, and then starting over. You know?

05:21 - 05:25
That's what my aunt told me is that everything's nothing's eh?.

05:25 - 05:31
Even if, you know, you'd miss a stitch, you know, you ruin a stitch line, you can undo it and do it back up.

05:31 - 05:37
So most of the time, some of these fabrics, especially the waterproof ones, the holes are permanent. Yeah.

05:38 - 05:44
So I have one shot or I have to try again on a different material, some piece of material.

05:44 - 05:46
Oh, that's so it can be costly to make mistakes.

05:46 - 05:49
Yeah. Yeah. So I don't wanna make too many mistakes.

05:51 - 05:54
Yeah. To kind of kind of ruin the bottom line. Yeah.

05:55 - 06:02
So so tell us some of your some some of the bags and and gear that you make, like, well, obviously, fanny packs.

06:02 - 06:06
You and I have spoken, about the the Tortugas.

06:06 - 06:10
So, like, a, you know, a bottle holder and and just sort of gear that you need to have right

06:10 - 06:13
at hand right in front of you kind of a deal. What else?

06:14 - 06:20
I make a I have a sort of I got a backpack I make regularly that I'm working on for someone now.

06:20 - 06:22
It's just a companion bag.

06:22 - 06:28
It's, it's like a dry bag that I've, you know, I put a zipper in the front, put some backpack

06:28 - 06:33
straps on and it's actually it's surprisingly good. I I eh? it.

06:33 - 06:34
People seem to like it.

06:34 - 06:38
So, you know, I have another bag that I'm sort of working on. It's a larger bag.

06:39 - 06:44
It's on this my page as well and it has dual front zippers so it opens up all the day.

06:44 - 06:50
And I'm just sort of playing around with some frames, internal frames to make some some backpacks

06:50 - 06:56
because backpacks take a little more testing before I'm, you know, comfortable giving them to

06:56 - 07:00
people to sort of throw around and carry all kinds of weight, especially playing around with,

07:01 - 07:03
like internal frames and maybe external frames.

07:04 - 07:06
It's a lot of trial and

07:06 - 07:13
error. Yeah. And and we're, like, we're talking like, I don't know, 30 liter packs or you're bigger?

07:13 - 07:14
What do you where are you kind of going?

07:14 - 07:20
So so the that the companion pack, it's around twenty, twenty five liters.

07:21 - 07:25
Then the next bag that I've made is around 45.

07:25 - 07:27
And I mean, I've camped eh? of that one.

07:27 - 07:31
I camped out of that one my last trip when I was testing it out.

07:31 - 07:32
I was able to get everything in there.

07:32 - 07:38
I mean, you gotta be pretty spartan with stuff but and then I have, you know, the the thwart

07:38 - 07:39
bag I'm calling the Nomad.

07:40 - 07:44
It could it works as a lid for that bag so I can remove the lid.

07:44 - 07:51
I can attach it to the pack and then, you know, as needed, you've you've expanded how much you can carry.

07:51 - 07:52
So Kind of modular.

07:53 - 07:54
Yeah. Try and make modular.

07:54 - 07:58
Try and make everything sort of work eh?, you know.

07:58 - 08:03
So, you know, you're not having, you know, sort of a system where you don't need to buy, you

08:03 - 08:09
know, a whole new thing, everything that things can add on and you can sort of adapt and change to what you need.

08:10 - 08:16
Cool. And so and I I keep thinking about, like, we Thomas and I are our eldest.

08:16 - 08:18
He's my he's my backcountry partner.

08:19 - 08:24
We take rubberized bags, like big ass, you know, like a you know, the the mountain equipment

08:24 - 08:29
slog, like, we've got a North 49, hundred and 20 liter something or other, but they're big big

08:29 - 08:32
rubberized, heaviest, all get outs.

08:32 - 08:38
I keep thinking it would be it would be nice to have something even of that size, but but a

08:38 - 08:44
ton lighter, like, not not carrying that much bag that that maybe isn't, you know, might might

08:44 - 08:49
not be chuck it out of the canoe and it and it floats or it doesn't take on water.

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But I don't I don't I don't intend to to tip the canoe.

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So it's it's more it's more about all the water you you take on as you're paddling and stuff like that. Right?

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Or if you're out in a rainstorm.

09:00 - 09:02
Yeah. Right. Yeah. The rain is a big thing. Yeah.

09:02 - 09:05
I mean, that's definitely something I'm working I've made a portage bag for myself.

09:06 - 09:12
It works with an external frame that I have from another manufacturer there, but, and that's

09:12 - 09:15
sort of the idea is it's super light, lightweight.

09:16 - 09:20
I don't do as much ultralight stuff because it gets lightweight's doable.

09:21 - 09:23
The lightweight big pack is definitely doable.

09:23 - 09:25
I mean, it's the cost. Right?

09:25 - 09:34
Not gonna be able to compete with eh? cost and, you know, the the lightweight durable waterproof fabrics are pricey.

09:34 - 09:36
Yeah. I would imagine so.

09:37 - 09:41
You know, a lot of things you got durability, lightweight, and cost.

09:41 - 09:44
You get to pick two of those things and that's it.

09:45 - 09:45
Yep.

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You know, you're not you you can get something that's cheap and durable but it ain't gonna be lightweight.

09:51 - 09:54
If you want something lightweight and durable, it isn't gonna be cheap. So

09:56 - 10:01
Well, if it's but if it's gear that's gonna last for a long time, you know, I'm okay with paying

10:01 - 10:06
paying more than I might think I want to pay because it's because I'm gonna have for ten years or whatever. Right?

10:06 - 10:09
So fifty years. Eh?, I'm yeah. I mean, hopefully more.

10:09 - 10:15
I try and make some I certain things I try to make I try and keep repairs in mind too.

10:15 - 10:19
I don't wanna make stuff that just, you know, once it's damaged, it's no good anymore.

10:19 - 10:24
So I try and think about because I want people, you know, if they have problem, they can reach

10:24 - 10:25
out to me and I good be like, alright.

10:25 - 10:29
Well, we'll send it back and I'll, you know, I'll fix it for you.

10:29 - 10:33
You know, it hasn't happened eh?, but I try and keep that in mind when I'm making things that

10:33 - 10:38
I can I'll be able to fix it if it needs to be fixed instead of just tossing it away.

10:38 - 10:41
Unability, which we we love that. Keep things open.

10:41 - 10:43
Oh, yeah. We do. Yep.

10:43 - 10:53
Yeah. A lot of the fabrics I use, like the EcoPack fabrics are, it's all recycled. It's a recycled material. So

10:53 - 10:54
Like that too?

10:54 - 10:58
Eh?. Tree tree the the tree huggers that we are, we we like that. Yeah.

10:58 - 11:00
Yeah. Yeah. No. It's important.

11:01 - 11:06
So, great. That's that's the sort of standard stuff you do.

11:06 - 11:08
Is there anything in particular you like to make?

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Like, it's like, oh, this is my favorite thing to make.

11:11 - 11:12
I do like making the backpacks.

11:13 - 11:14
I mean, I like making anything.

11:15 - 11:20
I like the process of, you know, people come to me with an idea and eh?, like, taking that idea

11:20 - 11:21
and figuring out how to make it work.

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Like, the problem solving aspect is I, you know, I love that part of it.

11:27 - 11:32
So it doesn't really, I like making eh?, you know, I could see maybe making the same thing over

11:32 - 11:35
and over and over and over and over again might get repetitive.

11:36 - 11:38
So I like changing it up.

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That's why I like, you know, people wanna change something.

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It kinda gets my mind going and I get to figure out how to make it work.

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Make your dreams come true.

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Looking at your, Instagram and TikTok.

11:48 - 11:49
So you test out your own gear, obviously, because you'll see them in your and TikTok.

11:49 - 11:54
So you test out your own gear obviously because you'll see them in your pictures there. Where do you go?

11:54 - 11:56
Where do you, where, where are your trips?

11:56 - 12:00
We've been venturing into Algonquin the last couple years.

12:00 - 12:02
I go into the Eh?

12:02 - 12:04
And Highland Water Trails quite a bit.

12:04 - 12:08
We'll go up Crown Line camping around, Sudbury Two.

12:09 - 12:13
You know in the past we've gone to, we spent a lot of time in Massassauga Park.

12:14 - 12:19
It's gotten hard to book in there because they have a limited amount of sites So I haven't been

12:19 - 12:20
there in a couple years.

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But yeah, I mean, I try and go the booking things, I like to keep things a little more spontaneous.

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So it's hard when you have to book things so far in advance day.

12:30 - 12:34
You know, you have to plan for what you're gonna do in mid spring in March. So

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Well, I'm I'm planning next summer's now.

12:38 - 12:43
Yeah. That well, I know I I gotta start talking to my my tripping buddies too and figure out

12:43 - 12:45
what we're gonna do in May.

12:45 - 12:50
That's why we like having some Crownland spots, you know, where you don't need to necessarily

12:50 - 12:52
book or you just pay for a permit.

12:53 - 12:55
You try and beat people there. Yeah.

12:55 - 13:01
Leave on a Wednesday, leave on a Thursday in the middle of the night, eh? there before everyone's awake.

13:02 - 13:06
But maybe I shouldn't be telling people my secrets. Yeah. Definitely.

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Yeah. Take notes.

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Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. One question when you know you I mean, people book in Algonquin and

13:14 - 13:18
you're booking a lake, you know, you don't wanna end up with the worst site on the lake, so

13:18 - 13:20
it's good to get there.

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We're the farthest day site and you eh? to paddle through all the other sites first to discover

13:25 - 13:26
that the only one that's open. Yeah.

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Yeah. Is, you know, part marsh or something. Yeah.

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I mean, I'm looking forward to next season. It should be good.

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I'm hoping to have a few more things to test out.

13:37 - 13:38
You know, day around over the winter.

13:39 - 13:40
Eh? got a couple ideas.

13:40 - 13:44
Couple of things people want me to try and make for them. So Wanna give

13:44 - 13:47
us a sneak sneak peek into what you're planning over the winter?

13:48 - 13:50
Well, I'd like to get a bigger portage bag going.

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Something that, you know, isn't the external frame like I have right now.

13:55 - 14:01
Something with, you know, its own backpack straps and I wanna iron out, like an internal frame

14:01 - 14:07
that is sort of interchangeable, you know, for how much weight you're gonna be carrying. I don't know.

14:07 - 14:10
I'm gonna stay day too much. People steal my ideas.

14:10 - 14:14
But I like the idea of, like, you know, customizing what you can carry with the bag.

14:14 - 14:20
You know, you eh? run it without, a frame or you can just sort of slide the frame in.

14:21 - 14:29
And stiffen it up if you're carrying a bunch of extra weight or whatever. That's right. Sweet idea. Yeah. Yeah. I like that.

14:29 - 14:30
I I I gotcha. Yeah.

14:30 - 14:34
I'm working on you know, it's making it work, making it easy for people where it's still, like,

14:36 - 14:37
functions the way it good.

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And it's not just trying to function, it is function.

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So that's kinda what I'm working on with that 45 liter bag.

14:45 - 14:50
And then if I can make it work, I can scale it up to the larger portage bags.

14:51 - 14:57
Because there's some cool fabrics out there that I think people would be pretty impressed with, you know, durability wise.

14:57 - 15:03
Waterproof wise is, you know, they're most of the fabrics, waterproof fabrics I day with are 100% waterproof.

15:04 - 15:10
You're not relying on a coating, you know, it's a multi layer material and it's it's waterproof.

15:10 - 15:16
And eh?, you know, I do poke a bunch of holes in it so I gotta seam seal it after most of the

15:16 - 15:20
time and day around with different ways to seam seal it, seam tapes and

15:21 - 15:22
Yeah. I should pick your brain at some point.

15:22 - 15:31
I've good a I've we've got a I wanna say it's only maybe six six or seven years old tent and

15:31 - 15:36
laying in it this past summer looking up and it was like, oh, wow.

15:36 - 15:40
I have to redo all these seams, like, all of them Yeah.

15:40 - 15:42
Which is I I am quite disappointed with.

15:42 - 15:44
It's like, oh, I shouldn't.

15:44 - 15:46
That seems day, way early to me.

15:46 - 15:49
Like, I we don't we don't put that kind of mileage on our tents. How long

15:49 - 15:50
have you added?

15:50 - 15:52
Six, seven years maybe.

15:52 - 15:52
Oh, okay. Yeah.

15:53 - 15:58
Seems it seems it certainly compared to our other tents, like, I don't I now I'm gonna have

15:58 - 16:00
to set them up and and, you know, look at them all.

16:00 - 16:05
But, like, I've never seen I've got tents that are twice as old as that that that still don't

16:05 - 16:08
that I've had to do a silicone spray on just

16:08 - 16:08
Yeah.

16:08 - 16:11
Just for the nylon or whatever, but the seams have been fine.

16:11 - 16:16
So Yeah. So like the like the it's like peeling or cracking on the seams like eh?.

16:16 - 16:17
Yeah. Peeling off.

16:17 - 16:18
Yeah.

16:18 - 16:22
Yeah. It's like it's like I I that was what eh? was a piece that was hanging, and that's what

16:22 - 16:23
made me go, oh, what?

16:23 - 16:24
And then I looked around at the eh?.

16:24 - 16:26
It's like, oh, it's all in terrible shape.

16:26 - 16:28
Hopefully, it doesn't rain.

16:28 - 16:31
Well, it's it's okay. I've got five other tents.

16:31 - 16:33
I'll just take one of the other ones.

16:33 - 16:34
Yeah. Well, there you go. Yeah.

16:34 - 16:40
I'm a I have the eh? tent that I use for when I go with my buddies, and then I have, I have

16:40 - 16:43
a bigger tent for when me and my wife go.

16:44 - 16:47
Cool. How many days a year do you get out roughly?

16:48 - 16:49
It depends on the year.

16:49 - 16:54
Some years they just do a bunch of weekend trips, you know, try and get out, you know, once

16:54 - 17:00
or twice a month And then some years you, you know, you gotta go out a little less or you gotta

17:00 - 17:02
do one bigger trip or two bigger trips.

17:02 - 17:08
So been focusing on doing more, like, less but longer trips.

17:08 - 17:12
It's it's nice to get out there for it takes a day or so just to get kind

17:12 - 17:13
of relaxed. Yep.

17:13 - 17:17
And then, you know, by the time you've relaxed or on a long weekend, you know, you relax the

17:17 - 17:19
one day and then you're packing up the next day.

17:19 - 17:25
So it's nice to have, you know, I like to have at least five day, if not more.

17:25 - 17:28
I'd like to push it. It's hard though.

17:29 - 17:32
My friend has little kids, so

17:34 - 17:35
It's not a problem to have anymore.

17:36 - 17:38
Yeah. Yeah. Just scheduling. Right?

17:38 - 17:40
And then, you know, you gotta take time off for work.

17:40 - 17:42
You don't get vacation paid.

17:44 - 17:46
Eh? jealous of the people that take the month long trips.

17:46 - 17:52
Some people you see regularly that do the month long trips, and it looks like a good time. Day one day.

17:52 - 17:53
Yeah. Wouldn't win the lottery.

17:53 - 17:58
Good. We're not gonna eh? it all to, you know, testing, research, and development.

17:58 - 17:59
Oh, there you go.

17:59 - 18:01
There you go. Attaboy. Work those taxes.

18:02 - 18:04
Yeah. Right off the whole trip. Yeah.

18:05 - 18:11
I am gonna try and make a little some more, daily carry stuff. I'm gonna eh?

18:11 - 18:19
I'm gonna try and make a backpack that is more for, you know, using on a daily basis instead

18:19 - 18:22
of just for, you know, camping oriented stuff.

18:22 - 18:26
Because I mean, everything I make, you can use whenever you want, but maybe something that's

18:26 - 18:33
a little more oriented towards, you know, going to work or just going on a short hike, something like that.

18:33 - 18:36
So that's something I have been working on now.

18:36 - 18:40
I gotta start putting some thread together for it.

18:40 - 18:43
So a particular eh?, roughly how long does it take you to make?

18:43 - 18:46
I I it'll vary obviously by what you're making but

18:46 - 18:54
Oh, yeah. Yeah. But I eh?, it doesn't take a whole, like, maybe it'd take me a week or two if

18:54 - 18:56
you want something super custom.

18:56 - 18:57
Yeah.

18:57 - 19:03
You know, if I gotta order fabrics, it takes longer, but it really depends on how complicated it is.

19:03 - 19:09
But most things like a smaller fanny pack or couches and stuff like that, I can usually get

19:09 - 19:13
out in, you know, a day or two as, you know, I know how to make them.

19:13 - 19:18
So I have, you know, I day to have little templates for certain things just to make it a little

19:18 - 19:20
easier so I don't need to do measurements every time.

19:21 - 19:24
Cool. That's way faster than I thought. Yeah.

19:24 - 19:26
It's a long time since I've done any sewing, though.

19:26 - 19:28
So what do I know?

19:28 - 19:32
Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, a couple days is something, you know, straightforward that I've

19:32 - 19:38
done before without too much, you know, I don't have to think about too much, then I can do things relatively quickly.

19:38 - 19:44
But if I gotta customize it, then it might take me a little longer or it will take me a little

19:44 - 19:47
longer because it's been a lot of time thinking about stuff.

19:49 - 19:55
You know, which direction do I want the seam to fold the seam if, you know, water's running down the bag?

19:55 - 20:02
You don't wanna you wanna make sure that the seams are in such a way that it's not cooling on

20:02 - 20:04
the seam that's sort of running the water off.

20:05 - 20:08
Burning down was something that I was just trying to figure out.

20:09 - 20:11
Running right into the pocket of the

20:11 - 20:11
of the

20:11 - 20:14
Well, yeah. Exactly. You wanna kinda make it make eh?.

20:15 - 20:16
A little bit of thought.

20:16 - 20:22
And, is there particular maintenance or upkeep that people need to do to your products once they've got them?

20:22 - 20:26
Like, should they spray them in silicone or something like that just to keep them waterproof? Or

20:27 - 20:34
no. I mean, like like I was saying, I mean, with the waterproof materials, I mean, they're they're waterproof.

20:35 - 20:39
There's not I mean, if you poke a hole in it, then, you know, you're gonna have to patch it.

20:40 - 20:49
If, you know, like you were saying, like, seam tapes and seam, like, seam grips, you know, silicones

20:49 - 20:53
and stuff, they do eventually dry out or wear out.

20:53 - 20:54
They need to be redone.

20:54 - 20:58
But as far as, like, the pack materials in general, like, there shouldn't be any maintenance.

20:58 - 21:03
You know, wash it off if it gets covered in dirt, but there's no special maintenance that needs to be done.

21:04 - 21:05
Keep an eye on the seams.

21:05 - 21:09
And like you said with your tent, seam needs to be a little bit maintenance.

21:10 - 21:14
You know, if you don't feel comfortable doing it, I can always, you know, redo it for you.

21:14 - 21:16
Cool. I I mean, I send you my tent though.

21:18 - 21:20
So it's your fly, I guess.

21:21 - 21:27
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I can't say that I looked at the I was looking through mesh when I when I looked at it.

21:27 - 21:33
I I don't think I'm gonna have to look at the tub now and just see what kind of shape it's in,

21:33 - 21:35
like the the bottom of the eh?.

21:35 - 21:39
But, yeah, the fly was it's it makes me sad.

21:39 - 21:41
I I ordered the tape already.

21:41 - 21:42
I don't you know, whatever.

21:42 - 21:48
I'll it'll be a be a fun experiment to see if I can figure out how to how to strip it and then

21:48 - 21:49
how to put the new stuff on.

21:49 - 21:51
Yeah. Stripping it'll be fun.

21:51 - 21:51
Yeah.

21:51 - 21:54
Yeah. That's the fun part always.

21:55 - 21:58
Note to self. Yeah. Maybe maybe I'll make the kid do it.

21:58 - 21:59
Yeah. There you go.

22:00 - 22:00
See? It'll

22:00 - 22:01
be fun. You'll enjoy

22:02 - 22:03
it. Yeah.

22:03 - 22:04
It's a learning experience.

22:04 - 22:07
Yeah. They they they both know me far too well.

22:07 - 22:10
They they know if I say something like that, I'm I'm just full of it.

22:11 - 22:15
Yeah. I have played around with doing a bit of gear maintenance for people, you know.

22:16 - 22:23
Not everyone can afford new stuff all the time or but want to keep their stuff going so it's hard though logistically.

22:24 - 22:28
If you're kind of far, you know, there's a shipping cost and mailing everything around and meeting

22:28 - 22:34
up and so good obviously be kind of limited to the Eh?, Southern Ontario area.

22:34 - 22:39
I mean, if they're willing to pay for shipping back and forth, try and fix something.

22:40 - 22:43
Yeah. That would get expensive after a while, I would think though.

22:43 - 22:45
Yeah. I think it would.

22:46 - 22:52
Eh? then it's hard for me to say what can be done without you know, people can only take so many pictures.

22:52 - 22:54
I kinda have to to hold it

22:54 - 22:55
How many hands?

22:55 - 22:57
What what can be you know, you know.

22:57 - 23:02
And then for them to ship me something and then I'm like, I there's nothing I you know, this

23:02 - 23:06
has been a waste of money for we'll see. It's possible.

23:07 - 23:07
Eh?.

23:08 - 23:14
If there's ever, you know, people wanna reach out, reach out anytime, ask questions, and usually available.

23:15 - 23:18
I'll try and get back as quickly as possible when I can.

23:18 - 23:21
So would you ever consider mass producing your products?

23:22 - 23:29
So what what I would like to, you know, if what I think would be great would be just like a

23:29 - 23:36
small shop with you know, my dream would just be a small shop with, like, a smaller floor.

23:36 - 23:42
Maybe I don't know how many machines going and just have people make it, you know, hire in Canada

23:42 - 23:46
and hire, you know, whoever wants to work.

23:47 - 23:54
And then, you know, that would take care of the mass produced stuff, and then I could focus

23:54 - 23:59
more on just doing custom stuff because like you say, I like, I like the problem solving.

24:00 - 24:02
You know, people reach out and they want something super custom.

24:02 - 24:07
I have my own little workshop I can go in and I play around with a bunch of stuff.

24:08 - 24:11
That'd be way down the road if that were to ever happen.

24:11 - 24:18
Eh?, and I wonder now what what, like, you know, the mechs and the the sales and stuff like

24:18 - 24:24
so eh? back when it was mountain equipment co op, not mountain equipment company, You know,

24:24 - 24:30
they used to do like, it was a real it was run by by tree huggers.

24:30 - 24:35
It was, you know, they they it was ethical material sourcing, ethical labor sourcing.

24:37 - 24:40
And they, you know, they it was pretty rigorous sort of testing and all that sort of jazz.

24:40 - 24:46
So so that's when I'm when I'm looking around at gear, which I I try not to do because I have

24:46 - 24:48
a tendency to come home with it.

24:48 - 24:50
Yeah. Yeah. I know that.

24:50 - 24:56
But when I'm looking around at gear, it's not it's not I don't see necessarily that level of quality anymore.

24:57 - 25:03
So that's for me, like, that's what when I started watching your your stuff on Instagram going, oh, that's cool. That's cool.

25:03 - 25:07
And then and then, you know, having our little chats, like, well and it's gonna be well made.

25:07 - 25:12
Like, that's that's what what attracts me to to that sort of deal.

25:12 - 25:14
Yeah. Right. It attracts me too.

25:15 - 25:21
I like I, you know, I like to support the little guys, you know, where there's you know, you

25:21 - 25:28
can tell that, you know, someone put work into something instead of just buying it off a big factory.

25:28 - 25:35
You know, I I think companies get to a size like I don't know what happened to them, but something happened.

25:35 - 25:41
Well, they they ran into a money issue is what they they somebody wasn't wasn't watching the

25:41 - 25:46
hen house and they ended up with a a pile of stock sitting somewhere and Yeah.

25:46 - 25:49
So they kinda had no choice but to sell, unfortunately.

25:51 - 25:52
That's unfortunate.

25:52 - 25:56
It is too. Used to be my my favorite place ever to go if they

25:56 - 25:59
Oh, yeah. Me too. I I can't remember the last time I've gone.

25:59 - 26:03
Brick and mortar stores aren't even there aren't even a lot of them around anymore.

26:03 - 26:05
A lot of good, like, outdoor brick and mortar stores.

26:05 - 26:07
It's all big, you know.

26:07 - 26:11
I like going to La Eh? before before, you know, but now they're gone.

26:11 - 26:12
That was way back. Yep.

26:12 - 26:14
Yeah. Well, not a lot

26:14 - 26:17
of Canadian Canada items either, which, like, we we would like that too.

26:18 - 26:24
Yeah. I like Okay. You know, I I can't see ever not having my stuff made in Canada if it ever

26:24 - 26:26
ever were to get to a question.

26:27 - 26:31
I'd rather stay smaller eh? stay here.

26:32 - 26:34
We we would rather that too.

26:35 - 26:45
But I don't know. I think it's good and it's important to have some Canadian and North American made options. You know?

26:45 - 26:49
Not to say there's not, you know, there is good stuff coming from overseas for sure.

26:52 - 26:59
Yeah. Well, I yes. I I have gear that was made elsewhere that Yeah. Is is just dandy. No problems.

26:59 - 27:03
I I've also bought stuff that was made elsewhere that was

27:03 - 27:07
Yeah. You run into that problem. It's nice.

27:08 - 27:10
I mean, nice to have things made in Canada.

27:10 - 27:13
I think it's not easy. Especially made in Canada.

27:13 - 27:20
A lot of like as far as sourcing materials eh? aren't a lot of places to source materials in Canada.

27:20 - 27:28
There's a few but for like the higher end like, super technical fabrics, I have to, most of

27:28 - 27:34
the time, order from The US. It's it decides cost. Yeah.

27:34 - 27:40
But Exchange and you know, that's at my point now if it you know, I'm sure if I was buying in

27:40 - 27:44
bulk, good be a lot cheaper. Right? So

27:44 - 27:47
As opposed to buying sort of per order.

27:47 - 27:50
Yeah. Well, I try not to buy it per order as much.

27:50 - 27:57
I try and have stock of stuff enough to and then if people want, you know, special colors or

27:57 - 27:59
a certain fabric, then I'd have to bring it in. You know?

27:59 - 28:03
I offer people what I have, and then if they want something else, then I'll bring that in.

28:03 - 28:05
And then it's working for now.

28:05 - 28:13
I mean, the more work the more I do and if I can order stuff in bulk, the reality is I try and

28:13 - 28:14
keep my prices like reasonable.

28:15 - 28:18
You know, I'm not making a ton of money doing it.

28:18 - 28:22
You know, I'm not making like, I doubt I'm making very much at all.

28:23 - 28:28
You know, when I put you only factor in time making stuff yourself is, you know, it's not lucrative.

28:28 - 28:33
Yeah. You're good. You're day you are making peanuts per hour. Like

28:33 - 28:35
Oh, yeah. It's nothing per hour.

28:35 - 28:42
Like, there's you know, the majority of the cost is in materials. And that's important too.

28:42 - 28:47
I don't wanna, like I wanna make something that's sort of attainable for people as well.

28:47 - 28:52
You know, I don't wanna be charging a thousand dollars for backpacks and stuff is it's a lot.

28:52 - 28:55
Like, people, you know, everything's expensive right now.

28:55 - 28:59
I try not to try and keep it as reasonable as possible. Yeah.

28:59 - 28:59
I try

29:00 - 29:05
I'm trying I'm trying to keep things as, you know, I don't wanna be gouging people for stuff.

29:05 - 29:08
You know, I take a look at the market value of stuff as well. Right?

29:08 - 29:11
So I don't wanna be undercutting the whole market.

29:11 - 29:18
I don't wanna be charging too day too over the you know, trying to do fair eh? costs for everybody

29:18 - 29:24
because a lot of unfair costs. Everything was going up. So

29:24 - 29:30
Yep. Yep. I'm glad I already own a bunch of gear because I'd hate to have to go and replace it all now.

29:30 - 29:36
It'd be like it just I'd you'd I have to check my $6.49 tickets from last night, I suppose.

29:36 - 29:37
Yeah. There you go. You never know.

29:37 - 29:39
All new gear all around.

29:39 - 29:41
Right. This is for everybody. Woo. Christmas.

29:43 - 29:45
Canoe tripping all summer.

29:46 - 29:47
Don't get me started.

29:47 - 29:49
That's it for us for today.

29:49 - 29:55
Thank you so much to William Eh? from Bowman Gear for joining us and talking about his handmade

29:55 - 29:59
gear that he makes for canoeing canoe tripping and backcountry camping.

30:00 - 30:01
Please do check him out.

30:01 - 30:04
He's on Instagram, threads, and TikTok.

30:04 - 30:10
His account is Bowman underscore gear on all of those platforms, and he's on Facebook as well.

30:11 - 30:13
And please do reach out to us.

30:13 - 30:17
We are on Facebook and Instagram and YouTube and what did I miss? Twitter?

30:17 - 30:20
Twitter eh?, whatever the heck that is now.

30:20 - 30:24
Yeah. That thing. Please do email us if you want to talk to us or if you have a suggestion for

30:24 - 30:29
a, episode that we could do. We are high@supergoodcampaign.com.

30:29 - 30:34
That's hi@supergoodcampaign.com, and we'll talk to you again soon. Bye. Bye.