Car Hammock products are designed and implemented by frugal travelers to help you sleep comfortably inside your car or SUV for less than the price of a hotel room.
What's in it for YOU!
Why we need your support?
Capital and R&D
In 2016 we put the manufacturing wheels in motion by partnering with a manufacturing company in the midwest. Our initial order of 100 units sold out rapidly once we were featured on Gizmodo, The Chive, and Cool Things in the Spring of 2017. We were caught off-guard with such a rapid demand request and ran out of inventory. Our attempts to restock our inventory were met with a price increase from our manufacturer. Knowing our customers we knew that we could not pass the price hike onto them so we had to explore other manufacturers. We used the time during our manufacturing courting period to listen to our customer's suggestions for improvement and came up with a better design. Finally, after a few failures we have found a manufacturer that has the ability to make Car Hammocks at a reasonable price without sacrificing strength or quality.
We want satisfied customers so we will now be offering free shipping and no hassle returns. In order to do this we have to order our raw materials in large quantities and we just don't have that kind of capital lying around. That is where this campaign comes into play.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Our base model (Car Hammock OG) was designed for 4-Door sedans but can be adapted to fit on other vehicles. We've even had customers put it inside extended cab trucks, vans, and Jeeps:
For adventurers with SUVs we have the
Car Hammock XL
After our initial launch we received inquiries regarding our base model fitting on SUVs and wagons. While we figured out how to make the base model fit on some SUVs it became too difficult to inform our customers which vehicles it could work with based upon the anchor points available. Previously we thought there would be no reason to develop a model designed for SUVs because larger vehicle owners could sleep in the rear of their vehicle. We were obviously mistaken. Therefore, we got to work on a model that is a better fit for SUVs and wagons.
We know that a lot of SUVs have closed rail roof racks or none at all. This is a problem that we are still currently trying to solve due to the lack of anchor points for the rear straps.
We are currently testing out two solutions:
1. Adding additional hardware to the roof strap for the carabiners to hook into.
2. Educating the customer on how to tie loops into the roof strap for the carabiners to attach.
Both of these solutions are viable options. However, if neither of them yield the comfort level we expect then we plan on using the crowdfunding dollars to dig deeper.
THE BAG
For both of our products we decided to go with a simple drawstring bag. We chose this bag for simplicity and speed. We recalled the headache of packing up our tents after a 3-day music festival and didn't want our customers to experience anything like that. So when you're done with your Car Hammock, simply unclip the buckles, ball it up, and stuff it into the bag. No precision folding or tetris skills needed.
INCEPTION OF CAR HAMMOCK
I had just recently quit my job in Washington, D.C. to go back to school. Before the semester began I planned to attend a 3-day music festival. After a few days of festivities, the sweltering heat broke me down and I needed a few minutes of air conditioning. I got in my car and reclined the front seat to enjoy the cool air. As I lay there staring up at the worn fabric of the car, I realized there was lots of unused space with the seats reclined. The light bulb went off -- I could create a product that used the empty space for sleeping inside the car. Immediately after the music festival, I searched the internet for similar products and, to my surprise, I found nothing. Once I realized I had an original idea I began researching materials, sketching ideas, and eventually my excitement drove me to an outdoor retail store to look at strapping, stitching patterns, and types of buckles.
Over the next 18 months I developed prototypes, tested materials, learned about patents, sourced materials, etc, etc, you get the point.
Here is the first photo of prototype testing
Coming Soon to a Roadtrip For You!
We also have some good ideas coming down the pike that we would like to explore.
Car Hammock Deluxe - A material-lined version with built in pillows and an integrated inflatable liner or memory foam.
Winter Car Hammock - A version with an underquilt and more rugged hardware.
For now, we are working on perfecting the most common types of vehicles, but, eventually, we would love to get a Car Hammock in every type of vehicle available.
Risks and challenges
During our initial roll out the main challenges we ran into were:
- Low capital
- Vehicle Compatibility Information
- Manufacturing costs
- Lack of distribution partnerships
- Increased competition
There were some other minor challenges that we have overcome with our new design, but the capital and distribution ones are the most prevalent.
In order to overcome the fit challenge we have taken a different approach to informing the customer. There are so many makes and models of vehicle out there that we found it near impossible to document every vehicle Car Hammock works with. Instead of focusing on which vehicles Car Hammock will fit on, we have decided to layout specific features of vehicles that will render the Car Hammock unsuitable for your vehicle . https://carhammock.com/fit
The issue of low capital and distribution is a bit more difficult. The pains we have gone through to find a strategic manufacturing partner that can match our quality and strength standards were vast. This is the main reason we have needed so much time to release our updated product. However, we have found partners that stand by their craftsmanship and were instrumental in some of the design points in our XL model.
Our new manufacturing partners are able to hit a price point that allows us to relay those reasonable costs onto our customers for the OG model, the XL model still needs a bit of time to perfect. Of course that price point only comes with bulk quantities, which is why we are crowdfunding. We are hoping to keep our price point under $75; that price is delivered on the customer's doorstep.
We have also seen a lot of international interest, but the shipping costs turn off some of the customers. From this campaign we hope to gain some strategic partnerships in select areas where we can distribute Car Hammocks at reasonable price points.
Thanks!
We really appreciate you visiting our kickstarter campaign and for your support. We realize that our product is not for everyone but if you think of someone that would be interested, please share it with them. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
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Funding period
- (30 days)