With the intention of hopefully having a retailer taking on the sale of these do you go looking for them or hope they find you? I realise these projects of yours are more just exercises in turning your thoughts etc into a physical thing for the joy of doing it, but was interested in your approach from there.
Well first I should say that the only reason I do these projects is for my own enjoyment - I love the process of designing something unique, and I enjoy building my designs to turn them into reality. If all that happens with any of my projects is that I do a design and build something to that design that I'm proud of, that's enough for me. I've never designed or built anything because I wanted to end up with a commercial product.
But, everything I design I also do with commercialization in mind, and that's mostly because I'm a practical guy and I don't see the point of building anything that couldn't be produced.
So to specifically answer your question, mostly companies contact me about marketing my designs. Here are some examples...
1. Safari Cab modular hardtop. I built this because I was unhappy with the design of the factory "upside-down bathtub" hardtops; I thought a top for a Jeep could be so much more, so I imagined something better, designed it, and built it. The Safari Cab is modular, so it's got features like removable hard side panels that can be swapped for soft roll-up side panels, and it's the only fiberglass hardtop that I am aware of that can natively support a roof-top tent. Fairly early in the project, I was contacted by Gr8Tops, and I licensed the design to them. A few weeks ago, they announced their first production run and availability of the tops. I've had the Safari Cab on my Jeep now for almost 3 years, and I can't imagine ever going back to a boring factory hardtop
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After I finished building the first Safari Cab for my Jeep, I went on to design a tailgate reinforcement/larger spare carrier (also for my Jeep), and I suggested to Gr8Tops that they ought to be interested in it. They were, they licensed it, and it's been on the market for almost two years - they named it the Exogate. I also designed and built a secure trunk box for my Jeep, and then suggested it to Gr8Tops, so they picked that one up too.
2. Jeep-tub trailer. I designed and built my Jeep-tub trailer kit because I thought it would be fun to build; I actually didn't need another trailer, but my experience in building a Jeep-tub trailer in metal out of two actual Jeep tubs convinced me that there had to be a better way. So I designed a fiberglass Jeep-tub trailer kit that bolts together, and during the project I was contacted by Compact Camping, who when on to license it from me. They named it the Dinoot, and it's been on the market for almost a year now in two different lengths, and it's turned out to be a pretty popular kit.
3. CJ Grille Kit for the TJ/LJ. My next big project was a custom fiberglass front clip kit for the TJ/LJ that backdates the styling of the Wrangler to the CJ era; it's a complete bolt-on kit that integrates a factory CJ grille with the Wrangler. I build this because I thought it would be really cool to backdate the styling of my Wrangler, and I thought it would be a very fun and interesting challenge to build a kit that was completely bolt-on, requiring no modifications to the Wrangler other than using a wrench to remove factory sheet metal and install the fiberglass parts.
During my work on that project I was contacted by a company that was interested in marketing it, they even sent me documents describing how they would package and market it as product. In addition, when I went to the SEMA show in Las Vegas last year, I talked to another company that I thought might be interested in it (I approached them at their booth at SEMA). But also, through my other contacts at SEMA, I was able to get industry sales data for fiberglass Jeep body parts (custom and OEM-replacement), and based on that data I decided that the market for my CJ Grille Kit would be fairly small, so I decided it wouldn't be worth my trouble to license it to a company and work with them to help them commercialize it. So I haven't licensed the CJ Grille Kit to anyone. (The photo on the right below shows the test-fitting on my LJ, two days after I fitted and then removed it for painting I had my bicycle accident and since then I haven't recovered enough shoulder strength to paint and reinstall it. Hopefully soon!)
So my current project is this military tub kit, and I don't have a firm commitment at this point from a company that's interested in marketing it. I have suggested to one of the companies that's licensed one of my other designs that they might be interested in adding the military tub kit to their product line, and they are interested, but I've also been contacted by others who are interested. So we'll have to wait and see what ultimately happens with this one. If nothing happens other than I build one or two prototypes and sell them when they're finished (because I've already got too many trailers), then I'll be happy. For me, it's all about the challenge of design and then building, it's not about commercialization.
Sorry for the long-winded answer, but I'm sometimes accused of doing this as a business and I wanted to give some examples showing that this really is only a hobby for me
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