Hi Tony,
Thanks for the comments and thoughts. I have taken everyone's thoughts and comments into consideration, and will do so with yours also. Here is some additional information and responses to your thoughts:
The old Price was $1500 USD, I agree thats way too much. Seahorse Pricing starts at $1349.99 CAD. This pricing model is not purely based on Production costs but also takes into consideration the costs associated with acquiring and maintaining a valid Safety Certification annually, competing products do not offer this peace of mind. I can assure you that after careful consideration and dialogue with dealers etc this seems to be an extremely competitive and fair market price.
Target Market - Camping Users - for example purposes only: there are approx 1.2Million PWC Users in the USA alone. Statistically 22% of the adult population are avid campers thats to say they go camping at least 3-4 times a year. Thats approx 264K PWC'ers that go camping regularly. Assuming conservatively that 10% of these Campers want to take their PWC's camping, thats a potential market of 26400+ customers.
To your point Modern Ski's (excl the Spark) certainly have larger fuel tanks and more storage, they also consume gas at higher rates and the storage still isn't enough to take camping equipment and enough food etc for a long weekend camping. Therefore there is a need for the HydroTrailer. Albeit a niched need as in this example. There is difference between the HydroTrailer and a Kayak, in construction and approved uses. The HydroTrailer has a 11cu.ft Watertight compartment with a capacity of 200lbs., way more capacity than kayaks and modern skis in terms of storage.
As for buying an accessory thats the same value or potentially more expensive than the Ski's they are riding, I'd argue that in the case of the above camping example, Avid camping enthusiasts are accustomed to spending money on the latest and greatest camping technology, accessories etc. The advantage to them with the HydroTrailer is the ability to amortize the cost of the unit over its long lifespan. This amortization and the flexibility it provides to take additional equipment and or food etc will be appealing.
I firmly believe that, as global PWC new-sales grew by 15% in 2014 and are expected to do the same in 2015 and beyond, coupled with the advent of online sales and ecommerce platforms that didn't exist in the past, there is a global market that makes sense to re-introduce this product at this time. I'd like to add that I have had extensive dialogue with the previous manufacturer and some of his dealers and I am satisfied that he simply had no interest in it and therefore he pulled the plug. The Moulds came to him through an acquisition of another business.
I launched this crowdfunding program to help raise the capital required to get certification and the first production run, I have already invested my own funds into this also. As for refunds, returns, interest and shares in the company, Indigogo sets these policies no me. I went down the crowdfunding route as apposed to bank loans or equity lending as these are both very expensive options and I wanted to maintain a fair market pricing model. I am sure you know, financing costs such as these, are generally recuperated by companies through inflated pricing models.
I hope that this reply satisfies your curiosity and that you can see that I am an above board individual and have giving this project due process.
Here are the Generic plans/timelines...
August/September 2015: Get Indiegogo supporters and contributions, launch website and spread the word.
October 2015: Safety and quality assurance testing (neither of the competing products have this). Place the first production order and procurement of raw materials and components etc
November 2015: Production, assembly, and packaging,
December 2015: Begin fulfillment to our Indiegogo fans, spectators, riders, pro-riders and champions.
January 2016: Introduce HYDRO-TRAILER at Toronto International Boat Show. Launch online sales platform.
Clint
