Outskirts Overland Podcast

Your Investment Shouldn't Be Disposable: The Case for Replaceable Parts in Outdoor Gear

• Charlie Racinowski

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Charlie from Outskirts Overland shares his weekend activities and dives deep into the importance of finding outdoor equipment with replaceable components, particularly focusing on rooftop tents.

• National Gardening Day and National Dolphin Day on April 14th
• Spent weekend at soccer game and practicing drone flying for unmanned aerial systems pilot certification
• Truck repairs should be completed this week with shirts and stickers arriving today
• Currently researching rooftop tents with replaceable components after using his 23 Zero tent for over 100 nights
• Investigating Intrepid and iCamper models that offer zip-in/zip-out fabrics and serviceable parts
• Importance of opening wet tents to dry completely to prevent mold and fabric breakdown
• Planning to check out serviceable equipment options at the upcoming More Expo event
• Considerations for cost-effectiveness when comparing expensive serviceable equipment versus replacing cheaper gear

Text the podcast, send emails to charlie@outskirtsoverland.com, or connect on social media at Outskirts Overland on Facebook and Instagram.


Speaker 1:

The hey guys. Happy monday. It's 4 14 um. Glad to be here, happy to see you guys. It's charlie with outskirts overland. I am gonna give one second. I'm trying to figure out what day today is. What national day is today? National day today, it says Derg Downfall Day. I don't know about that. National Gardening Day and National Dolphin Day. I don't know about that National Gardening Day and National Dolphin Day. So we got two national. I'll go with gardening, although I do like dolphins enough. We're going to go with the gardening side. We're going to go with the gardening side. I appreciate that more. So National Gardening day on 414 um.

Speaker 1:

This weekend I didn't do anything camping related actually, um, just went to a soccer game on sat. Well, friday night went out to dinner for my girlfriend's birthday. Saturday went to soccer. Then we tried to go to st louis to go to this uh expo and man, there was a. There must have been a huge wreck. We got stuck on i-70 for like two hours. So we didn't make it to that thing and hell, we didn't even make it. We took, we took an exit eventually and got off. The highway was still stopped.

Speaker 1:

It was wild and then yesterday, a whole of nothing. I uh yeah, I'm going to school for my uh unmanned aerial systems and I am older for those of you that know me but I'm going to school for my unmanned aerial aerial systems, um pilot and tech technology. So I did a lot of uh drone flying this yesterday. I had a lot to do, you know. I got to put in hours and stuff for the. I'm doing it through school, like a college, so it's got required stuff to do. So I mean I did a bunch of that yesterday. I haven't even told you guys about doing that because it just hasn't been, it hasn't made sense to yet, but this weekend I spent a lot of time yesterday doing that um, videotaping, maneuvers and stuff that I for class I mean I have to turn it in anyways so I did a bunch of that. But that didn't keep me from watching a little bit of youtube and getting getting a little bit of uh some gear stuff going on. So for those of you that got out this weekend, it was a beautiful weekend and I hope you guys really enjoyed it.

Speaker 1:

It looks like this coming weekend's also gonna be warm at least it's saying rain, but at least warm. It is easter sunday coming up, guys. So I, you know it's. I went camping over valentine's day Day weekend and we said something about it being Valentine's and a guy that was with us had forgotten completely that it was Valentine's. So he ended up leaving early to go back to his lady because he had forgotten it was Valentine's Day.

Speaker 1:

So before anybody goes not that I think Easter's the same boat, but just remember, this weekend is Easter on Sunday. So nobody ends up in a scenario where they're like, oh, I forgot it's Easter. I got things to do and now I'm far away. I'm not trying to be anybody's dad here, just Easter's dad here. Easter is this Sunday, so be aware of it.

Speaker 1:

My truck should be done this week. I am freaking, chomping at the bit. I don't know that. I'll go get it this week, it might be next week. We'll see my shirts and my stickers will be here today. So that makes me really happy. That takes some stress off my plate. My shirts and my stickers will be here today, cha-cha-chao. So that makes me really happy. That takes some stress off my plate. I get so worried about that stuff. Guys, keep leaving reviews. If you guys could, I really, really, really, really would appreciate it if you guys would leave some reviews on the podcast.

Speaker 1:

I did go through and look at some gear this weekend and I hate to say it, but I was looking at rooftop tents. Um, I have a super nice 23, zero rooftop tent but there's some new stuff out and before I go to more expo I wanted to kind of be aware of what new stuff was out, because I am I'm not in the market for a rooftop tent by any means, but I am. I am curious to look and see what brands I might want to look at at more expo and I've been looking for stuff, that is, I've been looking for stuff that's more like like I think I camper makes one intrepid camp gear, makes one to their wedge style rooftop tents, but the the tent fabric zips in and zips out, so it's replaceable. The reason I think that this is the reason that I think this is important, is because I I kind of I've spent over a hundred nights in my 23 zero and by no means is it washed like what like done by any means, but it's maybe. I mean, I don't know it's not done but I've already patched a couple of holes in it. The fabric's not fading, luckily, and Nick wax did send me some stuff to wash it and re-waterproof it and, you know, kind of protect it a little from UV rays. But I would love to not have to do another one again.

Speaker 1:

So I've just been kind of loosely keeping my, you know, ear to the ground on tents that essentially you can replace the fabric on, you can, like they essentially make them to where you could service them. I'm at a point in my so I didn't used to have a rooftop tent so I had a ground tent. So I mean, once the ground tent becomes unserviceable you get another ground tent and it's no big deal. But these rooftop tents they're heavy, they're expensive and they really they don't. Nobody really makes one that you can maintain, so you don't. Nobody really makes one that you can, that you can maintain, so you could keep. You know they all are like mine's made out of aluminum top and bottom but everything's sewn in. So essentially the the base and the top's gonna outlast the fabric by far. It's just aluminum.

Speaker 1:

So I've been looking just me being me like I want to get something that I don't have to replace, like take the tent off If I got to zip out and zip in some new panels because they made it to where that's an option. That's a way better idea for me Because, again, my rooftop tent's not done yet by any means, but it's probably. I mean it's going to get there sooner than later. But it's probably. I mean it's going to get there sooner than later, and I would just like to be in a scenario where I could replace the piece instead of the whole thing you know. So I've been keeping my eyes out. It looks like right now Intrepid's I don't know what it's called, but Intrepid makes the one with the two foldable things.

Speaker 1:

But you can replace the gasket, you can replace the fabric, like it all zips in, it's all. I mean. It's all completely replaceable, all of it. The mattress on the inside is a blow-up mattress, so that's also completely replaceable. The condensation mat Like literally everything in that tent you can replace. They make parts for it. You can service it. It's a real expensive rooftop tent, but it's. All of those things exist. Icamper makes one now that's a BDV, and I think you even have to put it together when you get it a little bit. But it's all replaceable as well and I don't know what it costs both.

Speaker 1:

These are wedge style tents and I'm not bringing this to you guys to like look at this. But what I will say is, if you guys are looking at rooftop tents and you, so two things if you're looking at rooftop tents and you've been doing overlanding for a long time, you kind of know a little bit more like okay, like you, there's two routes you can go. You can go real expensive and just hope it lasts a long time. You can go real cheap with the idea you can get two or three for the expensive one, or you're, or you're like me. Where you're like okay, this is my third rooftop tent and I'm just I don't want to change a tent again. Like getting up on it and like zipping something in or replacing it because it's replaceable is way more advantageous to me at this point.

Speaker 1:

I don't want something that I got to take off and then try and resell on Facebook more. I just want a tent that like that's going to last me and it will be a wedge style tent and maybe the one I have will never give me any issues. But I'm preparing myself for the idea that it may. I have no reason to believe it is right now, but man, it has got a lot of nights in it and just from my time doing this. I don't know that I've gotten 300 nights out of a rooftop tent Total, but I think that I do think I could do that in that Intrepid I think it would. I mean if it didn't, I can just fix the thing that's not good, without having to buy a whole new tent. That's really interesting to me. They'll be at more expo too. I even checked because I'm going to go look at it.

Speaker 1:

So somebody said, hey, what's the topic of today's topic? I'm just going over, like rooftop tents and uh, serviceability, because they're not serviceable typically. So you know, even when you get the soft shell ones, you want to find a brand that also makes, that makes a replaceable cover for them and stuff like which is something I've, we've been up against before. But and my friend had 23, 230 tent but they make one and it's relatively inexpensive. It's like $150 for a new folded cover.

Speaker 1:

So it's just something that's on my mind and I guess it's because we've had such crazy wins lately here in the Midwest that I'm like man, what happens if this thing just like rips, I guess probably is what's what's even brought this to my front of mind? You know, like what happens here, um, and I got patches for sure. I just I was like man. If this thing does like rip rip, I'm either I'm either sewing it back together and gluing it or something, or I have to get a whole entire new rooftop tent. And then I was like man. That kind of sucks and that doesn't make any of them bad, or anything Like take care of yourself, pay attention to yourself, maybe don't go camping when it's so windy, et cetera. Like, obviously there's some user, you know circumstance that makes a tent not last as long, potentially, and stuff like that. I mean don't get me wrong. Wrong, I mean do not get me wrong, that's a for real, that's probably a thing and that's probably a thing that I'm screwing up. So by going in some of these temperatures and different things, I mean I drop my truck off to get worked on and everything is wet because we got rained on. So I don't even I'm gonna that's. I mean, luckily I got that stuff to wash it and whatnot, because I'm gonna have to, because I bet it's gross. Um, the awning for sure is soaked, so I'm gonna have to get all that out and air it out for some amount of time.

Speaker 1:

For those of you that don't know. When your rooftop tent gets wet. You get rained on at camp and you pack it it up. You know moist, to any extent you have to go home. Well, you don't have to go home, but when you get to a stopping place you want to open it up so that it could completely dry out. That doesn't matter what rooftop tent you have, that's all of them. Like you get them wet, you got to open them. Open them up, you want them to air out, you don't want to just leave them closed. Oh, excuse me, until next time you go camping. That's not the, that's not the way you do that. You want to get it out, get it open, otherwise you'll start tearing your stuff up, it'll get mold, mildew and I'll start breaking down fabrics and seams and just ruining your gear. That costs a literal ton of money. So but anyways, getting my mindset on like what brands?

Speaker 1:

Right now, what I'm doing is I'm getting ready to go to more expo. I will be working at the more expo, but I don't think that's going to keep me from walking around a little bit and looking at some stuff. So I am. You know, I've went over there and seen what brands are going to be there and companies are going to be there and started looking into shoe, you know, started kind of looking into those companies to see if there's anything that's going to be there that I might want to look at. Like I say review, but like what I mean by that is like I might want to go just give it a look myself, like I want to go look at it, I want to go touch it if it's there and it's available, you know for sure. So that's what that's more, where I'm at is like let's see what's out there. The only thing that I mean you're always going to find stuff you didn't know you wanted when you go to stuff like that, which is why I try to limit going to those things actually. But since I'll be there and I'll be working, I'm going to look at a few things if I can, and one of them is going to be rooftop 10, seeing what, seeing if anything's introduced there, seeing what's new that's out there, that's replaceable, see, you know. See, touch some fabrics, look at some stuff, see what's going on in that world, because that's essentially where I live.

Speaker 1:

I'd say last year I did probably 60, 70 nights out there. I mean I'm not out there. I'm not living in my tent like full-time or anything, but I do spend a considerable amount of time in it, and I would like, you know, I just like something that would last. Not again, not that mine's not gonna, I don't know, but I know that my last two I mean my last two quite frankly. The last two quite frankly they were showing some wear already at 100 nights, and this one's at 100 nights. It was 70 last year, but I mean it's not last year anymore, it was almost the middle of this year, so it's already at 100 nights and it's doing okay.

Speaker 1:

You can notice some things, like the memory foam of the mattress isn't quite as good as it was. You can notice some things like the memory foam of the mattress isn't quite as good as it was. It's showing some like fading and stuff like that which is going to happen. I've got a couple of scratches in some of the gaskets where you shut it from off-roading you know trees and stuff, but nothing's broke. I mean it got one little hole in it, but it's at a spot where it folds. So I don't, I just don't't know.

Speaker 1:

I don't want to be caught off guard though, either. So I am interested to look at some rooftop tents and see what's going on there, what, what, who's making them now to where they're like serviceable, versus just almost some of them are just throwaway, really, and that's not ideal, like at all, like that sucks. So not not a huge fan of that, but so that's why I was looking at this weekend who's making stuff that I could replace pieces of and what those well, and also what those pieces cost to replace. You know, because, like, if I buy a what's one of them like nature nest or top oak and the prices may have went up on those, I don't know, but they used to be like 12 to 1500 bucks Well, if I get a $4,000 rooftop tent and the new zip in crap is a thousand bucks, well, I don't know that that tent's worth that.

Speaker 1:

I don't know that's worth the squeeze. Now you know what I mean. Like, is it worth it to even get the serviceable one at that point? Now, the only reason I'm sticking with that is because I don't want to keep taking one on and off. But if that's the I mean, unfortunately it's possible that that's the more cost-effective thing to do, like kind of overall. You know, it costs me the same to service one, as it does, to just buy another, then that's a whole nother thing and I hope that that that can. I hope that changes. So that's not the case. But anyways, that's what I've been doing this weekend was looking at stuff like that kind of getting getting locked down with what's out there and whatnot. So that's about all I got today. I'll be on tomorrow. Tomorrow's the day my truck's supposed to get started, so probably wednesday I should hear something, whether it's you know, something's not going well or it is going well, whatever's going on there. So that's about what I got going on, guys. I will catch you guys tomorrow.

Speaker 1:

If you guys got anything that you guys use that's serviceable, like that's your gear, you can replace stuff to help it, like piece by piece. Go ahead and drop it to me, shoot me a text on the podcast. I want to look into it, I want to talk about it. I'm always looking for that gear because I don't want to keep replacing stuff and I do use myself and I break some stuff like a lot, like I break a lot of stuff and that's why I am here for you guys Like, hey, this broke really fast and customer service was good and I don't mind talking about customer service, but I'd like to find brands where I don't need to know how good the customer service is, like the product's good, so I don't have to deal with customer service, and I know that might resonate with some of you guys too. Like customer service is great, you know, they resent me a new tent twice when it came in damaged. Well, is it great, though? Because they're not shipping it with somebody worth a damn. So I don't know, like I don't know. Those are thoughts I have. That's just how I think about it.

Speaker 1:

Um, you know, and I'm not made of money. Like I don't want to keep having to. My time is money, so anything that I have that takes me more time to be dealing with it, that's costing me money one way or another. So I'm always looking for stuff that's serviceable and reasonable to service too. You know. Like everybody knows, like servicing a Mercedes Benz is way more than a Honda. Like I don't want to have a car that's supposed to be so much better just to take on a different expensive cost. You know, I'd like it to be somewhat affordable. So like good quality, serviceable and not the most expensive in its category would be ideal. I know that might be difficult to do for a lot of reasons, but that's what I'm looking at, that's what I'm going after and that's what I'm.

Speaker 1:

You know I'm here for you guys. I'll catch you guys tomorrow to go ahead and text the podcast. It's at the. It's like literally as you scroll down in the notes of every podcast, it's the top thing you can text podcast. Click it, text me, um, I do talk about those. Also, you can leave comments. You can send me messages, charlie, at outskirtsoverlandcom is my email. You can hit me up on facebook or instagram, outskirts overland. Same thing. You can find my personal page, charlie razanowski, or on instagram, charlie raz. Any and all of those you can message and I'll get it. So I'll catch you guys tomorrow. Have a good one and happy national gardening day.