With room to move, possibilities abound for Camp N Car

Posted

There is literally light at the end of a tunnel of sorts for Steve Moore and Martin Nerbovig, the two young business owners of Camp N Car.

The former of home of Pygmy Kayaks is now hosting the next iteration of the growing company. Since May, when they got an interview on the CheapRvLiving YouTube channel with a modest 535k followers, Camp N Car hasn’t been able to keep up with orders. 

Part of that limitation was physical space. The move into the new location on Workman Street will nearly triple their operating space. 

Since the team has the skillset to build out the business, Nerbovig and Moore will be busy for about a month adding a lofted office space and preparing a computerized numerical control room for custom fabrications.

Currently, the team depends on local lumber specialists Edensaw Woods to do custom millings. They are “a great company,” said Moore, and they source all of their plywood product directly from Edensaw. 

The hemlock lumber that Moore and Nerbovig will mill in their new building is native to Washington. 

“It’s the state tree,” he added. 

Emphasizing the local and sustainable aspects of Camp N Car is important for business values: “We’re all granolas, and we have a great heart for the outdoors.”

Sandwiched between a shop-move and big plans for increasing production was the monthly Seattle VanLife Meetup on
Aug. 12. 

This event is the duo’s brainchild, and while it went virtual last year, monthly meets are back. 

Every second Thursday, car campers of all kinds meet up to scope out new rigs, kick tires, and tour build-outs at Discovery Park South Parking Lot in Seattle. 

Moore shared that a new venue is needed since the lot has filled up fast. 

“Camping out of your car might not be as luxurious” as traveling in a typical RV, but Moore is pretty sure why Camp N Car’s appeal has stuck. Custom builds can run from $1,000 and up, he said.

The Camp N Car team is excited to be “doing all manufacturing in-house.” 

Trading up feels good. Well, at least it will after Camp N Car re-opens to the public in mid-September, with a turnaround of a week or two instead of one to two months.

It’s all about “every day van life or car camping,” Moore said. “It’s kind of my life now.”

Learn more about the business at campncar.com.