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Podcast by a Panhandle Surf Angler for all anglers of any level. We will talk weekly to guests that are anglers and also industry professionals. I want you to walk away from this podcast with some knowledge either refreshed or new for you to become a better angler. Though it will start in the Panhandle of Florida, it will be around the entire United States so we can all learn something about fishing in different regions.
Speaker 1 (00:00:30):
Welcome to Finding the Most Spearfishing podcast. We're gonna have some fun today. We're gonna be speaking with Mr. Nathan Benjamin of Benjamin. We, uh, Benjamin's Beach Wheels. I always do that. I don't know why I always just go Nathan's wheels or, anyway, uh, we're gonna be talking with him today. We got a lot of cool stuff to cover about how he started the business, where the business is going, all the things in between, we'll talk, some fishing knowledge, but lots of cool stuff. And there's been a lot of buzz about him with through the community. Bunch of my friends are using his wheels and it's kind of cool how he came to the thought of it and how he got to where he is. So, uh, yeah, I'm pretty excited. This Bay Check is, or this episode is being brought to by Ninja Tackle. Ninja tackle va.com is the website.
Speaker 1 (00:01:09):
Go take a look at it. Lots of cool things in there with the rods. You guys know I love the Ninja Dagger series all the way from the 13 down to the seven, the travel one, great pieces of gear. He's also got rigs, uh, bait pieces if you need those. And if you're under the more other side and tactical, he's got Ninja Tactical. Yep. Uh, optics and other parts for your items, we'll go with that. 'cause you can't say the certain words on social or you get, uh, banned. Yeah. So ninja tackle va.com, this website, go take a look at it. So without further ado, I'm glad to have you on the show. It's gonna be great. Nathan, welcome. Hey
Speaker 2 (00:01:48):
Brian. Thanks for having me. Thank
Speaker 1 (00:01:49):
You for coming on, man. I, uh, I saw yesterday on the social, I saw you posting up, you got to go see Old Chip.
Speaker 2 (00:01:57):
Oh, yeah, yeah. We went up to Chip. I had to get some more floats. My wife makes the rigs that we sell and then I had to go over and visit Brian Kette at Surf Fishing Solutions and deliver him a bunch of wheels. 'cause he sold out. So yeah, I had to make a trip up there, Jacksonville.
Speaker 1 (00:02:11):
It's always good. I love the Curettes. We, we've talked before offline. Brian and Chantel are just two awesome humans.
Speaker 2 (00:02:18):
Oh yeah, . Yeah. They're really nice people.
Speaker 1 (00:02:22):
So he
Speaker 2 (00:02:23):
Does great work too.
Speaker 1 (00:02:24):
Oh, he does. And especially, I'm, I'm glad he went back to it. I really am. You know, I know he was off for a while, but I'm, I'm really glad he started back into it. And he just makes art, man. I hate saying his carts are art.
Speaker 2 (00:02:36):
That's true. He used to focus on the custom carts before, but now he's kind of getting out of that because he is just getting overwhelmed and it's long time to make 'em. So he is kind of focusing more on accessories now and stuff, so it's gonna be a lot easier for him.
Speaker 1 (00:02:49):
Yep. Well, so what we're talking today, uh, we're gonna be talking about how you specialize in the heavy duty beach wheels, uh, making it easier to go down the beach. Uh, I've, I've got a, a moon rover cart for lack of better terms. I've got four wheels and good wheels make a huge difference. They really do. Oh, yeah, definitely a big difference. And it's, I, I actually will say I put it into the need category. I, I don't really put it into the want category anymore. After so long with it, I really, I, I aim more at the need category. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (00:03:22):
I
Speaker 1 (00:03:22):
Agree. And you're hitting it. So, uh, let, let's start it off, man. Tell us your story and what got you into fishing.
Speaker 2 (00:03:28):
Sure. So I actually, um, got into fishing at a really young age. Um, my grandfather took me out when I was nine years old, me and my cousin. And we went to this, uh, river right at the bottom of a dam. And, uh, we went out there fishing and he baited showed us how to bait the hookup with the worm and cast a line out there. And suddenly he had to go to the bathroom. So me and my cousin, I age nine, my cousin was, I believe seven. So he is like, well, I'm gonna go to the porta porta-potty right over here, just watch the rod and see if it's moving around. So he goes to the bathroom. As soon as he shuts the door, the rod starts bending and the poles dragging towards the river. So me and my cousin's flipping out. We don't know what to do.
Speaker 2 (00:04:06):
We grab the rod and we're reeling it and yelling and screaming and stuff like that. And finally my grandfather comes out and he goes up there. But we already had the fish pretty much all the way in. So it, it, it is a big story. I mean, our family still talks about it to this day, but that's pretty much my first real fishing experience. And, um, that's how I really got addicted to it. And I've been fishing my whole life. So, I mean, that's, you gotta start somewhere. And I mean, that was an amazing start.
Speaker 1 (00:04:31):
Is that the picture you shared with
Speaker 2 (00:04:32):
Me? Yep. In fact, I should, I just gave you the picture. You can post that up.
Speaker 1 (00:04:37):
There
Speaker 2 (00:04:37):
It is.
Speaker 1 (00:04:38):
Look at that.
Speaker 2 (00:04:39):
That's my grandfather and it's, uh, I, my first big catfish, he, he taught me how to bait the hook. He taught me how to bring the fish in. Then he also later taught me how to filet the fish. I, I had a hard time with that 'cause he had to put a nail through the fish's head. And I'm like, oh no, this is weird. So kinda weirded me out at first, but I mean, you get used to stuff like that. Dude,
Speaker 1 (00:04:58):
That's a good fish, man. Look at you just like
Speaker 2 (00:05:01):
Big cat fish. Almost as big as I am, man. Was imagine, imagine me trying to reel that fish in. Oh,
Speaker 1 (00:05:06):
That, uh, fresh freshwater. Yeah. Yeah. Good flatty.
Speaker 2 (00:05:11):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (00:05:11):
Nice dude. I dunno
Speaker 2 (00:05:12):
If it was a cha. I think it was a channel catfish.
Speaker 1 (00:05:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:05:15):
But even my grandfather was impressed. He's never, he hasn't caught one that big before too either. So he is like, man, I can't believe you caught that when I was in the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (00:05:23):
. So you guys kept it, caught it, ate it and everything, huh?
Speaker 2 (00:05:27):
Oh, yeah. He, he showed me how to plate it up and we made little, I think catfish and fried nuggets or something like that. And it was good.
Speaker 1 (00:05:34):
All right. See, that's the best part right there, is that, that memory with the food Oh yeah. Is delicious.
Speaker 2 (00:05:38):
Definitely. That makes a big
Speaker 1 (00:05:40):
Difference. That's so fun, man. I'm really glad that you shared that picture with me. I was like, Ooh, this is gonna be interesting. But, uh, oh yeah. But I, I'm really glad you did.
Speaker 2 (00:05:48):
Yeah. Uh, I save it from memory, remember where I started .
Speaker 1 (00:05:53):
Good. Definitely. Uh, so you, you've gone on with that and you moved up in the world and now you know, you obviously you got into beach fishing. So what role does beach fishing play in your life now?
Speaker 2 (00:06:03):
Well, for now it's, it plays a huge role. I mean, it's basically beach fishing for me is, you know, connecting with God and his element. You know, getting out of the hustle and bustle of life and everything that goes on in life. So, you know, when you get out to the beach, you know, you're out of the human en environment. You're out there on the beach with the, you know, the, the waves crashing and that's all you hear. And it's just, it's very peaceful. You know, it helps me reset my clock, kinda like a computer. You know, you reset it, you gotta defrag whatever. That's kinda like what the beach does for me. So when I get out there, you know, I enjoy what I'm doing out there. And it's, I mean, it's, it's an addicting sport and hobby. I mean, it's just a, it's a passion that I have. I haven't had it my whole life.
Speaker 1 (00:06:42):
Yeah. The beach, the water heals, man. It's like the water and the forest. Those two things are super healing.
Speaker 2 (00:06:48):
Absolutely. Yeah. , as long as you get outta the human en environment and you're out in peace, nature, it really calms you down. De-stresses you.
Speaker 1 (00:06:56):
I know this isn't in the, the script here when I wrote this, but Yeah. What, what got you to go to the beach to decide to go fishing?
Speaker 2 (00:07:03):
Well, I started out freshwater fishing. 'cause I'm from the Midwest, from northern Illinois. And all my family is, most of my family's in Wisconsin. So I, I was, like I said, I was big into fishing my whole life. But once I got old enough to where I could get a bicycle, I took one of those, um, you know, those little things that go in the back, the kids go in there, the,
Speaker 1 (00:07:22):
Like the baskets or Oh, the flat thing.
Speaker 2 (00:07:24):
Yeah. It's not the flat thing. It's got a, it's like a chair for a, for a small baby. Oh yeah, yeah. So I turned that into my basic, I guess you can call it a beach car, but it's actually a, a, a bike cart. So I converted that to where I can hold my rods, my tackle box, my bucket, and I would take my bike down to the river and go fishing every weekend, whenever I was, didn't have school or nothing going on. So I did a lot of freshwater fishing and, uh, most of my life. But then, you know, as life moved forward, and I, you know, I was in the military and then, um, I, you know, moved to the Philippines and then now I'm living in Florida. Just, I got into surf fishing probably about four or five years ago. And that's when, um, I had to learn how to basically out of, you know, fish a different style. I'm used to fresh water. It's a totally different category compared to, um, salt water, you know, I mean, you gotta base, you gotta know the tides, you gotta know the conditions, the clarity, the what bait to use, where the fish are. They're never in the same place at the same time they're moving around. So it's, it's a whole different game learning salt water compared to fresh water. Mm-hmm . But I really enjoy freshwater. I mean salt water more than freshwater now for sure.
Speaker 1 (00:08:30):
It's hard not to.
Speaker 2 (00:08:31):
Yeah. Because I mean, for salt fresh water, you go out there and you fish for bass, you know what you're gonna catch. You're gonna catch a bass. Mm-hmm . Maybe a blue gill croppy, I don't know. But if you're using certain bait, you're gonna catch a bass. But surf fishing, you could catch a shark, you could catch papa, no whiting blue fish. I mean, puffer fish. You just never know what you're gonna catch. It's a complete surprise. It's like Christmas
Speaker 1 (00:08:52):
ice. Very nice.
Speaker 2 (00:08:56):
Yeah. . Well,
Speaker 1 (00:08:57):
I mean, you almost answered the next one then. So what's your favorite piece though, about fishing?
Speaker 2 (00:09:01):
Well, my favorite thing about fishing has to be pretty much everything. I mean, getting up early, actually starting the day before, I mean, you're all excited. You're going fishing the next day. You get your, you truck all loaded up. You get fishing gear, you make sure you have your rigs all tied, everything ready to go. Um, you get on the road early when everyone's still in bed sleeping and you get to wave at everybody else, going to work and laugh at 'em. And then you, I mean, you get out there and, you know, you get your lines baited up, get 'em in the water soaking, and you're just sitting there waiting for the first fish to bite. So, I mean, pretty much everything about fishing is one of my fav is my favorite.
Speaker 1 (00:09:39):
Can't push my own buttons, apparently.
Speaker 2 (00:09:41):
.
Speaker 1 (00:09:43):
Well, let's talk about the business then. What is the origin story of Benjamin Wheels and what moment or situation spark the idea that made you say, I need to build this?
Speaker 2 (00:09:53):
Well, basically I've been an entrepreneur my whole life ever since I was, I believe, nine or no 12 years old. I remember my parents used to buy my school supplies in bulk 'cause it was cheaper. So I'd go to school with a pencil box loaded with tons of pens and pencils and kids would say, Hey, I don't have a pencil. Can I get one from you? So I'd sell it to 'em for like a nickel or something like that. And that's kind of how I learned business from the beginning. But, uh, I, I mean, throughout my life I've always done business and different aspects of business. And, uh, so I mean, fishing just became, um, you know, something I've always had a passion of. But the way that our business started was by complete accident. I mean, I basically solved a problem that's not only solved my one problem, but it solved a lot of people's problems.
Speaker 2 (00:10:38):
So it's, um, basically when I went from fresh water to salt water, I didn't know the first thing about a beach cart. I mean, it wasn't even my radar what a beach cart is, or beach fishing cart. So I started to learn about it. My first one was one of them, you know, them fold up wagons you get at Walmart or Bass Pro, it says beach wagon on that thing. Mm-hmm . Those things, I don't know if you're familiar, but they, they are not good for the beach at all. I mean, the, the wheels get stuck. It's like dragging a boat anchor behind you, especially you put a cooler or something heavy in that thing. I mean, they were great on the flat, um, surfaces, but on the, uh, on the sand, they just, they dig in. And I had it for a while and eventually the, the rust got in the metal and started rusting out the wheels.
Speaker 2 (00:11:19):
They wouldn't spin anymore. So I got my first car, which was a C Stryker, and that's a, it's a pretty low quality car. It's made outta steel. It's not aluminum. And uh, so I used that for a while to get going and that had the, the two wheels on there and it seemed to work okay. But then the, the rod holders is what was keeping the cart together. There's a little screw probably about that big that goes from the plastic rod holder to the cart. And as soon as that gets loose or falls out, the whole cart collapses on you. So I had to basically, um, take it to a welding shop and I welded up some extra supports to keep it stronger so it wouldn't fall down. And, um, eventually the, what really got to it was the rust where the wheels were mounted with the U-bolt, the rust just tore that up and the axle just fell off.
Speaker 2 (00:12:04):
So I was like, well, this isn't gonna work. So, um, basically I was looking around and I didn't wanna spend a ton of money on some of those, uh, the fish in Maine and the offshore angular at the time. So I'm like, maybe I should build a cart. 'cause even the, the Sea Stryker, I mean, it's a pull cart and I, I'm a disabled veteran. I was injured, so I have a lot of back issues and stuff. So I couldn't, I had a hard time pulling a cart and it was just load to bend over to grab stuff out of the cart was just, it wasn't a fun situation. So I basically went on, um, Google and I just did a bunch of research on beach carts and designs, and I was just never saw anything that I, that I really liked. So I actually dec um, I found a couple people built them out of PVC. Some businesses they have these, uh, they call 'em stand carts and a lot of businesses will use 'em to bring, uh, you know, beer carts or ice cream or whatever out at the beach in California. So I kind of took that idea. And, um, you probably have a picture in there of my first cart. It's the, the white PVC. It's in the files there.
Speaker 2 (00:13:10):
That was my first cart that I ever built.
Speaker 2 (00:13:15):
Nope. That's my newest one. There's another one with the old one. Nope, nope. Yep. That one right there. So that was my first stand cart. I, it has two wheels there, um, 12 inch wheels. And then I also have, uh, on the front there you got rod holders. Then I had a place to put my, uh, my chair and I kinda had everything organized. I put the, um, fishing rods on the side so that way it holds 'em when I get out to the beach. And I just kind of basically tilted it back like a dolly and just pushed it on, on the beach. And, uh, I, it's also worked good on stairs too, 'cause it was dolly for him. So I can go up and down stairs, you know, pretty, pretty good.
Speaker 1 (00:13:50):
You know what this looks like?
Speaker 2 (00:13:52):
What's that? This
Speaker 1 (00:13:53):
Looks like Brian's running gun
Speaker 2 (00:13:55):
. It does . Yep. I didn't even know about Brian at that time either. I didn't know about his business or nothing. I just knew that I needed a cart that I could get to the beach to, and that was basically the design I went with. I wanted it organized. I want, and I, the design was based on, at the time I had a, um, Chrysler Town and Country. And I basically measured that van and I said, okay, what is the biggest cart I could possibly fit in there ? So that was built on the specs of a minivan, so that way I could, you know, kind of lean it up in there and slide it in there. And then all my rods I could put on the top inside of the van. So it worked out perfect for me. But, uh, over time it just, I had to make improvements.
Speaker 2 (00:14:35):
I, I was having a hard time with the small wheels that kept getting stuck in the sand. So I actually had to put, um, once I put bigger wheels, it made a difference. But then I couldn't do four 16 inch wheels on that thing because the, it would kind of fall forward. So I kind of had to have it staggered. If you show the picture of my new cart, the one we just had before. Yep. So that's my new cart. You see, I got sixteens on the front and I got twelves on the back. So that way it's kind of staggered. So it has kind of that plowing type thing. So when you're pushing it, it just kind of goes right over the sand, really easy. And I can push that down the beach with one hand. And, um, I usually take that out about at least once or twice a week.
Speaker 2 (00:15:14):
I'm out at the beach fishing with that. And I'm, you know, I'm going over dunes, I'm going through different terra and stuff like that. And I mean, it does good on Piers jetties. I use it all around. But that's basically what I needed to do, um, in order to get to the beach, um, easily. But the, when I started came out with the first design, the problem that I had was always the wheels. They kept failing on me. I had those little 12 inch wheels. They didn't, they, I mean, they worked, but they were a struggle. I was having a hard time. So then I tried other wheels. I tried the fishing mate, the yellow orange wheels. I tried, uh, vivo, bon bono, I mean, you name it. I tried 'em all. I even had an old pair of rollies before. They used to be called wheelies, I used to use for a while too.
Speaker 2 (00:15:53):
But the one that I had were, were kind of oblong, so they didn't really go very straight. But, uh, like I said, I mean the people saw that card, the beach, they came up to me and they're like, Hey, that's a really nice design. Do you make those? And I was like, well, not really. But then as I got more people asking, I'm like, you know what, maybe I should make these with all these people asking me about this cart. So, I mean, that's pretty much how it, it started. It was, uh, it started out as, um, my business name was Benji's Beach carts. So I was like, you know what? Let's, let's do beach cars. Let's, uh, I mean, I love fishing. I mean, I made this car. It's working decent for me now. Only issue with I had was the wheels. So I started making beach carts and, you know, smaller two wheel setups and stuff like that. But that's basically how it started as Benji's beach cars. So,
Speaker 1 (00:16:46):
Well that's, that's quite the evolution.
Speaker 2 (00:16:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:16:51):
.
Speaker 2 (00:16:51):
I mean, you gotta, I just, I had to make it easier for, for not for mainly myself. And that's how, since I, I came out with our wheels, you know, later we'll talk about the, when I came out the wheel design, but when I made it easier for myself and made it easier for everybody else. So that's kinda how it kind of grew from that point and turned into a business.
Speaker 1 (00:17:10):
So now that you've made the business and it's been growing like that, what is the real mission behind Benjamin's Beach Wheels?
Speaker 2 (00:17:15):
Well, our, our mission behind Benjamin's beach wheels is mainly make getting to the beach easier, beach access, easier surf fishing, easier. I mean, people go to the beach all the time and no one's gonna stop going to the beach. You gotta get to the beach. And most of the time you gotta bring stuff with you. So usually a cooler, um, buckets, rods, I mean, you gotta bring all your gear down there, whether you're fishing or even if you're just a tourist, you wanna have a beach day with the family. You gotta bring the kids down there. Of course, they want all their shovels and toys and cooler full of their drinks, waters, all that stuff. So, I mean, we're just, just all about making the beach access easier for everybody, whether it's fishermen, beach goers, even businesses. We get a lot of businesses that use our wheels for rental companies, resorts, you know, they use our wheels for bringing all the, um, the, the chair rentals and umbrellas and stuff down there. So, I mean, we get a lot of different people using our wheels for different things.
Speaker 1 (00:18:11):
I mean, it sounds like you really cover all the gambits. I mean, you got everybody you're covering. If, if you go to the beach, you, you have 'em covered.
Speaker 2 (00:18:18):
Oh, absolutely. As long as if, if you're going to the beach and you're not bringing a lot of stuff, you probably don't need us. But it's, it's when you have a lot of stuff that you wanna bring to the beach or you have to do a lot of walking, that's when we can definitely help you out with our wheels.
Speaker 1 (00:18:31):
And in surf fishing, you will do a lot of walking.
Speaker 2 (00:18:34):
Absolutely. You've gotta have a lot of stuff in surf fishing, , . I mean, there is some surf fishing that goes down with a bucket. 'cause they don't wanna bring every, especially when there's a lot of stairs mm-hmm . They're like, I'm not bringing the car today. I'm just gonna bring a bucket and I'm gonna bring some rods and some sand spikes. And I'm good.
Speaker 1 (00:18:50):
You know, I've had this conversation with, you know, back, I mean, Justin Reid and I, we, we talked a lot about it a long time ago. Uh, uhhuh, we, 'cause we fished together all the time. Him and I were just you. I mean, for a lot of bad terms. He mud, the friend
Speaker 2 (00:19:03):
. Oh, nice. I love
Speaker 1 (00:19:04):
That dude. And
Speaker 2 (00:19:05):
Oh yeah, he's a nice guy.
Speaker 1 (00:19:06):
We, uh, we, we toyed with so many different times. Like I always got the four wheeler. He's always had the two wheeler. Yeah. And we've always like, all right, do we go lighter? Do we go heavier? You know, how do we do this? And you know, we, we had the, I mean, there were times where him and I would do the backpack. I mean, we'd go down to Fort Pickens Oh yeah. And I'd put on my cooler backpack and he'd bring his backpack and we'd just go fish that way. You know, it's like, okay, we could, we do this any other, could we do this if we wanted to? Like a normal surf setup. Yeah. And it was always a, yeah, no, we roll four rods, we roll four spikes. We go heavy on that. We got the bait, we got the pieces. Even when you try to minimize it,
Speaker 2 (00:19:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:19:43):
You're still bringing a bunch of gear. It's just,
Speaker 2 (00:19:46):
You still are Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1 (00:19:47):
The heart of it. So, you know. Yeah. And, and the same note too. I mean, I, I've always subjected to the mentality of I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
Speaker 2 (00:19:55):
That's my philosophy too. That's why my cart, my my cart, I got about 250 pounds on there and I bring everything to the beach. 'cause you never know what you're gonna see out there. So I bring cast nets, extra rigs, I mean everything. I wanna be prepared for anything out there.
Speaker 1 (00:20:11):
You need that. I mean, yeah. Yeah. You're sitting there set fishing for Pompano or Blues or whatever. You're set rig fishing and all of a sudden you see a spool, you know, a a, a spool of Bonita or a spool of blues popping up. They're not gonna hit your rig. You're gonna have to throw metal. So it's like, you know, Hey, I've gotta get out here and do it this way. Yeah. Um, and, and it's just like, look, we gotta do it X, Y, and z. So exactly it, it's, uh, yeah. It, it's always comical, but, uh, it's been 20 minutes. That means it is time for a bait check. And uh, yeah. If you have ever been fishing for a minute, you guys know every 20 minutes, I always say 20 to 25 minutes. Check your bait, make sure you still got it on there because uh, if you're fishing on credit, you ain't catching fish. That is for sure. Sure.
Speaker 1 (00:20:58):
This paycheck is being brought to you by kids can fish head on over to the website. Kids can fish.net and take a look at all the great things that they're doing here. You can see through the website, they've got all the information right here. They are a state and federal recognized 5 0 1 C3 charitable foundation. All the camps and clinics all get funded back in to the organization to help these kids go out and go fish. If you also want information on the running of the Bulls tournament, it'll be updated right here up on top. And if you want to learn more about the entire team, you can take a look at the pro staff links and learn all about Caroline, their partners, how to get in touch with them. And the photo gallery is always great. If you'd like to help them further, you can do one more.
Speaker 1 (00:21:36):
You can go over to Promar Ahi and take a look at that website and you can buy into the cast net. This is the specialized one. This is the one that you hear a lot about. Caroline has talked a lot about it. And a per, uh, portion of the proceeds go back into Kids Can Fish. They have the three foot, the four foot, and the five foot. All these things are great. And it all, again, it all goes back into the Kids Can Fish Foundation to help these kids continue to do great things with these camps. Keep your ears open. 'cause there's gonna be a lot more things coming from them. It's always great and always great to be a part of it. So you've been doing the wheels, we, we talked about going heavy with those. Mm-hmm . One thing on here with this before we mo move into the, a little bit breakdown here mm-hmm . Uh, what does it feel like when you see someone use your wheels and suddenly they're able to really enjoy the beach again and maybe they couldn't before?
Speaker 2 (00:22:27):
Oh man, that's, uh, um, it really feels, um, good for me because, um, I mean, we get a lot of positive feedback. I'll go to the beach and I'll see people out there fishing and they'll have my wheels and they'll coach come over and say hello. And they'll say, oh man, thank you so much. These wheels have made a huge difference. I mean, I used, I can go places now, I could never go before. 'cause the cart with a, a lot of people use them pure wheels. And those pure wheels, they're meant for only piers, not sand. So dragging them pure wheels in the sand is like, you know, pulling a boat anchor. So the people that get our wheels, they're like, man, I've had so much problem with the other brand wheels where they get, you know, oblong or they get, they, they get punctured easily and just all kinds of issues with other brand wheels that are lower quality. And I mean, it is, it's, it feels great having to, um, you know, help people out and get them, you know, to the fishing spots that they normally couldn't access before. So, I mean, that's, that's the big difference is access.
Speaker 1 (00:23:19):
And you're doing that for sure. I mean, that's, that is half the battle man is getting to the spot.
Speaker 2 (00:23:24):
It's exactly.
Speaker 1 (00:23:25):
Sometimes it's easy peasy and other times it's all how far am I walking?
Speaker 2 (00:23:29):
Yeah, exactly. What am
Speaker 1 (00:23:30):
I walking with
Speaker 2 (00:23:31):
? You never know. The commercial guys show up and now you gotta walk a mile instead of half a mile or whatever. .
Speaker 1 (00:23:37):
Oh yeah. See the nice thing about commercial guys though, uh, is if they're on, there's nothing you're gonna be able to do. They're gonna, they're gonna park there and Yeah. There's probably gonna be more. If they're not getting the numbers that they want, they're gonna leave. They help
Speaker 2 (00:23:52):
You out. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:23:53):
But if you see a commercial person fishing next to you
Speaker 2 (00:23:57):
Yeah. And they,
Speaker 1 (00:23:58):
They might have secret , that's an indication you probably should move . Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:24:03):
Or watch what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (00:24:05):
Definitely. Yeah. I mean, watching, watching the commercial guys are, God so fun. They're, they're, they're, they're a different breed and I love 'em to death. Oh yeah. I, I've enjoyed them. Limited times I've been out there with 'em.
Speaker 2 (00:24:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:24:17):
But they're wealth of knowledge and a lot of them are willing to talk to you. They really are. As long as I got
Speaker 2 (00:24:22):
Lot of friends that are commercial, it's, it's amazing the stuff you learn from them.
Speaker 1 (00:24:25):
Mm-hmm . Well you man, you started out mm-hmm . With this. We're gonna recap a little here 'cause it's gonna tie into this question. So, I mean, you started out with an idea, created a cart, we're gonna like, well no one else is doing this. I'm gonna do this. Started building carts, made a slight called an audible. Yeah. Went to Wheels.
Speaker 2 (00:24:46):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (00:24:46):
So, and it was like, 'cause you saw that. So breaking down Benjamin's wheels for us here, what do you provide and how does it work? And what makes your service different?
Speaker 2 (00:24:55):
Well, it basically from the transition from Benji's Beach cars to Benjamin's beach wheels basically was the problem we were having with the beach carts is, you know, PVC, it's heavy, it's hard to ship. Um, I could do it for local people, but not, you know, some, a lot of people had aluminum carts and stuff like that. So the, the business was kind of going down. I mean, the thing, um, was the wheels, um, we found a, um, company that had on Alibaba that was the first company we started using. And we got their, you know, 16 inch wheels. And I mean, we use those in our cars 'cause the size was great, they work great. No one else was really selling them at all. And so once we got those bigger wheels, people were like, oh, these bigger wheels are so much better. So we were doing a lot of orders and shipments for wheels and, but the, the carts was, was failing us.
Speaker 2 (00:25:40):
So, um, at one point we almost closed the business down. We're like, you know what? We, we don't have any wheels left. I mean, the carts aren't selling. Let's just end the business. And basically my parents stepped in. They're like, you know what? Those wheels are really selling well, why not just stick to the wheels? I'm like, well, I don't know. I mean, um, it's expensive. You got shipping, you got all this other stuff. And so they kind of be, basically became investors. I mean, they, they had faith in me and they said, you know what, um, my father just retired. He is like, you know, I'll, I'll invest in you. So I'm like, okay, sure, why not? So that's when we changed to Benjamin's Beach Wheels at that time. And, uh, we basically, right now we specialize in having heavy duty beach wheels. That's, um, made for piers.
Speaker 2 (00:26:22):
It's all terrain. It's good for piers, jetty soft sand, I mean gravel. In fact, we have people in Michigan that use our wheels ice fishing, if you can believe that. 'cause they say some, that type of the terrain, rather than pulling a sled, sometimes the wheels does good going from the, the, the snow to the, um, the, um, other, the hard pack ground and stuff like that, or gravel and stuff. So they're not scraping up a sled at all. So, I mean, we get all kinds of different kind of people. But, so our wheels are basically the thickest wheels on the market. Um, like I said, we did start out with Alibaba, but we were finding out that some of their wheels were, were really thin and we, there was just some issues we were having with some of the hubs and stuff. So I wasn't really satisfied.
Speaker 2 (00:27:00):
So I started searching out direct manufacturers. 'cause Alibaba, they, they could go through many different manufacturers for their wheels. So once I found a good manufacturer and I told them, okay, I like the wheels, but I need you to fix this and this. And we kind of tweaked it over time and stuff like that. So it basically started out, um, you know, just tweaking the wheels. And we have, um, three different model wheels that we, we came out with. We have first the, uh, the original one, which was that has a black hub. Our second one has a blue hub that we call that the XL wheel. And we use thicker material. And our third version is our HD wheels, which we finally saved up. We got a mold machine made that makes our logo on the wheel kinda like wheelies. In fact, I got one right here.
Speaker 2 (00:27:48):
You can see it has our company name on there. And we changed the tread. Yep. Just like that in the picture there. That's when we really became official with the company. So, um, in our wheels we use, um, bearings in our wheels. We use cage guided needle roller bearings, and there should be a picture there that shows the, uh, bearing applications. Yep. That one right there. So our cage guided needle roller bearings are used on multiple different things. I mean, your cars have 'em, the heavy duty instruction equipment uses it. It's on your appliances. I mean, it's, it's an application that's used widely on multiple different things. And the bearings that we use, they're specifically made for very heavy weight at low or high speeds. So we have customers that use our wheels on ATVs, golf carts. A lot of people are using e-bikes now too.
Speaker 2 (00:28:37):
Even that mono wheel, you know, that one wheel you stand on and people take that on the beach and they, they, they pull their cart behind and stuff. But, um, a lot of other wheels says, there's like a stamp on there that says no going more than five miles an hour, like the fishing mate. And there's a reason for that. In fact, um, I wish I would've had, uh, Justin Reed's axle. I have it here in my, uh, trailer, but when I took his axle off, it's not, I remember it's actually flat. Yep. There's no bearing, there's no bushing. It's just, uh, plastic. And it, it's rubbing on the, um, aluminum, wearing it down so that the bushings, they don't really do very well. But I mean, we sell bushings too, but we usually recommend 'em for customers that are, um, um, have to remove their wheels often in order to put it in their vehicle.
Speaker 2 (00:29:21):
Or if you're gonna be submerged, like if you're, you're doing some swamp fishing or you gotta get to some certain access points where you're gonna be going over water, that's when we recommend our bushings. Or if you don't fish that much or you're like a, you know, you're a snowbird, you come down seasonal, you fish a couple times and you can get away with bushings. But, and we, it, it's also easy to upgrade to our bearings too. But, um, some of the differences between ours and our competitor's wheels is, um, like wheelies, they use a bearing as well. In fact, there's a picture there of, uh, wheelies. They use a plastic, it's a, they have their own design patent and they're the only one that uses that design. So it's basically plastic. Yep. There the plastic, um, housing with steel balls inside of there. And they have those pads that you're supposed to replace often that helps protect sand and water and stuff getting in there.
Speaker 2 (00:30:08):
And, um, I used to have a pair of rollies and the problem I had with the bearings with those is the, the pads wore out and I didn't know I had to replace 'em. And it got sand in there. So then the sand's grid is getting grinded up in the, uh, the steel balls and the, and the plastic. And it was making it struggle. But, um, really they're very old wheels and stuff like that. And wheelies, I mean, their wheels last quite a long time. But yep. That's a comparison of our wheels versus, uh, wheelies. Um, so basically our wheel, the main difference is just the material and the bearing tight. So, I mean, both wheels are great. I mean, I, I'm not batting on wheelies. They make a great wheel. They last, they've been in business for man more than 10 years. They, they used to be rollies and they changed their name to wheelies.
Speaker 2 (00:30:50):
And, um, the only thing is though, is their wheels are really expensive. I mean, our wheels are 2 49 a pair and theirs are like 3 56 a pair. And then, um, we both have about the same weight capacity at 175 pounds per wheel. Um, and also the axle size, we, they use three quarter inch, but they use hollow axles and we use 20 millimeter solid aluminum. So they're a little bit more stronger. They can handle a little bit more weight. So that's pretty much the main differences between our wheels and their wheels. Um, also on our wheels to, um, to help seal the bearings in, if you can go back to that photo with the, uh, the wheel, the wheel on the, on the ground.
Speaker 1 (00:31:33):
You're killing me. Smalls, . You got 'em all
Speaker 2 (00:31:38):
Go. So if you look at the hub, we have a, a disc, it's a clear disc, and we have a 3D printed seal that goes around that disc. So when you install our wheels, that disc will slide over the axle. It's the first thing that goes on after you put the wheel on. And that has pretty much a watertight seal on there. So no sand, no water can get in that hub where the bearing's located at. So that's what, what we use our unique system to help seal the bearings from any, um, you know, water or sand getting in there. And, um, once, you know, once you're, you go to the beach and you come back and your, your cart's covered in sand, you it is no problem at all to spray it down with fresh water, get all that sand and salt water off, clean it off really good. And then you're good to go for another time out to the beach.
Speaker 1 (00:32:21):
Nice design, dude. Thank you. I mean, you're talking about, where is it? There it is. I mean you start talking about wear and bearings.
Speaker 2 (00:32:28):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (00:32:30):
I'm a mechanic. I mean, I've dealt with bearings my entire life, so Yep.
Speaker 2 (00:32:33):
You're
Speaker 1 (00:32:34):
Familiar. Once you hear that, you start hearing that grind, you're like, yep, I know what that is. Nah. And that's not good. Um, and I mean in our world of beach fishing, this is, it, it you're gonna get sand in it. Absolutely. And you know, you're, if you're going on terrain, you don't have a choice, you're gonna get sand in it. You there's probably gonna be a point you're gonna go over water. Yeah. Bearings are just, they go and that's just part of it. So
Speaker 2 (00:32:57):
In fact, there's one thing I forgot to talk about was the, uh, like I said, wheelies, they use that bearing type. But then, um, there's uh, other companies like um, when if you go to Bass Pro and you buy one of their, their offshore angular carts, they have um, either beach wheel or they have peer wheel. And then that wheel that's for beaches is a vivo wheel and they use uh, ball bearings in there. Mm-hmm . And uh, also fishing made. There are new style wheels they came out with. They use a um, it's a gray wheel. They make a 16 inch and a 19 inch and they, on the nineteens they use only bushings, but on their 16 inch wheel they use ball bearings. And ever since they came out with them, we've been noticing a lot of customers coming to us with them. And I mean they've only had 'em for like a month and they're completely solid rust and they're basically welded to the axle.
Speaker 2 (00:33:42):
'cause I mean, when I was younger I was a skateboarder. I skateboarded all the time. So I'm quite familiar with bearings. I know if I'm skateboarding and it's raining and I go through a puddle, my bearings are shot. So I mean, anytime you get water in there and most people think they're completely sealed, but they're not, there's actually a lip that goes around the ball bearing to allow water to pass through. And as soon as you get water in there, it dries up all the grease that's in there and then it basically pretty much seizes up. It starts to rust and it won't spin anymore. And I mean, I'm always nervous when customers bring me offshore anglers with those, uh, wheels because I always gotta gr get out the grinder and grind the axle off. 'cause the wheel won't come off. It's basically welded to the axle.
Speaker 2 (00:34:23):
So I always try to tell people, you know, be careful with them. Ball bearings, they're, I've seen a cup one company that, you know, they're able to um, seal that ball bearing like deep inside of a custom made hub. I mean that was the only time I've seen it done successfully. But, and the other thing with ball bearings is they're specifically made for, um, lightweight at extremely high speeds, which you know, is the opposite of a beach cart. Beach cart's not going super fast and they're not carrying lightweight. They're carrying heavyweight at slow speeds unless you're pulling it. But that's why our bearings, you can use 'em for high or low speeds with the needle roller bearings. But ball bearings, you just gotta be really careful. I mean, if you're, if you've got ball bearings on your wheels, do the best you can to try to protect them from any water getting in there. 'cause once water gets in there, I mean it's game over. I, I got a bucket full of rusted out bearings that I had that I had to replace and customers didn't want, didn't want the wheels anymore. And once the bearings are shot, it's hard to find those bearings. They're all coming from China and it's hard to find replacements for 'em.
Speaker 1 (00:35:20):
Uh, one thing I'll say with the bearing piece, and this is just the maintenance side, WD 40 WD stands for water displacement. Yes. And the majority of these bearings that are in these cards are not oil bearings. They are grease bearings. Exactly. Uh, kind of makes me think of the other TikTok guy. Don't put oil, don't put grease in an oil bathtub
Speaker 2 (00:35:43):
,
Speaker 1 (00:35:44):
God I can't remember his name right now. Anyway, that, you know, you can spray WD 40 on to get the, the stuff out. But here's the real, you basically just created a secondary problem because you just did water displacement on grease. Yeah. So, um, something I recommend, and I wonder if you, what your thoughts are on this. I know it's not in the script, but we're talking maintenance here. Uh, another one I've told people is use a dry film if you clean 'em out and they've been ruined, throw in a dry film grease. So silicone base is okay, but uh, a graphite is a better, it'll, it'll give you a little bit of life leftover, especially if you've already lost all the grease.
Speaker 2 (00:36:17):
Yeah. So what we do for our bearings, we use um, starbrite and that's a marine wheel bearing grease and it's made for marine environments. I mean people use 'em on their boat trailers and stuff like that. And um, I use that, that's what we use for our wheels. And if you order our wheels, we include a little container of it so you have extra grease. And the good thing about that is it repels sand. So, um, we highly recommend not using any type of oil WD 40 'cause all that does is that becomes a magnet for sand. Yep. So if there's any sand in the area, it's gonna stick to it. It's gonna get in there, it's gonna mess things up really badly. So you don't wanna use any type of oil based, um, or w especially WD 40. 'cause the, it just the stand is like glue.
Speaker 2 (00:36:58):
It sticks right to it. Yeah. But the, the grease is what repels it. So I mean, it might get on there, but it's not gonna, you know, it's not, it repel a little bit better. And uh, so with our um, wheels, there's very little maintenance needed once you really pack those bearings the first time and install 'em on your cart and you put that seal on there and you leave that seal on there, I mean you're, I I actually, my personal cart I had for four years and I'm like, you know what, maybe I should check the grease and see if I need more grease on there. So I took the wheel off and grease still looked good and I fish about two, three times a week every week. So it just depends, you know, how often you're using it or if it's getting dried out or, I mean there's a lot of um, variables that come into play, but mm-hmm . If it sounds dry, like it's making a little bit of a sound, you know, pop that wheel off, put some grease in there, pack it up pretty good and then just put it back on and when you clean it out, we recommend using like a mineral spirit. You probably know that for a lot of bearings, the mineral spirit helps clean it out pretty good.
Speaker 1 (00:37:52):
I mean, 'cause you guys, if you think about it, if you guys never thought about bearings, and again, don't take this wrong, I'm not talking down yet. We're not, you know, if you understand bearings, you understand bearings if you don't, basically just a ball that rolls on in erase right. Rolls all those pieces. So as he's talking about, you start talking about sand and grit in here and what does sand do? Remember sandpaper, what does that do? File stuff. You start creating enough of a file, these bearings will end up like this out. They pop out, they don't hold. Yes. So I, I love what you're talking about with the grease and then the set and the lubrication because it does help with that and it does help keep that stuff off. That is cool about the starbrite though being a uh, kind of a little extra piece. I like that now.
Speaker 2 (00:38:30):
But we also use um, NLGI number two. You can get them at um, ACE Hardware, home Depot, Lowe's. We were using that grease for a while too. And that works really good too. It was NLGI number two pro-grade grease. That works well. But any type of grease should be fine. But we, we specifically choose the star bright 'cause it's made for marine environments. So that's why we figure that's the best you can get.
Speaker 1 (00:38:51):
I was gonna say don't don't say any kind of grease
Speaker 2 (00:38:54):
. Yeah. Plus I guess there is certain kind of grease. Yeah. Yeah. So marine grease I'll say, I mean marine grease
Speaker 1 (00:38:59):
marine's good. Absolutely perfect for that. And I'm glad you brought this up with the bearing thing because this is where I think the big difference in a lot of the game comes when it comes to beach wheels. Uh, a bearings, they do make for a nice, smooth, easy transition, especially under heavy weight loads. And if you don't take care of the gear with that mm-hmm . You're, you're gonna, you're gonna have a problem. So I love that you did this like the ending, the 3D covering print here. Yep. I mean this is one of your, between this one as you can see you got corrosion there, but it's protected here. You know, dirt this Oh, is that dirt? Oh okay. Yeah. I think
Speaker 2 (00:39:36):
It's just dirt skin
Speaker 1 (00:39:37):
either way. Uh, I mean you, you got protection of the most important feature of the internals. Yes. You know, you got, this is your one point of intrusion and then the other point of intrusion is gonna be your other side obviously. But you, you, you figured out a solution for it. Which is, that's huge because I mean that shows right there a lot of that piece. Um, one thing that you talked about earlier mm-hmm . Um, there it is. So one of the huge downsides of the orange wheels is inflation and out of round. Absolutely. Yeah. And uh, it took, I believe it was Chip. I think the sinker guy's the one that taught me this, I'm almost positive it was. Okay. Um, we all have bike pumps in our garage. Yeah. And boy do we think, oh you can put that on and you can just, yeah. Those wheels do not like to be inflated at that much speed. They, they get mad about it. Yeah. You are. As I'm looking around my office here 'cause I had it, um, I ended up going and buying a low pressure bike pump because that reason prevents the out of round uhhuh . So for your wheels, let's talk about that when it comes to servicing, because you have, you have the smart, you have the added
Speaker 2 (00:40:56):
Yes. The ti actual car tire valve stem. Same thing is on your car, is on our wheels. Same thing wheelies use is they use the same, uh, valve stem mm-hmm .
Speaker 1 (00:41:03):
But you, you also, well let's talk about that at around from that position, from the orange to where you're at with the valve stem and the shrader valve set. Yeah. Talk about why that was a big deal and why that that was important to add.
Speaker 2 (00:41:17):
So that, that was a big deal. 'cause like I said, when I started out doing, uh, the, the Benji's beach cards, the, uh, and i, I was trying, you know, that was the first wheel that I found. There was a beach wheel. I mean you search beach wheel on Amazon or Google or whatever, that's what's gonna come up is the fishing made orange wheels. So I didn't know any better with that. So when I got that, the ones I had, I took it to the beach one time, ran over a seashell and my cart went flat. So I had to call my buddy to help me get my cart off 'cause I couldn't get the cart off the beach. So then, um, the more, as our business grew, the more we realized, you know, we were getting customers all the time bringing us those carts with those wheels.
Speaker 2 (00:41:52):
And I mean, we've seen all the problems with them. They, the, they use, um, a needle inflator. It's a needle inflator like a basketball has. And each time you put that needle in there to inflate it, you widen that little piece of plastic. And that's why if you have those wheels and they're leaking, that's exactly why they're always leaking from that valve. 'cause every time you add air, you're expanding that little piece there and that's what's causing the air to come out. And, um, aside from that, it's just, it's a thin material so it, and you, it gets punctured easily. I mean you definitely can't use 'em on piers or jetties 'cause you run over a rock and they're gonna go flat on you. Um, in fact, on one of the videos, we, we have a YouTube channel too. We have a video of uh, someone pulling one of those carts with that and the carts just bouncing all over the pier and all over the place 'cause they're so oblong. And that happens from over inflation. And it also happens from, you know, being stored in your garage. You know, you put your cart in your garage, you got the wheels on and you put your, some of your gear in there or cooler or something like that, that's gonna make a big flat spot on there. And that, that material's gonna get used to that. And that's how you can get it oblong as well.
Speaker 1 (00:42:57):
Hmm. Yeah. That part I didn't think of. I always thought it was the over 'cause it's easy. I mean it's what two is it two to three pounds? PSI two or
Speaker 2 (00:43:05):
Four? It says that, yeah, it says that on the wheels. But for our wheels we'd recommend customers not going by that. 'cause when we used to have the wheels from Alibaba, we would go by that, but mm-hmm . And we tried just about every low pressure gauge there is. We tried digital, the pens, I mean we tried all kinds of stuff and it was almost impossible to get an accurate reading with a low pressure gauge to get in that two to four. And even if you fill it up to a four, um, PSI, what you're doing is with those wheels, since they were thinner through Alibaba, they would, um, expand the wheel. So instead of being a 16 inch wheel, they would turn into a 19, 20, 21 inch wheel. And if you, you're going by the PSI, all you're doing is expanding it like a balloon. So we tell with our wheels now, we tell customers don't go by PSI go by circumference.
Speaker 2 (00:43:51):
That's how you know you've got it right. And it's also, you have to do it. Treat it like a basketball, I mean a basketball, it shouldn't, you know, you kind of feel it and you bounce it. And if it has the right bounce, you know, it's good. I mean, no one uses a low pressure gauge for a basketball or a soccer ball or anything like that. You go by feel and that's pretty much what a beach wheel is. So our wheels, when you get them and they're flat, they're, the circumference is 48 inches. We tell you fill it up to 49 50 max. Don't go above 50 because that's when you're getting close to over-inflating them. And you can get bulges if you go above 50 on there. So if you, we use a compressor to fill 'em up 'cause they're a lot faster. But remember, if you use a compressor to fill your wheels up, it only takes about four to five seconds and you're already filled. It doesn't take much at all. You can still use a bike pump. It'll take, you know, a little bit, a little extra effort. But you can do it with a, um, compressor. Just remember four to five seconds, don't hold it there for like 10 seconds. You're gonna be way over inflated. And we also include a tape measure in our kits too, so that way you can measure the circumference of the wheel.
Speaker 1 (00:44:54):
I have a lot to unpack here. . So I, I did a lot of people. I do find it. I did find it. So this is the low pressure one that I found, I'm sorry. Um, gotcha. And it is, it's, it's just a little guy. It really isn't much. You can set it the set it, and then it goes right to the pressure. Yeah. Um, sorry, I had to bring that one back in, but No problem. The, what's that?
Speaker 2 (00:45:16):
No problem.
Speaker 1 (00:45:17):
Uh huh. Compressor. Really? Holy crap, dude. Like, I, like
Speaker 2 (00:45:25):
I said, four to five seconds, you don't wanna go more than four to five seconds.
Speaker 1 (00:45:28):
My, my innards just like , dude. Like, oh God. And I, I think it's, 'cause I'm, I, I'm scarred personally from tire explosion, so maybe, oh yeah, yeah. Um, I, yeah, with these I'd be like, um, yep, that looks good. But that's cool that you add the tape measure because that was gonna be my next one. Hold on bud. I mean, you want me to measure it? Uh, I mean,
Speaker 2 (00:45:49):
And you, like I said, Google buy feel. You wanna feel the wheel. It should feel semi soft. You know, if it feels rock hard, you're, you're, you got too much in there. You don't want it that much. You want it to feel soft, but if it's too soft, it'll be hard to push. Mm-hmm . So there's a gray area you gotta kind of find, depending on how much weight you load up on your cart. Yeah. If you load a lot of weight in your card and the wheel looks pretty flat and you're having a hard time pushing it, that means you can add a little bit more air.
Speaker 1 (00:46:11):
Makes sense. Makes a lot of sense. Alright, well it's been 40. We're, we're at the second bait check time here. So again, check that line, make sure you got your bait on there. And if you haven't had anything yet, after 40 minutes, you should have moved by now that's important. Go on to another spot because if fish aren't there, they aren't there. Just go get something else man. It's gonna be okay. Check that bait.
Speaker 1 (00:46:36):
This ba check is being brought to you by Ds custom tackle ds custom tackle.com is the website. Go on over there and take a look. As you can see, it is jam packed full of gear. Yeah. If you need some stuff. Yeah. I think you covered here. If you need rigs, look at this. There are so many in the shop, you need to get your hands on anything from drums. Look at that. Kings pos down here, perch. It's not just Florida. This has got you covered up and down the east coast and the West coast. It doesn't matter where it is. You're all set up there. And if you are a rig maker and you're looking to get your hands on beads, floats, things of that nature, Hey, look at that. Tons of beads right here. And the floats is in another section. There is a bunch. The Scully Get the Scully. Yeah. Ds custom tackle.com. Go take a look. Get your order in today. Great product, great people. And they're doing great things. So when we start talking into the wheels here, let's transition a little bit. 'cause we've, we went real long into that one and I'm sure I'm gonna hear about it later once I start redoing my stuff. Uh, so someone listening has never used beach wheels before. What should they know about the experience? Is it easy to maneuver? Comfortable, durable?
Speaker 2 (00:47:48):
Well, yeah, basically, um, what you want to, if you're carrying stuff to the beach, that's when you're gonna experience, um, the problem. So you're gonna definitely want to have, um, wheels that can, um, you know, bigger wheel, bigger wheels are always better in smaller wheels. There's a lot of, on Amazon, eBay, you know, all these companies, they sell smaller 12 inch wheels or 10 inch even eight inch. And you'll find that on the soft sand, it kind of digs in and it doesn't really pull very good. But the bigger the wheel, the more the surface area. So there is companies like Wheelies and Fisher Mate that has 19 inch wheels, which they are a bit of overkill. I mean, a 19 old perform very similar to a 16. So we, we figure 16 is pretty much the sweet spot. So, I mean, if you've never, um, if you've never gone to the beach before and you never brought a lot of gear, then you probably don't know the struggle. And hopefully we can help you before you notice that a struggle. But, um, if you're bringing a lot of gear, you want to have good large wheels on your cart and that's, that's where we come and that's where we can help you guys out.
Speaker 1 (00:48:47):
And the wheels too. Let's move into this next piece. 'cause I, I loved your answer when you sent this back to me. Mm-hmm . Your wheels aren't just for beach fishing. No, there is, there is more to it than that. So what type of situations are your wheels best suited for for surf fishing, family vacations, family businesses? What, what do you got?
Speaker 2 (00:49:05):
It's pretty much for anytime you need to go to the beach and you wanna bring something with, I mean, it's, it's, there's so many purposes. I mean, surf fishermen, obviously that's our biggest customer. A lot of people, you know, fish and they wanna bring their gear. So that's, you know, that's our main, um, customer I'd say. And then you also have, um, situations where, you know, like I said, families with kids, they want to go to the have a beach day. You wanna bring all your stuff out there. 'cause the kids, you know, they wanna bring everything to the beach. So, um, having, uh, you know, a beach cart and having, uh, nice wheels on there to get out to the beach makes everything much easier. So then you, the parents are, oh man, now we're going to the beach. Now I gotta carry everything.
Speaker 2 (00:49:40):
So you don't have to worry about that stress. Um, also businesses, we, like I said, we, we have some resorts in, um, cocoa Beach that, um, they rent out the, uh, beach chairs and, uh, and the, uh, the, the rental umbrellas and stuff like that. And, uh, so some of them people, they're, they got a jet ski trailer and they're carrying 500 pounds of gear out there on and off the beach every day. And, uh, they use our wheels. And, uh, we also have, um, um, wedding planners, which is surprise. And we have wedding planners that has a cart that uses our wheels because, you know, beach wedding, you, you have to bring a lot of stuff out there. You gotta bring the setup, you gotta bring the chairs, and they use our wheels for that as well. So there's, um, multiple different situations where you can use, um, um, you need to get on the beach. So, I mean, and beach wheels pretty much covers everything. I mean, even if you're just a, um, happy couple gonna the beach and you, you, you're gonna have something heavy, a cooler or even if you're older, you're having a, um, you can't really carry much anyways. Just even a two wheel cart. I mean, that can make a big difference. It makes, you know, life easier on you.
Speaker 1 (00:50:43):
Yeah. Great. Yeah, definitely on that. That's cool that you transitioned into both pieces with business and the personal side. Yes. So have you had any memorable moments helping someone get to the beach you otherwise couldn't have been able to?
Speaker 2 (00:50:54):
Absolutely. In fact, when we first started our business as Benji's Beach carts, um, once I made the website and I was getting into it and started advertising and some of the groups, um, somebody called me and they said, you know, do you do beach wheelchairs? And I'm like, well, you know, I, I haven't done one. I've seen some designs before. I mean, I, I could make one, I could try. And the guy's like, well, I mean, um, my wife, she's a retired boat captain. Um, she, she can't really get to the beach at all. And she has cancer, so she doesn't have much longer to live. So, I mean, my heart really fell with that guy. So I'm like, you know, I gotta help this guy out. I was like, yeah, the, I mean, those beach wheelchairs sell for a few thousand dollars, but, um, I said, you know what, I'll make you one under a thousand.
Speaker 2 (00:51:39):
I said, I'll, I'll, I'll get the materials, I'll look at some design, just, just gimme, gimme about a week and I'll, I'll put something together and test it out and make sure it works and you know, I'll, I'll get your wife to the beach. So we ended up building one and um, I put our wheels on there of course. And, uh, four of sixteens. And I built the design and I made sure it was really strong and supportive. And I mean, the, the customer, he got it and tested out and he just loved it. So, I mean, I, I was super happy to be able to help a customer out in that particular situation where he just wanted to get his wife to the beach a couple more times before she passed. So, I mean, that was really important for me to help them out.
Speaker 1 (00:52:18):
Nice job, dude.
Speaker 2 (00:52:19):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:52:20):
. Doing good things. . So you, you told us about how the business started and the struggles you had there. Switching in from moving, you know, from Benji's over to the wheels. Good investment on that one. Mm-hmm . What would you say has been the hardest part of building the business?
Speaker 2 (00:52:37):
Like I said, the hardest part was probably in the beginning when we were Benji's Beach cars. The sourcing, the, the, the materials. Um, the PVCI mean, like, it, it was a, a nightmare for inventory and depending on what carts people ordered, having to get that, those parts and if the hardware didn't have 'em. And I mean, it just became a big hassle. So our, our journey went from there to, okay, now let's just focus on the wheels. 'cause that's what's really selling. Nevermind the cars, let's just do the wheels. So once we started focusing on that, um, 'cause like I said, we almost went outta business when we were doing the beach cars and it was the wheels and my parents that saved us from that. So once they motivated me to keep going, and the fact we stopped doing the, the PVC cars, that's when pretty much everything kind of took a turn in the upward motion.
Speaker 2 (00:53:22):
So, um, we pretty much, our wheels, like I said, we started out with Alibaba, we had problems. I, I found a manufacturer and we upgraded from the Standard Wheels to the xl to the hds. But, um, we also, after we got there our um, XL wheels, we actually tried to start selling 'em on Amazon. We're like, oh, this Amazon, this might be a great source to sell 'em. I mean, they already sell 12 inch wheels and other sizes. So we, we filled out all the paperwork and submitted everything to them and it came back denied. They said, we're not allowed to sell on Amazon. So we felt kind of bad about that. Like, okay, whatever. We're still selling 'em anyways through the groups and different channels and stuff like that. So, um, all of a sudden, two months later, next thing you know, we see the same wheels from Alibaba all over Amazon, Timo, eBay, I mean, they're, they were everywhere saturating the market.
Speaker 2 (00:54:10):
So we're like, th this is not good for us. I mean, these and all, even if you look at the comments and the um, the feedback, a lot of people were, had pictures of them, you know, punctured or they'd give them like an odd size bushing for like 25 millimeter and which is hard to find an axle that size. So there was a lot of complaints and stuff. So we knew when they started doing that, we definitely had to make a major business pivot. And that was when we had the black hub. So now we're like, you know what? We gotta make some changes. We gotta be different than all these people knocking us off. So that's when we said, okay, let's make our hub more heavy duty. Let's change the color and then make the wheel thicker. That's when we went from the standard to the, um, Excel.
Speaker 2 (00:54:49):
So we did that, that worked out great. And then at, um, after that we came out with our hd, which is, we, we kept the same blue hubs, the same extra strong stuff. 'cause that works so, so good for us. And then we also kept the, um, the, the wheel thickness the same. All we did was change the tread design and we changed the, um, the our, we put our company logo on the wheel. So that what really made us, um, official at that point. But once we did that, then we knew, okay, now we're finally on an easy coasting glide going in the right direction. We have, we have exactly what we need, you know, it works great for us, customers love it, so let's just keep it that way. But, so as of now, we just sell 16 inch wheels. Um, we used to sell 12 inch wheels, but they didn't sell very well.
Speaker 2 (00:55:31):
Not a lot of people liked the, the performance of them, how they get stuck in the sand and they just don't do as well as a 16. So that's why we stuck with them. But we are getting a lot of people asking about, are you gonna make nineteens or 20 fives or some crazy size? So I'm not gonna say no, but I'm, I, let's just say maybe like if we get enough requests and a lot of people do want these 19, these mos monster wheels, we might have them in the future, but right now we're just doing the 16 inch wheels.
Speaker 1 (00:55:58):
Well that's good. I mean, it makes a lot of sense to keep it in that one. That's great. So you've had a lot, so, so the struggles there, you made some pivots. Good job on that. I mean, how that's a good business system right there. Mm-hmm . But that's the negative. So let's talk about the positive real quick. Uh, gimme a quick one here on what, what has been the most rewarding part so far?
Speaker 2 (00:56:13):
The most rewarding part is all the customer feedback we get. I mean, we get emails, we get text messages, we get, we have customers that come and visit us just to say hi to us. I mean, just the feedback we get is overwhelming. And it, it really feels good to have so many people. Even when we do fishing Turners, people come up to us, say, Hey, thank you very much for those great wheels. They work amazing. Thank you for having a great product. So it's, that's what keeps us going. All the positive feedback. And with all this positive feedback we get. We don't do any advertising. I mean, we advertise for Florida in the coastal Angular magazine, and that's our only advertisement we do. But most of our business is just word of mouth. I mean, I'd say probably 60% of our business is coming from North Carolina. 'cause there's so many people up there have our wheels and they tell their friends and they go to the beach and they see people with our wheels and like, yeah, try this out. It works great. So, I mean, we we're, we're just blessed to have such a, a great product that we accidentally came up trying to fix one problem we had. Uh, that's now helping a lot of people with their problems.
Speaker 1 (00:57:15):
Well done. Well, so you've done with this one, uh, into the business piece here. Do you see Benjamin's beach wheels growing, expanding locations or taking on bigger accessibility initiatives in the future?
Speaker 2 (00:57:27):
Absolutely. Like I said, our business is actually growing faster than we can handle. We've sold outta wheels five times and each time we order more wheels, we double or triple our inventory. And even then we're still barely keeping up with, with demand. So, um, hopefully now we, we we're having enough wheels to where we can start getting into wholesale and uh, we are currently ran for, it's a, it's a, um, home based business. I run this outta my garage to keep the prices low. We have a lot of customers that come. I do, I offer free installation. You come to our home and I'll install the wheels for free and all that stuff. And I mean, it's something I like doing. I wouldn't charge people for that. But, um, we're gonna try to do this as long as we can. But I know we're gonna get to a point where we, we can't do it out of our garage.
Speaker 2 (00:58:09):
We are gonna need a location. Um, we do have other locations we sell wheels at. We do have, um, surf fishing solutions. He's one of our retailers up in, uh, Jacksonville. In fact, we just delivered a large shipment to him. He's got plenty of wheels in stock now. And we do have another guy up in North Carolina that, um, is starting to get in the beach cart industry and starting to build the beach carts. And he sourced other companies and he, he really likes our wheels. So he, he, that might be possible that he's gonna start selling wheels at his shop up in North Carolina. So we are planning to start expanding our, um, our wheels to different areas, maybe even going over on the west coast. Um, we do have sell a lot of wheels over there. Um, also I have a list of international businesses that once we can get our inventory up and get larger orders in, we got inventory or, um, international interest from Australia. Um, South Africa. Even surprisingly Israel, we have our wheels in Israel right now with a few customers out there. I didn't know if surf fishing was even that big out there, but,
Speaker 1 (00:59:07):
Um, oh it is. I mean you got the, you got the Red Sea of the bottom and you got the med. It's good. It's reals. Nice. Yeah, I've been there. I could see why
Speaker 2 (00:59:17):
There's,
Speaker 1 (00:59:17):
There's some beach, well the, the me hooked me up the Marine Corps. Let me go. But I mean, nice. The, the fishing there, you've got plenty of beach for it. That that's, yep. That's cool For sure. I saw a couple, I'm sorry, as I, as I digress, I had to jump in on that 'cause that's Oh yeah, not a problem. Believe it or not, there's a lot of good space there.
Speaker 2 (00:59:32):
Absolutely. So yeah, we are, we are, uh, expanding. We're, like I said, we're building up our inventory. We have another local guy in in our area. He's got a big warehouse and uh, he stores a lot of our wheels for us and he's gonna start getting into the cart business too, selling accessories and other odds and ends. And he might even get into building high-end, um, electric carts 'cause he's a retired engineer and um, also retired Air Force. So he is pretty knowledgeable. So he might get into that aspect as well. But, um, yeah, so I mean our main thing is, uh, just if we have to give a location, then that's what we're gonna have to do. But we're just, we wanna hold onto this, uh, home business as long as we can to keep the prices low. I mean, we don't wanna have outrageous prices, you know, like some of our competitors do. So it's just all about, you know, keeping the price low for now.
Speaker 1 (01:00:17):
Awesome. If someone wants to, if someone listening to this show wants to support your mission, what is the best way to do that?
Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
Um, the best way is, you know, do what everyone else is doing. Tell your friends about us. I mean we, if you want stickers, but we'll be happy to send you stickers, send us your address. Um, we have, um, stickers and on all of our stickers we have a QR code and if you scan it, it goes to our website. Um, we find that works well. 'cause a lot of our customers, whenever you buy wheels from us, we give you that sticker and people usually put 'em on their, the rod holder on their cart or something like that. And if somebody walking by sees 'em and test 'em out and they like 'em, they just, you know, pull out their phone scan, the QR code goes right to our website. So, I mean, that, that works great for us. I mean, just word of mouth and I mean obviously you have to have our wheels or at least try 'em out before you can tell people. 'cause I mean it's, it's hard to, um, give a good review on a product if you haven't seen them and really used 'em. But people that have our wheels and use them, I mean, they know, they know what they are. So, I mean just, yeah, just tell telling people about us is how, uh, the best way you can support us.
Speaker 1 (01:01:17):
Tell me about the rolling on sixteens Club
Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
. So rolling on sixteens is a, is a term that weak slogan we came up with 'cause we came out with these, uh, fish logos and uh, we have, um, different positions and stuff like that. So, uh, we rolling on sixteens is kinda like a slogan that, um, they used to use for like rolling on twenties and a lot of rap videos use them for like the big rims and the wheels and stuff like that. So rolling on sixteens is just our term. You know, you're rolling on 16 inch beach wheels, so we kind of coined that term for us.
Speaker 1 (01:01:51):
, I like it. . And your wheels come with a warranty.
Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Absolutely. We have a 60 day warranty on our wheels that for manufacture defects. Um, if you have any issues with, uh, any like the, the, the wheels not performing right or, um, bearings or there's a crack in the hub upon shipment or something like that, we'll definitely get you a replacement. Uh, the only thing we don't cover in our warranty is over-inflating the wheels. So if you overinflate them, that's, that's the only thing we don't cover. And the, the way we can tell if that's happened is by measuring the circumference. So if it's over 50, we know that they were overinflated. And you'll also notice too, we have a video, we have some pictures on our website of a wheel that has a, um, it'll have like a, like a, like a bulge on it. So when you spin it, it'll look, you know, like an egg spinning so it won't look right at all.
Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
That's how you know that you've overinflated the wheel. So be very, we always make customers be aware that be very cautious when you inflate your wheels. In fact, when you get our wheels, we include a card and that big card that says, warning, watch this video. So you scan the QR code, you watch the video and it teaches you exactly how to inflate them and how to use the tape measure and all that stuff. So if you just like not pay attention to that and just hook up your compressor and fill it up for 10 seconds, you might be in trouble. So just be aware of filling up your wheels and not to overinflate them . And we do sell accessories and stuff like that if you lose them at the beach. We, we always have everything in stock, so it's not like you're gonna have to source or go the hardware. All of our accessories are all stainless steel and we do sell the kit separately in case, you know, you lose some d pins on the beach or something like that happens.
Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
Good job. All right, final questions here and we'll get you outta here. Yeah. What has this business taught you about people, the community or yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
Oh man, it's taught us a lot about how great people are. I mean, um, like I said, with all the people referring us and all the positive feedback, I mean, it's really brought us to a place to where, I mean, we love what we do. I mean, I love fishing, I love business. I mean, I love everything I do. And, um, you know, there's a, there's a bible verse I go by. It's Matthew seven 12. It says, where Jesus said, in everything you do due to others, what you would've them do unto you. So that's pretty much my life philosophy. So I treat our customers like I treat my friends, my family, everybody. As long as you give respect to people, they'll give you respect. So our biggest thing is our customer base. So we are extremely well connected with our customers. If, I mean, I'll take calls at 11 o'clock at night on a Sunday.
Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
I mean, I, I've had customers come to my home a Saturday at 10 o'clock at night 'cause they're passing through and they're going on a fishing trip and they really want wheels. So I mean, we go out of our way to help customers. 'cause I feel the same way that they feel like if they're in a bad situation or they they really need help, that's when I'm gonna step in and say, okay, I'm gonna help you. You know, kind of like karma. You do good to others, they're gonna do good to you. They'll tell 'em, I mean their experiences, they'll tell other people about you. They're like, yeah, he, he helped me out at 11 o'clock at night or something like that. So stuff like that really, really goes a long way. So even emails, we, we reply to emails right away. If we get orders, I mean we get 'em shipped out immediately. A lot of customers usually reply back in the receipt saying, I just ordered last night and I already got a tracking number. So they're like amazed at how fast we, we get them taken care of. So our big thing is customer service. That's what's really important for us.
Speaker 1 (01:05:09):
Nice. Where can people find you, follow you or learn more?
Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
Absolutely. On our website, benjamins beach wheels.com, you can uh, you can uh, see we got a YouTube, a lot of YouTube videos on there. We have a page about installation and maintenance. We also have all of our, um, cards on there that shows like if you get a card and it gets damaged or you lose it, you can see how, how to install the wheels or the kits. Um, we have a lot of videos. It shows how to install our lift kits. Um, and we just have a lot of, uh, very helpful information on there. We even have a page for customer reviews. You can go there, you can see we like to share all of our customer cards they send us. And, uh, maybe you're thinking about customizing your own cars. So you go on there and check out what our customers have done to their cards. Maybe you looking for, you know, side racks or you, you know, you make, make a chair rack something to put your chairs on. There's a lot of different ideas you can get from there. And we have, uh, videos of people that's, uh, done video reviews on our wheels. We post there. So we just wanna make you feel comfortable. 'cause I mean, our wheels are not cheap. We're not the cheapest, but we also wanna make sure you're getting a good quality wheel though. So that's, that's our main thing.
Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
Final thought, what message do you want the people that listen to this episode to leave with?
Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
Absolutely. The main thing we want everyone to know is that, um, um, our wheels, um, we're, we wanna make sure you have the best wheels for the beach. So it's very important. I mean, we, we may not have the cheapest, like I said, we don't have the cheapest wheel in the market and, but we're not the most expensive either. But we just wanna have, provide a, um, a good quality wheel at a good affordable price just to make your, your surf fishing experiences easier. I mean, we don't wanna see you struggling out there. If I go to the beach and I see someone struggling, I mean, I don't, I feel bad for him. So I gotta go up to and talk to 'em and say, Hey, I can help you. I can make this better. I mean, lemme see what I can do to do that, and then lemme show you what I got to offer you. So, I mean, that's pretty much like I said, our main thing is make surf fishing easier. That's our main slogan.
Speaker 1 (01:07:10):
And you've done some good stuff here, man. And seriously, well done. Congratulations on building a great product, great business line, and it sounds like you've got, uh, you got the right things going the right way and gonna move on, uh, real well.
Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
Absolutely. Thank you. I thank you for me the show too.
Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
I Oh, , thank you for coming. Well, I, I appreciate you man. Go ahead and hang out in the back room there. I'll be back for you in a second. All right. Thank, agree.
Speaker 1 (01:07:34):
All right, well you go ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Huge thanks to Nathan for coming out and sharing out. It's not the business, but the mission about Benjamin Beach Wheels isn't just about equipment, it's about memories, access and independence. Oh man, I can't say the word independence today. Oh man, I'm having a rough one. If, if you wanna learn more, get connected, go take a look at the website, Benjamin Beach wheels.com. He talked about it on that. You can find him on social media, his YouTube channel. Go take a look at all that. If this episode spoke to you, share it with somebody who needs to hear it, help 'em out. Maybe they need to get themselves onto a set of beach wheels or they've been looking for a set. This is a good way to go. And you can reach out and have that conversation like he said right there. As always, thanks for listening to finding DMO spearfishing. It's good to have you here. We'll have you next week and, uh, we'll see you then. And until then, stay glorious and, uh, I'm outta here.