Louth based start-up, Nomad Trailers, are celebrating after receiving funding from the British Enterprise Fund and grants from the Business Lincolnshire Growth Hub and NBV. The business, which was set up September 2019 by two brothers, Nick and Richard Hallam, has had a “rollercoaster year." The funding and grants mean they are now able to start full production of their Teardrop Trailers after finishing their prototype during lockdown.
Hand-built from birch ply and aluminium, the trailers are self-contained. Usually built to sleep just two people, the team have found a way to add a trailer-top tent with built-in mattress to enable four people to enjoy a camping holiday. The trailers also include battery charging whilst driving, as well as an optional campsite hook-up that means stay-cationers can use electricity wherever they are. As well as offering two separate spaces to sleep, there’s also a galley at the back which includes a hob, water supply and Yeti cool box.
For seven years Nick has been involved with organising a local music festival alongside his 9-to-5 job. Inspired by seeing festival goers struggle with tents and more and more festival-goers arriving with young children, he and Richard began working with other professionals to acquire the skills needed to design and build a prototype Teardrop Trailer. While popular in America, Teardrop Trailers are not as common in the UK, so the team had to source some components from overseas before working with local companies to build what they needed from scratch. Ultimately, as much as possible will be sourced from local companies.
Nick said: “It’s been a rollercoaster year for us with investors keen until the COVID-19 pandemic struck. At that point, having literally just started out, we were obviously worried, but as campsites re-opened in July, and with the camping sector looking to have weathered the crisis better than many, we realised we may actually have started development at the perfect time.
"We believe in encouraging as many people as possible to get outdoors and enjoy camping, and our trailers make it comfortable and easy. We have deliberately kept the weight of the trailer below 750kg which means you don’t need a towing license. The trailer has been designed with a clever mix of traditional and modern construction materials resulting in a super lightweight trailer with great thermal properties and a warm and cosy interior."
A couple of months into building the first prototype, Co-Founder Nick’s son, Ant, joined the team and they have spent the autumn making the final model. The team operate from a workshop in Louth, near the Lincolnshire coast, and as well as receiving funding and grants, have been shown incredible support from their landlord.
Nick continued: “At first, we rented a small workshop to build the prototype. When lockdown happened it delayed things for us, but our landlord, Stewart Burgess, very generously let us continue to work in the space free of charge for three months.
"It’s little acts of kindness like that, as well as the funding from Business Enterprise Fund and grants from Business Lincolnshire and NBV that have given us the confidence to move forward. We’ve now moved into a bigger workshop, still owned by the same landlord and to be able to offer my son, Ant, a job feels like a success in itself.”
The first official model has just been finished, with the first ten sold being offered at a discounted price.
For more information visit the Nomad Trailers website.
