Libby company helping everyone be 'one of the cool kids'

Three Lincoln County entrepreneurs are working to make sure everyone has the opportunity to be “one of the cool kids.”

The trio, Joan Oakland, Bruce Weatherby and Adam Montgomery, are partners in UAV Custom Fabrication, a company that builds small tear-drop style trailers at a price point much lower than the typical cost. The idea, Oakland said, was to provide a solid product at a good price and allow everyone the opportunity to own a tear-drop camper.

“We figured if we could keep the price point low anybody can be one of the cool kids,” Oakland said.

Tear-drop trailers have become quite the rage for campers and travellers, with models available to suit almost any need. The problem with those expandable, fold-out models, Montgomery said, is that they are just too expensive for the average person. In his research he found a number of tear-drops for sale, but the sticker prices of between $10,000 and $25,000 struck him as “ridiculous,” he said.

So the UAV partners decided to get into the tear-drop business.

UAV, an acronym for Urban Assault Vehicle – “it’s an inside joke,” Montgomery said – manufactures two basic models of tear-drop trailers, a four-by-eight foot trailer and a five-by-eight. Unlike the typical tear-drop trailer, the back slopes only slightly to help with the aerodynamic features, but not so much as to eliminate a great deal of useful space. The UAV trailers are also not packed with kitchens, sitting areas or other unnecessary additions, Oakland said. They are built to be able to haul equipment and supplies to a camping destination and to provide a hard-walled place to sleep.

The trailers are built to last, said Montgomery, who is responsible for the welding and assembly. The smaller versions use a 2,000-pound axle, while the five-by-eights use a 3,500-pound variant. All of the parts and components are made in America, and all assembled at the company’s shop on Montana Avenue, and most of the company’s supplies are acquired locally. Oakland said about as far as they go for parts and supplies is Missoula and Spokane, Wash.

“It’s about as local as we can possibly make it,” Montgomery said. “We like to keep it local and if we can help spur the local economy a bit, well, that’s even better.”

The light campers are designed to be pulled behind vehicles as small as compact cars. They are built with full-sized tires to help them pull with ease. One customer, Oakland said, pulls his behind a motorcycle, but the company doesn’t recommend that particular mode of travel. 

Oakland said the company sold a camper to a couple who did a 29-day tour of the western United States. The money they saved by not staying in hotels and motels more than covered the cost of the trailer, she said.

The company currently consists of the three partners, but could be expanding later this year to hire more staff. They first started making the tear-drops in 2015 and sold 10 of them. They had projected to double that amount for 2016, but are now working on a deal with an Oregon dealer that could result in the sale of 40 to 50 units this year.

“If that happens, we’re definitely going to need to hire help,” Oakland said.