At the 2024 MOORE Offroad and Overlanding Expo in Springfield, Missouri, Dylan Deeds from Juniper Overland sat down with Ryan Trudgian, a sales rep from Scout Campers. This interview, set against the lively backdrop of the expo, aimed to shed light on the work and passion behind Scout Campers. Dylan and Ryan talked about how Scout started, what makes their campers unique, and what's next for camping and overlanding. If you're curious about the future of camping and the innovation at Scout Campers, you'll want to dive into this conversation.

[Deeds] Hey guys, this is from Juniper Overland. I'm sitting here with Trudgian, a sales representative from Scout Campers. He's here helping us out at the MO Expo this year in Springfield, Missouri. I wanted to sit down and chat with you because we see a lot of you in videos and online through Scout, but I just wanted to learn a little bit more about you, what your favorite things about Scout are, and some of the history of it a bit. So, starting at the beginning, how did you find your way into Scout?

[Trudgian] I've been with the company, the Adventure Group, since 2012. I was in sales for a year, then a sales manager for about seven years at one of the bigger stores in Canada. When Scout was announced in 2020, the first thing I did was apply for the job, and luckily, I got it. It's just such a cool thing that we offer. That's kind of how I got into Scout Campers, and I've been with them since day one and just love it.

[Deeds] That's awesome. What has always kind of drawn you to working with campers? It sounds like it was your dream to work with campers, or did you kind of just find your way into that?

[Trudgian] I grew up camping my whole life, so that's something that I grew up with. Working in RV sales and the RV industry was always something I enjoyed. Scout campers just hit the sweet spot in the market that no one else really offers. We're not a full-out RV, but we're also not a rooftop tent. We have a rooftop tent for our campers, but we kind of fit in that sweet spot, I think. It's just super cool to be a part of.

[Deeds] Yeah, getting in on the ground floor of something this innovative and game-changing is really cool. And to be able to do your own passion for work is pretty sweet as well, right?

[Trudgian] You can't complain!

[Deeds] So, what's your favorite thing about Scout?

[Trudgian] My favorite thing about Scout is that Scout is really known for changing up the game, breaking the status quo. What are some of the recent upgrades and changes that you've rolled out that you're excited about?

[Trudgian] For recent changes, the awning solution, we brought it down from above the dinette window to below, for ease of use. The power consumption needs of owners, so going from the 1500x to 3000x, that's a big change. And doubling the water hour, so you can use it twice as long. I would say those are probably the biggest ones right now. And then just keeping the American build, so GFC rooftop tents, some of the best quality tents that are built in America, in Montana. That was the only reason we switched to them. It wasn't necessarily a quality thing; it was just GFC is built in America, so we went with them.

[Deeds] How big of a role does customer feedback play in tweaking and coming up with new features for Scout?

[Trudgian] Since we started Scout, we're always looking for ways to continuously improve the product. Whenever something comes up that's imperfect or needs to be better, we're looking at how to resolve that and improve the camper. There's been a lot of different tweaks and things we've made to the Scouts throughout the years. Our owners are driving our changes. The Scouts are designed to be customized. Although we try to always take owner feedback, there are still so many things you can do on your own.

[Deeds] Any cool stories where feedback turned into a feature or a new idea for Scouts?

[Trudgian] Again, you could use the awning as an example, the Goal Zero as an example. Just anything that we think will improve the product, we're hearing our owners. Whether it be something to do with service or product improvements, we hear the chatter. So anything that's come up, we're always looking for ways to make the campers better, and they get better every day.

[Deeds] What's on the horizon for the general camping and overlanding world? Are we seeing anything that excites you?

[Trudgian] One thing we're aware of is power. We did a promo last year offering The Nomad 200 portable panel. We have an SA port on the side of the camper to plug in. There are lots of changes to the power stations on the market. We're using the Goal Zero right now, and they've even, with the bigger Power Station we have, an AC manufacturer designing something for us so we can potentially have AC as soon as this summer. So stay tuned for that.

[Deeds] Any sneak peeks you can share with us for Scout?

[Trudgian] Stay tuned this summer. Scout has a really big announcement coming. It's nothing to do with our hard-sided models, but there might be something new on the horizon from Scout, and everybody should be watching for that in the next month or two.

[Deeds] Well, thanks, Ryan, for sharing all this with us today. If you have any comments or questions, leave them below. Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, and we'll see you guys in the next one.