I believe that the Australian companies build something because there's a need and a use for it, not to make money. This is the Ben Taylor Podcast, the home of Marine Industry Insights. Enjoy. Hi, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Ben Taylor Podcast, the home of Marine Industry Insights. This is part of a series to profile the Australian yachting industry. And today I'm here with Carl. Nice to see you, Carl. Nice to see you too. So give us a little context. What are Aqualuma all about? Who are you? What do you do? Well, Aqualuma is probably the premier underwater light manufacturer in the world now. We've been around for 22 years, manufacture everything in Australia, export right through Europe and England, America. And I'm the owner and director of it. I have a great team here in Australia. Yeah, we just build really nice underwater lights for pretty much any vessel. Okay, cool. And what kind of, I'm going to say, which niche in underwater lighting do you serve best? Is it reasonably broad in a sense that can be most vessels that we see on the planet? Or is it a lot of large yachts, smaller boats, a bit of a mix? It's a bit of a mix. Pretty much anything from a tinny up to... A tinny? Tinny, yeah. What is a tinny? Is that an Aussie term or am I just being... No, it's an Aussie term. It's a tender. So they called a... A tinny in the UK is a beer. Yeah, you're right. You're correct. Okay. So that's for anybody that's listening. That is the Australian slang for a small aluminium boat. So we call them a tinny. And the kids go out in the tinnies and stuff like that. So anything from that up to probably 150 to 200 feet is our market. Once you get past that, it's not really our target market, though we do have products for them. And in fact, we're fitting out some of the smaller cruise ships. I was going to say that. Yes, we've got two of those we're doing now. In the small 100 person cruise ship thing. So we've got, I think, two boats that we're doing with a possible three more coming up. So what kind of things come up when you're dealing with customers, partners? What do people expect from a lighting manufacturer today? Well, today, and I believe that we set this trend, is that when they were first introduced, and we were very early in that introduction of underwater lighting, you had to haul the boat out to fix an underwater light, which is an expensive exercise. And people with big boats were not happy about having to haul a boat out. It's a big cost, it's a lot of time, you need certain facilities to do that. It's a big pain point. So when we designed our light, it was because we had a big boat. And it was like, we don't want to be pulling them out. So we just want to change the lights, no other work. So why on earth we get in the lift, go into the yard, all that kind of stuff, we don't want that. So much expense. So we designed a light that is a through-hole fitting, it's patented worldwide, and it's a one-piece housing, and you service it from inside the boat. So once you put our housing in, you never have to haul the boat again to service the light or upgrade it to the next generation. Okay, so it's like a case, which is permanently there. And so you can interchange the light without having a hole in the bottom of your boat. Correct. And we patented that, and it took a little while for everybody to get the gist of what we've done. And now we're definitely servicing all of the large boat manufacturers on the planet. And it's a fantastic light, we've proven it. Our first housings that we put into a boat were in 2003, I think it is. And that housing is still in that boat. Wow, 20 years old. Yeah. Wow. And so you supply the world, you manufacture here in Australia. Yes. How does that work? How do you make sure that yards all over the US, Europe, wherever they are, how do you make sure they've got local support? How do you deal with that and build that relationship with them? What's the setup? Going to lots of boat shows in the beginning. Yeah, yeah. I travelled the world. Direct engagement. We would prove to people. In fact, I got almost banned from the Miami Boat Show very early in the piece because our housings are so strong, they're a nylon polymer. Right. And you can literally shoot a bullet at it, it won't break. But you can't do that demonstration. I was going to say, you weren't doing that out of the show, were you? No. It's amazing in the US boat shows, it's like the only place in the world where there's signs outside saying, don't bring your guns in. Correct, yeah. Don't do that, it's hilarious. So what I did is I decided the easiest way to demonstrate it was to get the housing and throw it onto the concrete. Right. And I would throw it on the concrete, it would bounce back up again and I'd catch it. Right. Most of the time. You'd get good at that. Yeah, I got very good at it. I mean, it's quite a skill, yeah. Until the show, because very originally, I had a hammer, we had it set up and we were smacking it. I was going to say, you hit it, yeah, a big sledgehammer. And they wouldn't let me do that because- Something might fly off or whatever. Yeah, or I let go of the hammer and somebody gets hit. So we nearly got thrown out for that. Then we were throwing them on the ground and catching them and they said, yeah, can you not do that? Mm, we'd rather you not, yeah. So we did a lot of that sort of strange stuff to try and- Just with a video showing it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so we have a video doing that now. But then, yeah, boat shows. But fundamentally, it's getting your internal team, getting them engaging with the teams directly. Yep. And it's forging that relationship, kind of the- Yep. Pretty traditional way of just being there. Yeah, now we have a distributor in the UK who is our stocking distributor for the whole of Europe. Okay. So he travels, they do all the yard tours and everything else. Yeah, they look after that region. Yeah, and they've been with us since the very beginning. So who is that? It's Tides Marine International in Poole. And they've been with us from the beginning. In fact, the owner of that company is here with us. Yeah, so that's on, yeah. So we have a great handshake relationship that's been running for more than 20 years. Very, very good operator. He knows our product inside out. He doesn't have warranty issues. So we're very lucky that we found the right guy and the right company, and it makes our job easy. So he goes out, finds new customers, and he's got the track record. Okay, super. And I've been here a week or two. I've been going around various different yards and coming to the show. You guys seem to engage with Amex quite extensively. You're all over the garden in a sponsorship capacity. You've been cooking the eggs and bacon this morning. Like, you're very much part of the community. How do you approach the whole Amex scenario? How does it kind of benefit Aqualuma, and why do you engage with it? Amex actually is responsible for Aqualuma being where it's placed in the world right now. When I was first traveling, I joined Amex as just a guy that really hadn't traveled around the world and didn't know anything about anything except we had a good product. And they took me under their wing just as a member and helped me through shows. And although everybody will deny this, but I'm a very shy guy, and nobody believes that. But if I don't know somebody, I don't just run up. So I was just sitting there just minding my own business. So the warm introductions, the relationships that they have really give you a bit of guidance of this is how to grow, here's how to export, here's who to speak to. Yeah. And that's kind of giving you a bit of a platform to do it. So then some years later, I was asked to join the board because of the different things that we do and everything else. And I've been on the board now for over 12, maybe 13 years. And I believe that Aqualuma, Carl, gives back to the industry because the industry has helped us to be where we are. Yeah, it's mutually beneficial. Everybody wins, so why the heck get involved? Yeah, so I do a lot with Amex because I really enjoy it. And I'm very grateful for the introductions they gave me way, way back when I was a nobody. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah, so it's helped you, so you help them, and everybody wins. Yes. I do more of it on happy days. Yeah, and the Amex garden was a bit of a brainchild of mine. And then Michaela from Pantanius jumped on board and said, yeah, this is a great idea. And her and I have sort of massaged this into a- They kind of jumped and made it happen and progressed it. Yeah, and originally it was like, yeah, we should do a bus and everything. And they said, where are we going to get a bus? And I said, I have a bus. So I had to get stuck in and get the bus done for the show. Like magic, we got a bus in the garden. Yes. It's a cool bus as well. It makes me want to do a road trip. Yeah, it is a very cool bus. But it's a fun industry to be in too. Lots of really cool people that you meet around the world. And then you would obviously travel the world. Yeah, you meet some very, very cool people. Yeah, and it's absolutely true in the Australian market as well. Yeah. And so from the Australian kind of yachting industry, I feel like it's set for quite a lot of growth. I think it's in quite a good position. What's your kind of expectation and kind of a message to the international industry that might be looking at dealing with Australian yachting businesses and things like that? The biggest advantage that we've got is we're a long way away from everybody. It's interesting you say that as an advantage, because most people have gone, well, it's a long way away, but it's worth it. It's worth the... So when we as a country build products, we have to build a really good product. Because we're so far away, we can't be just around the corner. So you'll find that most Australian products and companies build high quality products. We have a high labor cost in this country. Right. So again, if you're building a product, you're paying high prices compared to a lot of other countries. Build a high end product that's got great reputation, great reliability, and then people will buy it. So it's got to have like a larger value proposition to either even be considered as a realistic import in other countries. Yes. When it's being manufactured here in Australia. Yeah. So any Australian, the first and foremost for the rest of the world is that if it's an Australian made product, you should seriously look at it. Because it's made with care. It's made with consideration. It's made so that we don't have to fly 27 hours to come and repair something. We'd rather sit on the beach here and enjoy the sun and... And trust that the product's not going to break. Yeah. So I really do believe that it's... Sorry, we're just filming. All right, sorry. So yeah, I think from the rest of the world's perspective, it is very, very much worth looking at Australian products, all products. As the Amex members, we have some fantastic companies here, and you've no doubt met quite a few of them. But not only are they fantastic companies, they're fantastic people behind those companies. Genuine, great people. Yeah, on a good mission. I've just interviewed PJ. Yes, yeah. With the Overboard System. Yeah, lovely guy. It's a great value proposition, but it's also a massive passion project. Yes. And then there's loads of people across the whole industry. This is everywhere, but certainly in Australia. Yeah. That the industry are also boaters. They also get on the water at the weekend and love it. Yeah, absolutely. That's why they're here. And a lot of them are built from passion or need. Not... I mean, I'll probably get smacked down a little bit with this, but I believe that the Australian companies build something because there's a need and a use for it, not to make money. The money will flow when you build a good product. And I believe that. I have a saying that there is discounting, building cheap to match cheap is a race to the bottom. Right. And the race to the bottom is not in the DNA of most Australian companies. Yeah, it doesn't serve you well over time. No, it does not. Not at all. Or the consumer. So, yeah. Okay. Thank you for your insights. Thank you for everything you do for the industry. You've been looking after me and plenty of others. So I think you've got to thank everybody else as well. So that's really good. Thank you for coming on the podcast. It's a pleasure. Thank you. Everybody, if you enjoy content like this, make sure you're following here to see plenty more of it. All being well, we'll see you very soon. Bye for now. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Ben Taylor podcast, the home of Marine Industry Insights. We'll see you again very soon. Bye for now.