A red-hot idea " a floating fire pit " looks for financing

Dena Palmer, chief executive officer and president of XtremeFishing, thinks she and her business partner, David Keever, have hit upon a winning idea for outdoors enthusiasts a fire pit that floats on water.

The trick now that they've developed a prototype and contracted for manufacturing, Palmer says, is raising more capital and convincing buyers at big outdoors retailers such as Scheel's and Cabela's that a floating fire pit and barbecue is a must-have camping accessory.

The idea for the Xtreme Floating Fire pit, which doubles as a floating barbecue, came about when Palmer and Keever were boating at Pyramid Lake and grilling steaks and lobster on the boat. Keever began tinkering with the idea of a floating barbecue that could double as a fire pit and produced a working prototype.

It melted during its first use.

The idea since has been refined using an inner tube with a heavy-duty fire-retardant sleeve and longer legs to keep heat from the fire pit away from sensitive materials. The product costs $170 retail, and Palmer expects to offer it wholesale for about $105. Palmer expects about 70 percent of product sales will come through the web site xtremefishing.org.

The company has contracted with a Chinese manufacturer to make the fire pit on top, and that company also facilitates the manufacturing of the canvas cover, inner tube and cooking utensils.

"It has been quite a learning experience," she says. "We wanted it to get made in the U.S., but I contacted about 10 companies, and just for the fire pit they wanted $58. In the future if we can find somebody we definitely will bring (manufacturing) to the U.S."

The product also can be used at home in a swimming pool to add ambience to backyard soirees, Palmer says. She's approached several large outdoors retailers, but so far, no one is grabbing at the idea, she says.

Raising capital also has been challenging, and the partners are looking to raise $200,000 for marketing, advertising and operational expenses in return for a stake in the venture.

"It is just something people haven't seen before but once we sell 10,000, they are going to be knocking on our door."