Unpacking an Underdog: PacBak is headed upstream to national markets.

• Author: Kreilkamp, Dan
• Position: MANUFACTURING

Not many startups can claim they outshone the likes of Garmin and YETI on one of the biggest stages in outdoor retail. Even fewer can say the original design for their award-winning product was first etched on the back of a urine test, now framed and hung proudly next to its patent.

The buzz that comes with winning "Best of Show" at the world's largest sportfishing convention only highlights the already incredible story of PacBak and Brian McKinnon. which serves as inspiration for other underdog entrepreneurs looking to forge their path in Alaska.

When he isn't developing products, the Wasilla native spends his time fishing, hunting, and exploring the rivers and lakes he calls home. The inspiration for this most recent invention, a top-of-the line cooler and mobile kitchen equipped with a first-of-its-kind rechargeable battery-operated vacuum sealer, came to him like any other.

"All of my inventions and everything that I've brought to fruition have been out of necessity, never desperation," says McKinnon. "It was always something like, 'How does this not exist?' or, 'Why isn't this better?"

Loves Fishing, Hates the Rest of It

The development of the P88-MK Cooler/ROAM 18-V Vacuum Sealer Combo has been nearly a decade in the making, first taking the shape of a backpack which incorporated an early prototype for his battery-operated vacuum sealer that McKinnon lugged during his fishing expeditions.

"My brother says he loves fishing; I say I love catching," McKinnon jokes.

As any angler knows, catching is only a small part of the experience. Most of fishing is the hours spent preparing or waiting and then--eventually, after a long day on the river and a long drive home--the processing.

"You're tired, you've been on the boat all day, your hand hurts from stripping line, retying hooks, and then you pull your boat in and it's like. 'Oh my god... I have to vacuum seal all of this fish," he says with a laugh.

Labor was only part of reason McKinnon knew the world needed a more functional cooler. The more important piece, McKinnon says, is the taste.

Growing up on the water, his family would often pluck a fish from the river, filet it on the spot, and plop it on the grill. "It was such a different taste that I realized not a lot of people were able to experience. Fish deteriorates every hour it's out of water," he says. "Salmon is actually sweet; it tastes sweet, it smells sweet when it first comes out. The taste isjust incredible, and I've always wanted to trap that in."

Before the P-88 MK/ROAM Combo began stealing the show, McKinnon enjoyed varying degrees of success with a handful of other inventions inspired by and designed for the Alaska experience.

The world's first aluminum personal watercraft, AlumaSki, was McKinnon's way of navigating the state's shallow streams and creeks. A safer industrial fueling system for truckers was his first stab at product design...