Boats and Boating Podcast November 17 2008

Marine Industry Podcast
January11, 2009
Good morning, good afternoon or good evening and welcome to Marine Industry Podcast, where its always a good day for boating. I am Wesley Thouin your host.
Today we have news about new people in key positions, a success story about a marine service business,further updates on the Powerboat P1 offshore racing community and updates on steps the National Marine Manufacturers Association is taking to make life a little easier for companies selling boats. As usual, the ocean
is open for business!
If you are one of those powerboat racing fans, who can’t get enough TV coverage of the Powerboat P1 season, you can get a taste of the season’s highlights thanks to American Powerboat Television’s new internet television network, www.americanpowerboat.tv. Now fans can watch Powerboat P1, on-demand from their computers,as well as catch all the American Powerboat TV shows previously broadcast on Fox Sports Network and Speed Channel. AmericanPowerboat.TV allows viewers to select the “Channel” for P1 or other U.S. racing organizations on the right side of the screen and watch American Powerboat TV’s news coverage of all the Powerboat P1 events from the past two seasons. This is a joint effort between Greenlight TV who covers the Powerboat P1 World Championship and American Powerboat Television who produces the magazine format race updates for the U.S.
SilverLineExecutive Producer John Potts states, “We believe that the internet is the future for television in terms of true viewer interaction and program choices. The major networks seem to be following this trend with their mainstream programming. We feel that our national television broadcasts have helped promote the sport of offshore racing and look forward to expanding the audience base even further by giving viewers the ability to see these exciting events on demand.”
Soon, P1 will announce a U.S. television schedule for the 1-hour, full race programs, but until then, American Powerboat Television can provide bench racing opportunities with full sound and color.
Indianapolis may be known to auto racing fans as a great place to turn left, but it is also home to the Indiannapolis Colts football team.
Lucas Oil recently closed a $122 million, 20 year naming rights deal for the 63,000 seat, retractable roof stadium the Colts call home. The stadium also houses a Nigel Hook Scarab race boat, suspended from the ceiling in a racing “theme park” of Lucas Oil paraphernalia.
Last month as the Detroit Lions battled the hometown Colts, offshore powerboat racer Nigel Hook visited the stadium, signing autographs and being interviewed on radio. The back cover of the game program featured Hook and the P1 Outerlimits Powerboat, in which he won the 2008 Super Vee Unlimited World Championship title in Key West in November.
“Having an offshore boat hanging in the stadium of one of the most high-profile NFL teams is huge for our sport,” Nigel said , “I raced this Scarab for 10 years and it was one of the most successful offshore boats of its day-I couldn’t be more proud to have it in the Lucas Oil Stadium, nor be more proud of the sponsor that has helped support my race team for the past 8 years!” .
Hook has won numerous National and World offshore racing titles and earned the Lord Beaverbrook Trophy, in historic Cowes, England, with the Outerlimits team in 2007, his first year in Powerboat P1. He will return with
the Lucas Oil Outerlimits team to Powerboat P1 in March, 2009 in Bahrain for his third P1 season.
Two years after its first electronically-controlled common-rail engines became available, Yanmar Marine USA Corp has announced the next generation of its lightweight BY Series diesels. These state-of-the-art BY2 Series engines feature many new improvements, including a glow plug controller that virtually eliminates cold-start white smoke.
The Yanmar BY2 Series engine control unit has also been reprogrammed from torque to speed control, providing a smoother operation and better synchronization for twin engine applications. For simpler installation and servicing, the fuel inlet and return connections are now incorporated into a single manifold mounted on the lower side of the engine.
A two-piece flywheel housing enable both sterndrive and inboard configurations. A full metal top cover and fully-jacketed, water-cooled exhaust manifold with modifications to the turbocharger and heat exchanger protect the fuel system components and result in a lower profile.
The updated four-cylinder 150 and 180 hp models, as well as the six-cylinder 220 and 260 hp versions all meet the latest EPA and RCD emissions regulations.
Diesel-powered equipment is only as good as the people who service it. With quality service as its company goal, Louisiana-based Laborde Products celebrates it 10th anniversary with the addition of a new facility in Channelview, Texas
East of Houston, the Channelview facility stocks all parts needed to build and repair engines. This office also provides “swing engines” to save customers time and money. Swing engines are engines that have been removed from a boat, brought to the shop, rebuilt to factory specifications and swapped out to the next boat needing an overhaul.
Since its opening in August, the five employees including Houston branch manager, Joe Manning, have provided excellent service to their customers, even in the most stressful of circumstances. Weathering the disastrous Hurricane Ike in September, the facility lost electricity and its doors. But, keeping with the company’s high standards, Laborde was still open for service.
“We had a customer who needed equipment immediately, to keep their 24-hour processing center up and running. So we picked up and delivered the gen-sets ourselves,” said Manning. “All five in the office including two mechanics are available 24 hours. We even have our home phone numbers on our business cards.”
For two generations, the Laborde family has been a major player in the offshore oil and gas industry. In 1998, Tracy Laborde bought the company, formerly known as Star Products, which at the time was primarily a distributor of Yanmar engines. Under his leadership and with his extensive experience in the commercial marine industry, Laborde expanded, crediting its deal with Mitsubishi as a landmark in company history. After a year of
discussions and a trip to Japan, Mitsubishi agreed to a long-term commitment with Laborde and a stable, mutually-beneficial relationship was born.
The company now carries Mitsubishi, Yanmar and Fiat Powertrain Technologies products for the marine and industrial markets. Laborde also builds stand-alone products including diesel pumps and generators under its own brand, Diesel America.
“Providing the best service and products has allowed us to develop strong ties and long-term relationships with our customers,” said Laborde. “We’ve accomplished so much in the past 10 years, we look forward to what we’ll achieve in the next decade.”
- In response to current economic conditions and with the utmost concern for marine dealerships in mind, the Marine Industry Dealership Certification program is implementing a series of online Launch Workshops beginning in January 2009 that are designed to reduce costs to program participants and make it more convenient than ever for dealerships to earn the “Marine Industry Certified” designation.
Attendance at a Launch Workshop is the first step for all dealerships that wish to get started on the Certification process. During the Workshop, program requirements are explained in detail and dealerships are provided with tools necessary to complete the Dealership Certification program.
“The new web-based workshops provide exactly what the dealers themselves told us they wanted: A quality program with an eye toward keeping the dealers’ program costs as low as possible,” explains Phil Keeter, president of the Marine Retailers Association of America (MRAA) and vice president of Marine Certification Inc.
The online format opens up the possibility of allowing more dealership personnel to participate, as numbers may have been previously limited by dealers due to travel and budget concerns. In addition to saving on travel costs, web-based workshops are often less disruptive to participating dealers; they can take part in the workshops on their office computer, in the comfort of their own dealership. Web-based workshops will be conducted in two
segments over the course of two consecutive days, allowing dealers to participate in the program’s first steps while attending to customers during normal business hours.
“After facilitating more than 40 regional Marine Industry Dealership Certification Launch Workshops, we’ve learned how to effectively capture that experience in an online, interactive format and provide a comparable educational workshop that is less costly for the dealers to participate,” echoes Robert Williams of Five Star Solutions LLC, which conducts the Launch Workshops and on-site Dealership Certification program visitations.
Upcoming web-based Launch Workshops dates include:
• January 20-21
• February 24-25
• March 17-18
• April 7-8
• April 21-22
• May 12-13
To register for any of the Launch Workshops listed above, please visit DealerCertification.org or call (800) 975-7894.
In an effort to help boat show exhibitors move some of their previous years’ inventory during the challenging economic climate, the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) Executive Committee today approved a recommendation made by the NMMA Shows Committee to temporarily relax the non-current show policy for the 2009 winter boat show season.
The policy change makes it possible for exhibitors to display up to 50 percent of their previous model year products at any 2009 NMMA winter boat show, a significant increase from the traditional allotment of 20 percent, and is intended to help dealerships sell off their existing 2008 inventory.
“All 2009 NMMA winter boat shows will allow up to a 50-50 mix of 2009 models and clean, unused 2008 model boats to be displayed at this winter’s boat shows,” says NMMA executive vice president Ben Wold. “The NMMA Shows Committee, Executive Committee and staff understand the economic realities currently facing the boating
industry and believe this one-time policy change will give dealers a prime opportunity to sell more product at boat shows over the next few months.”
NMMA boat shows exhibitors are encouraged to speak with their local show staff should they have any questions regarding the temporary policy change. For additional information related to the policy change, please contact NMMA executive vice president Ben Wold at (312) 946-6234; bwold@nmma.org.
Shore Power Products Manufacturer Furrion
has promoted Mark Curry to Vice President. He joined the shore power products manufacturer as Sales Manager or North America in 2008 after 14 years in key sales & marketing positions with the Guest Company (part of the Marinco Recreational Group).
“Mark has quickly become a key member of the Furrion team, leading the rapid development of the sales and distribution networks for our unique product line during a most challenging time for the marine industry,” said Furrion President Aaron Fidler.
Furrion’s manufactures cordsets, cables, adapters, plugs and inlets which feature the company’s trademark SMART technology - Loadsmart™ power consumption and Powersmart™ voltage indicators and Signalsmart™ anti-interference filters. Furrion is based in Beaverton Oregon.