ProBoat Radio

During the past five years, Bill Johnson (Engineering Concepts LLC) has explored numerous causes and solutions to boat vibrations.  In this preview to his IBEX 2013 seminar, Bill offers a few ideas about what type of mount might be better suited for a particular application. "The two different types of engine mounts that I usually encounter are the pedestal and conventional," he says, "I'll point out the differences between the two and how they effect the overall vibration on the boat." Join us for all the details.

For a discussion about forensic surveying, our regular roundtable members are joined by Greg Davis, Senior Managing Consultant of ESI, and founder of Davis & Co. Davis has more than 38 years of experience investigating marine incidents, and is a Board Certified Forensic Examiner (Fellow) of the American Board of Forensic Examiners.

Our ProBoat Radio West host, Ann Avary, sits on the other side of the desk for this show, filling us in on a major grant received by Skagit Valley College. Ann says, "This experience has given me a new appreciation for the phrase, 'Maybe we can find some grant money'. A lot of people don’t understand what happens when you actually get the grant: It does become its own entity and can be all consuming, so the big thing question should be 'Are you really prepared to do the work once the money is awarded?  Do you have the capacity?'" The whole process reminds Ann of boat owners who say their two happiest days were the one when they bought the boat and the one when they sold it. "It's pretty much the same thing with grants," she says, "Everything in between application and project completion is work." But of course, there are many positives: equipment for training, curriculum development, and staffing, and we'll talk about all that, too.

Join us for a conversations with Fred Pace and find out what it took for Legendary Marine to become the Dealer of the Year in 2012.

Founded in 2011, My-Villages is an online collaborative where boat owners, service providers, and builders can connect online in a powerful network.   CEO Kevin Hutchinson says this resource will provide marine industry professionals with new tools for working with service customers, as well as a revolutionary way to connect and share information. “With My-Villages,” he says, “we are creating online communities to improve the way today’s consumers access the needed information and communicate with the people they rely on most to help them manage, operate, and enjoy their boats.”  

Our topic this week is the new San Francisco to San Francisco Ocean Race (SF2SF for short), scheduled to begin in the fall of 2012, and our guests will be naval architect Jim Antrim and Cree Partridge, owner of Berkeley Marine Center. In a recent SF2SF press release, Antrim said, “This race will be about the challenge and the love of sailing. It should be accessible to a greater variety of teams. We welcome the big syndicates if they’d like to participate, but we also want the amateur teams that are ready to take on this challenge.” With a course around Cape Horn and Cape of Good Hope, SF2SF is essentially a non-stop race, though boats will be allowed to stop as needed, with the clock continuing to tick. For more information, visit the race website at http://www.sf2sfoceanrace.com. A survey on the site is seeking input from potential entrants, sponsors and racing enthusiasts. Some 20 potential entrants have already expressed an interest in the race. If you have questions for Jim and Cree, please send them now to radio@proboat.com.

Alan Wendt, chair of this past year's  IBEX panel of judges from Boating Writers International, joins us to discuss the 2012 Innovation Award winners. "From a five-dollar part to highly engineered superyacht technology, the judges found innovation for all classes of boating," he says, "These are the products that make boating not only more affordable but also easier for the consumer." Tune in to find out who won and why.

Tim Coats (Carderock Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center) has been briefing people for several years on a hot and popular topic, namely Shock Mitigation. At IBEX 2012, he was particularly intent on sharing information that he wanted the marine industry to know about this topic. Join us this week to find learn the source of Coats' concern and passion for educating people about shock mitigation and what it means to the service people who spend time in high speed craft as part of their duty.

The photos of Hurricane Sandy's path are astounding with boats strewn around like tinker toys.  And now it's time for the clean-up to begin. This week, our surveyors ask and answer some questions like, "What's the surveyors role in all this?" and "What do you know when you know the boat isn't going to be totaled?" and " How do you assess major-storm damage?"  Join us!

This week, we welcome Ted Pike to talk with us about his working life with Edensaw Woods and WoodenBoat magazine, as well as his passion for the Wooden Boat Foundation and life in the Pacific Northwest. With more than a decade of service to the WoodenBoat Foundation and the North West Maritime Center, Ted says his top priority is to keep youth sailing on Port Townsend Bay. Ted and wife, Kate has been working with youth and boats for over thirty years. They own, race and charter their 1956 Lapworth racing sloop, Annie Too. Join us for a conversation about the good things in life.

For the original broadcast of this week’s episode of ProBoat Radio, we assembled a stellar cast of characters to present the first, and possibly last, episode of ProBoat Radio Readers Theatre: “It Was a Dark and Stormy Night at Boat Shop University.” Recorded live at IBEX 2012 in Louisville, Kentucky, this melodrama has it all, including suspense, romance, evil twins, a dead body, alien abduction, and of course, a dark and stormy night. Inspired by responses to the ProBoat E-Training blog post Shall We Dance? (Or Build Boats), this is a radio show you won’t soon forget, no matter how hard you try.

This week, John Bernier (North Atlantic Marine) shares part of his IBEX 2012 presentation on new E-10 fuels and outboard engines. Service techs in particular need to know how what these changes are -- and how to explain them to customers. If a fuel works fine in a car, why won't it work in an outboard engine? We'll talk about potential problems in fuel systems, and in portable fuel tanks.John will also decribe how to combat the problems caused by E-10 fuel, stressing that fuel-system servicing needs to be just as common as a tune-up.

John McDevitt (Gasonville, Maryland) joins us once again, this time to talk about what surveyors should look for in terms of fire protection when they are investigating a claim on a damaged boat or evaluating one that's for sale. John has been a fire-fighter, fire officer, and instructor who also holds a fire protection degree. He's active with the NFPA and ABYC and is a member of NFPA 303 Marinas and Boatyards and serves as Chairman of the NFPA 302 Pleasure and Commercial Watercraft Committee. 

Our guest is Joe Youcha of Building to Teach.  Formerly the education director of the Alexandria Seaport Foundation, Youcha now spends his time running a train-the-trainers program for hands-on math instructors.   "For 20 years, I've been using boat building as an educational tool," he tell us. "In Building to Teach, the idea is to tap into groups that use boat building as a teaching tool, as well as volunteers from industry. We're now funded by the Office of Naval Research. "    Youcha is also the co-author of the Carpenters' Union math training materials, used by about 30,000 union apprentices each year.    

Dan Crete is a lifetime all-things-boats guy, and he’s translated that love of the water into a specialty for providing service of the highest quality to the recreational boating/yacht market. At IBEX 2012, Dan Crete talked about maximizing customer service during his time at Burr Brothers Boats. For this episode of ProBoat Radio, he’ll talk about his new endeavor, Saltworks Marine, based in Marion, Massachusetts. Saltworks is a small, family-oriented and -operated boatyard. Crete says the company offers year round care, including storage, comprehensive service covering everything from paint to metal fabrication. He’s also offering extensive training to yacht owners in areas from systems education to boat handling. Why start a new boatyard in today’s economy? Join us to find out.