ProBoat Radio

Judy Bell-Davis (Bell Design Group) joins us to discuss current trends in yacht interiors. An award winning interior design specialist for marine vessels, her projects have included luxury yachts, semi-custom, production and commercial boats. Her ability to blend high-tech construction methods, composite materials, colour, light, product design and ergonomics into prestigious, unique, and safe design is well recognized.  Her work is often showcased in prestigious yachting publications and boat shows throughout the world. Judy is instructor for a ProBoat E-Training course, Designing Yacht Interiors, in which she talks about interior design as a career, and offers some basic skills for the discovery process in working with a new client. She has also been a presenter at IBEX and other industry events numerous times.

At IBEX 2011, members of MITEC (Marine Industry Training & Education Council) met to discuss changes in the group’s mission statement and membership. Part of that discussion included concerns about “portable credentials” in the marine industry so that employers, employees, and clients are all on the same page. Marine surveying is no different from other parts of the industry. We lack a common job description, and a “career path” as well. In this episode, we’ll talk about how the job of surveying can evolve from a person’s first interest in writing a report to the decision to grow a career. What are the common skill sets that need to be identified and acquired? And how can new surveyors, especially young and enthusiastic ones, make workable plans to move through the steps to success?

This week, our show is a walk around the IBEX 2011 trade-show  floor with Ann Avary and Pat Kearns, who was one of the judges for this year's  industry innovation awards.  Organized by NMMA and judged by Boating Writers International, these awards recognize those products that show the most benefit  in terms of practicality, cost-effectiveness, and availability to the consumer  within 60 days of award receipt. A total of 65 new products were entered in this  year’s program, of which 13 were honored at IBEX. We'll give you a commentary on  several of the winners. 

Maine's new Front Street Shipyard is the focus of this interview by host Ann Avary at IBEX 2011 in Louisville, Kentucky. 

In this session, recorded at IBEX 2011 in Louisville, Kentucky, Ann Avary interviews New Zealander Chris van der Hor about his country's active marine apprenticeship program.

Host Ann Avary reports from IBEX 2011 in Louisville, Kentucky, and interviews AMTECH's Joe De Marco.

  To focus attention on the opening of an in-water boat show at Michigan City (IN), our guest Norm Schultz once launched a 24-foot gold guitar boat and donned a Elvis suit. That may not be your personal style, but whether you are at a regional boat show or IBEX, you want that experience to be a great one. Join us for some proven advice and practical know-how to make your next show a huge success.

  When inspecting fiberglass boats, what should a competent surveyor know about fiberglass hulls and decks? Certainly surveyors need to know how they’re built, how and why they fail, and how they’re best repaired. But what about federal regulations and ABYC and NFPA standards? How well do they apply to fiberglass moldings? Our guest panelist is Susan Canfield, who teaches "Inspecting Fiberglass Boats" at The WoodenBoat School (Brooklin, Maine) each summer.  Join us to find out more about where  surveyors can go to learn what they need to know about fiberglass, including specific books, magazines, websites, formal training courses, boat builders, boatyards, and more.

  Keeping water out of fuel tanks and engine systems is critical in the marine environment.H2Out is a Washington-based company with the technology to do just that. Join ProBoat Radio West host Ann Avary and her guest, Rich Pindell, the developer, founder, and president of H2Out as they discuss this new technology and how it is impacting our industry. Inspired to create products that utilize NASA technology from the Apollo mission, Pindell's first product line was the H2Out™ AVD 2 & 3.

At IBEX 2011, MITEC will offer five seminars on workforce development as well as training and education in the marine industry. On this show, we'll ask some MITEC members to offer their insights about our future workforce including how it will be recruited, trained, retained, and funded.

This week, we'll describe the dynamics of carbon monoxide (CO) and explain how it can accumulate in cabins and cockpits when a boat is under way. Guests Charlie Game (IMCA), Tom Marhevko (NMMA), and Pat Kearns (RMEG) will give you some important insights about what you can do to prevent CO poisoning whether you are a designer, builder, repairer, or surveyor. Visit ProBoatRadio.com for more details.

  Steve Knox covered this topic several years ago at IBEX, and we think it's a good one for our roundtable members to discuss. According to Pat Kearns, "It’s quite remarkable that more sailing rigs don’t fail given the ignorance of those who confidently sail 30-year-old boats still equipped with the original rigging. This luck is probably the rule because (1) most of those boats are never pushed to their performance edge but it takes only one 'push' to bring the whole thing down and (2) because, somewhere along the way, an insurance company required a survey or in the due process of a sale/purchase, a marine surveyor looked at the boat, including the rigging, and the underwriter dictated rigging renewals." Check out the blog page for this show for more detail.

  Ron Reisner of Reisner, McEwen & Associates, Marine Surveyors and Consultants (Seattle, Washington) joins ProBoat Radio West host Ann Avary to present an overview of weld inspection, both in the shop and in the field.  They'll consider the standards you should apply to welds in steel, stainless steel, andaluminum, and Ron will describe the benchmarks of a good weld as well as the most common types of weld defects. If you need to know more about inspection of welds in steel, stainless steel, and aluminum, this show will get you started.  Need even more information? Plan to attend Ron's seminar at IBEX 2011 in Louisville.

Steve Burke and Roger Brown join us for a discussion of the process for designing laminates for new or existing boats, optimized for cost or for weight. We'll talk about how to determine the structural requirements, possible materials and processes to be used, and the method of designing laminates that meet the structural requirements. For more details, visit the ProBoat Radio blog page for this show.  

  The Association of Marine Technicians (AMTECH) is dedicated to the support of all marinetechnicians by helping improve career opportunities. AMTECH will be participating in the IBEX seminar program for the first time in 2011, offering six sessions for marine technicians. With a strong and diverse membership, AMTECH provides a voice for the marine service community at large. Join us as AMTECH Executive Director Joe De Marco explains how marine technicians are faring in today tough job market, and what the association has to offer by way of support and training.