Q&A

Earlier this year, Yamaha Marine announced it was dedicating substantial resources to Yamaha Marine University initiatives, including a much-anticipated apprenticeship program for developing skilled dealer technicians. Through a combination of technical training materials and hands-on training at Yamaha’s marine training headquarters in Pleasant Prairie, Wisc., as well as Yamaha Marine’s headquarters in Kennesaw, Ga., marine technicians will be empowered to ...

In 2015, Indmar, in partnership with Ford, introduced the ROUSH-charged Raptor engine to the inboard market, winning several industry awards, including being one of Boating Industry’s Top Products of the Year. In 2016, Indmar is expanding the Raptor line to new market segments. We talked to some of the Indmar product development team – vice president Scott Clack, vice president ...

Late in 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency issued its latest ruling on how much ethanol must be blended into the nation’s fuel supply, finalizing the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) volume obligations. The decision was a mixed bag of sorts for the boating industry, as the levels were not set as high as mandated in the original ...

The International Trade Commission recently ruled that Garmin’s DownVu products violated Navico patents on its DownScan technology. While Navico is cheering the result, Garmin said it intends to appeal the ruling: “Garmin intentionally designed its products to prevent infringement of Navico’s patents. We disagree with the ITC and plan to appeal the determination,” said Andrew Etkind, Garmin vice president and ...

One of the biggest changes in the Miami International Boat Show’s 75-year history takes place this year, as the show moves from Miami Beach to the Miami Marine Stadium Park & Basin on Virginia Key. The move has been the subject of plenty of discussion and controversy, with the village of Key Biscayne and others objecting to the new location, ...

This year’s Marine Dealer Conference & Expo will once again feature a Closing Keynote to close out the conference. In “Get Your Ship Together,” Mike Abrashoff will share the leadership lessons he learned after taking command of the USS Benfold. When he took charge, morale was low and the performance of the ship ranked near the bottom of the Pacific ...

Dominion Marine Media touches many parts of the marine market through its network of websites (Yachtworld, boats.com, BoatTrader), its web services, social media solutions and more. We talked to Dominion Marine Media President Ian Atkins about some of the technology and industry trends the company is seeing. Boating Industry: With your network of websites, I’m sure Dominion gets some good ...

Over the last several years, Yamaha Marine has rolled out several innovations from its Helm Master integrated boat control system to a variety of new engines. But even as the company has developed a wave of new products Yamaha has also been one of the biggest industry advocates, lobbying for the industry at the state and national level on a ...

It’s been a little over a year since Brad Gates took over as the CEO of Nautic Global Group, manufacturer of several boat brands including Hurricane, Rinker, Sweetwater, Polar Kraft and more. In March 2014, Gates succeeded Jim Malone, who had filled the role on an interim basis for several months after the 2013 departure of Mike Kitson. Before joining ...

Navico — the parent company of the Simrad, Lowrance and B&G brands — recently hosted the boating press at an event to show off its latest products and what’s coming later this year. Boating Industry was there and while we can’t share information on many of the products for a few months, we did take some time to sit down ...