Strange Bedfellows Some Engine builders are finding they need to partner up if they’re going to meet stringent new emissions regulations. When I heard from Caterpillar that it would display its new pod drive with its newest engine, the C8.7, at the 2013 Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show, I was intrigued. Both had been outContinue reading "The New Caterpillar C8.7"

ome years ago I was invited to give a talk to a yacht club about marine engines. I decided to discuss oil analysis, and prepared what I thought was one of my better presentations.   Unfortunately, about half of the audience disagreed. Not more than five minutes into my talk, the look of boredom onContinue reading "Get a reading on the health of your engine and marine transmission—for short money."

For the recreational boat industry, 2013 has been a tale of two seasons — the wet spring, when sales ran disappointingly behind the encouraging pace of a year earlier — and the bright summer, when the sun came out and builders and dealers shot past their 2012 marks. Americans were ready to buy once JuneContinue reading "Boat sales showed surge in 3Q"

he North Carolina Department of Transportation has closed the Bonner Bridge over the Oregon Inlet to NC-12 along the Outer Banks today due to immediate safety concerns. Sonar scanning of the bridge has identified scouring concerns, or areas where too much sand has eroded from the support structure of the bridge. NCDOT crews have beenContinue reading "Bonner Bridge to close immediately"

A Tough Way to Make a Living Although your bill reads like an odometer, your boatyard’s profits may be small. Here’s why. Maine’s Front Street Shipyard received the ABBRA’s 2013 Boatyard of the Year award. The boatyard business isn’t for sissies. Although it seems like a license to make money, running a boatyard isn’t cheap:Continue reading "How to Understand Your Boatyard Bill"

U.S. brokerage sales topped 3,000 boats for the fifth month in a row in August, finishing 9 percent ahead of the same month a year earlier. Aggregate totals from YachtWorld member brokerages reporting in SoldBoats.com, their proprietary database, were 3,066 boats sold — 256 more than in August 2012 — and $312.5 million changing hands,Continue reading "Brokerage sales continue gains in August"

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — At least one Maryland lawmaker is hoping to further lower a tax cap on boats so the state can better compete with neighboring states in sales. Delegates Speaker Michael Busch, who was honored Tuesday by the Marine Trade Association of Maryland in Annapolis, said passing Maryland’s tax cap bill on boats notContinue reading "Maryland lawmaker favors reduction in boat tax cap"

When Hurricane Sandy was forming in the Caribbean, Capt. Dan Moreland decided his square-rigged sailing ship, the Picton Castle, wasn't going anywhere soon. Weather forecasts showed the late October storm was getting big, and it was impossible to know where it was going. Moreland postponed the Picton Castle's scheduled departure from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, forContinue reading "Tall ship captains stunned that the Bounty left port"

A recent survey found that 35 percent of the registered sellers of E15 are not labeling the higher-ethanol gas at the pump. See Related Articles Push to stop E15 could head to Supreme Court NMMA makes case to Congress on fuel standard Coalition seeks fuel standard repeal through legislation EPA seeks input on 2013 fuelContinue reading "Some E15 sellers don’t label pump"

Banks are slightly loosening standards for many kinds of loans, and cutting into their own profit margins to try to make more loans, especially to businesses and real estate developers, the Federal Reserve says. The central bank's quarterly survey of bank lending officers said most banks haven't made it materially easier to get business loansContinue reading "Banks ease credit a bit as consumers seek loans"