IBEX Redux

A couple weeks back, I had the opportunity to spend a few days at the IBEX (International Boat Builders Exposition ) in Miami Beach, Florida. It was an awe inspiring site to see all those boating related manufacturers in one place. They had multi-ton lifts and ramp systems for your mega-yacht. There was a robotic milling machine that could carve huge mold forms, and apparently from their video, also be programmed to clean and sanitize a toilet as well?!? If you wanted to cut sheets of fiberglass or canvas into custom forms, lay a teak deck or purchase tanker loads of resin, it was all there among the acres of stainless steel fittings.

While it is a boat builders show, There were a large number of marine supply manufacturers represented as they work to develop OEM sales. Yeti Coolers was there, and I had the opportunity to take some video of both their Yeti Sherpa Coolers and their Yeti Fiberglass Coolers. We are in the process of editing to give you a new perspective on these coolers.

One of the canvas supply companies was offering Ironwood Pacific's Top Snapper Tool, both for boat and canvas builders and as a possible OEM addition to boats. It is such a great tool that it really ought to come with every boat with canvas snaps. I've heard some manufactures are including it, but until everyone does, you can pick yours up at SavvyBoater.com

New folks I met include Dive Dog with their line of Boat & Swim Ladders as well as Aqua Performance with some innovative retractable boarding ladders.
Look for these as possible additions to our Boarding Ladder Category in Spring of next year.

I also had the chance to talk with designers and engineers from Milsco, manufacturers of OEM boat and automotive seats. I had never heard of these folks before (because they generally don't sell you you and me - just manufacturers) but the look and feel of their boat seat line-up caught my attention from across the room. The lines and designs have a very sleek, eye candy look, like they came out of a high end custom sports car. Milsco hasn't sacraficed comfort on the alter of style though, as the seat feel as good as they look, offering good support while sort of scooping you in. While they are an OEM manufacturer, they are in my rolodex and I'm going to see if we can work out a way to get them into your hands aftermarket.

Of course the electronics manufacturers were well represented, showing off their latest and greatest gear. My "wouldn't that be cool" list included the Garmin GPSMAP products - GPS chart plotters integrated with your radar, sonar and other gear on a big, touchscreen LCD display. Advanced graphics chips allow for overlay of satellite imagery over the charts, and toggle to a "point of view" display both above and below water that allow you to see the terrain that should be ahead of you and below you. These items have come a long way since the sonar, radar and loran C systems we used when I was commercial fishing.

Another very cool electronic "gadget" I got to play with was FLIR's Navagator infrared night vision video cameras. Check it out at http://www.cvs.flir.com/maritime/products/navigator.cfm. It hardly does it justice, though. The manual or remote controled infrared camera shows you everything with a heat signature on your monitor - very special OPs.

While there I also got a chance to knock around South Beach, eat some great seafood at CJ's Crab Shack somewhere around 13th & Ocean, and look at some amazing boats. They are very different than what we normally see in the Northwest. The amount of money invested in major and mega yachts was astounding, and the cruisers were a treat. Driving down the freeway and looking to the side to see 35' cigarette boats on cradles, and little flats boats with 300 HP strapped to the back end flying down the labrynth of waterways was a lot of fun. Overall I had a great time visiting Miami and look forward to heading down again next year.