Scott Lewit is the president of Structural Composites, West Melbourne, Fla., a composite engineering company that specializes in structures for marine, military, commercial and theme park applications. He has a master’s degree in Ocean Engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology – the same school where he started his company in 1986 based on...
Marine: Anchored or Ready to Set Sail? For the first time in several years, the marine segment has better news to report in terms of customer demand and improving business results among boat fabricators. Boat making was one of the early success stories for composites proving itself a better performing and more cost-effective material, and...
Each year the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) publishes the Recreational Boating Statistical Abstract. This report condenses statistics from a series of boating industry surveys and sales figures. These numbers outline the state of the marine industry and can be used by boat manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors to understand market trends. Below are some...
Brock Elliott is general manager and founder of Campion Marine, Inc., a family-run firm in British Columbia, Canada that has carved out a niche using bio-resins in manufacturing its boats. He says his company is the first boat maker that manufactures all its boats using bio-resins. The company sells more than 37 models and...
After three years behind closed warehouse doors and disconnected phone lines, Warrior Boats, once a renowned fiberglass fishing boat manufacturing company, announced they are back in business. This new venture is surfacing questions within the marine industry on how safe the economic waters are for new investments.
Roch Lambert is president of the Recreational Boat Group, a portfolio company owned by Platinum Equity. He has global profit-and-loss responsibility over three historic boat brands: Four Winns, Glastron and Wellcraft, which were all acquired through the Genmar bankruptcy. Lambert is well versed in the consumer dynamics that motivate boat purchases and says he...
"The nicest thing about Mark Gelders is that he was forward thinking," says Mark Pearson, president of Pearson Pilings, LLC, in Fall River, Mass. Pearson approached the Dania Beach, Fla., marina operator at the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show in 2006, proposing a composite upgrade.
The new unmanned vessel by Zyvex Technologies of Columbus, Ohio, named the Piranha, is not just another smooth boat ride on calm waters. When the 54-foot carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforced carbon fiber boat underwent testing in Washington’s choppy Puget Sound, the boat didn’t experience a planing effect, which is where acceleration lifts the front...
Bret Chilcott is president of First Source Components of Neodesha, Kan., a designer and builder of custom composite components through a network of independent laminators. Before starting his own company, he was with Cobalt Boats for 13 years in sales and marketing as well as lean manufacturing and new product development and engineering.
J. Frank Crane, of JFCI Composites Group, in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and his partner, Jim Gardiner, general manager of Compmillennia LLC, in Washington, N.C., made history in 2009 with the construction of one of the world’s biggest gigayachts: the Swift 141.
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