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Campion Marine, Canada's largest fiberglass boat builder, has launched their new Chase 550 bow rider powered by the world's first 180 horsepower electric outboard engine designed by ReGen Nautic USA Inc.
 
At 45 kilos, the engine weighs about a quarter of the traditional gas-powered outboard. The engine is extremely quiet. At top speed, the loudest noise is the sound of waves splashing on the boat. The first boat Campion built using this new technology will be going to Pro Nautic, a Campion dealer in Switzerland.

4th Annual Class Includes Ken MacStephen, Tony Mollica and the Antique Boat Museum
 
The 2012 inductees into the Hagerty Classic Marine Hall of Fame were announced at the ACBS International Meeting in Table Rock Lake, Mo.  Founded in 2009, the Hall of Fame pays tribute to individuals and organizations that have significantly contributed to the preservation and awareness of the classic boating lifestyle.  This year’s inductees include author Tony Mollica, ACBS Toronto co-founder Ken MacStephen and the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, N.Y.

From a total of 115 products entered into this year’s prestigious DAME Design Award METS competition, 39 have now been nominated to go forward for final judging by the DAME Jury who will eventually choose a maximum of seven Category Winners and one Overall Winner.
 
The DAME Design Award competition is held every year in conjunction with METS incorporating the SuperYacht Pavilion and this year it received entries from all around the world, with the successful nominations coming from 13 nations.

The Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, announced that 44 industry associations will receive funding from the Government of Canada to expand international business activities, bring in new investment and attract top talent.

“Our government is committed to growing our economy and creating good, new, high-value jobs for hard-working Canadians,” said Minister Fast. “That is why we are helping our world-class industries expand and succeed abroad as a key part of our plan to open new markets around the world for our exporters. The funding we are providing today will help with these efforts.”

Chris-Craft has introduced their new Corsair 32 at the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show.

The Corsair 32 is the newest member of the Corsair family the sister ship to the new Launch 32; which made its debut to rave reviews at the 2012 Miami International Boat Show earlier this year.

Steve Heese, Chris-Craft President, said: “The Corsair line carries the core DNA of the legendary Chris-Craft brand. We built her to fill a need in our closed-deck series of cruisers.”

Over the past several years, Furuno has been hard at work making an Autopilot that sets the bar for how an Autopilot should operate and steer a boat. They started with self-learning and adaptive software that taught itself more about your boat each time you took it out. Then they created unique FishHunter modes to aid fisherman and special Wind modes for sailors. Now they’ve taken customer feedback to create software that allows the NavPilot 700 to work without the use of a physical rudder feedback.

Furuno's all-new Fantum Feedback NavPilot software clears the path to a simplified installation, while also delivering enhanced steering control.

The Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and the Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, announced on Friday October 19th, the introduction of amendments to the Navigable Waters Protection Act. The Act allows for the building of bridges and other works that might interfere with navigation.

From the day it was enacted in 1882, the intent of the Navigable Waters Protection Act has been the safe and efficient movement of marine traffic.

The International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA) has published new and amended Global Conformity Guidelines for construction standards. The purpose of the guidelines is to assist boat builders who comply with either ABYC or ISO, but are looking to start exporting to countries using the opposite system.

There are now a total of nine universal guidelines published by ICOMIA. The launched guidelines include: (Guideline 1) Fuel Systems and Fixed Fuel Tanks; (2) LPG Systems and Appliances; (3) Electrical;

Leading performance boat builder Baja Marine, Inc. announced it has acquired the assets of boat companies Donzi Marine, Fountain Powerboats and Pro-Line Boats from American Marine Holdings, Inc. All four brands – Baja, Donzi, Fountain and Pro-Line – will operate as independent entities. They will be headquartered at the Baja Marine facility on Whichards Beach Road in Washington, North Carolina.
 
The acquisition was prompted by ongoing demand by customers and marine dealers for new boats from Donzi,

KCS International Inc. is pleased to announce the hiring of Paul Hughes as a manufacturing assembly manager. In his new position Hughes will work to streamline operations, supervise production expansion and work with suppliers. He previously worked as an engineering operations manager for Tiara Yachts and the senior production manager for Haworth Inc.

MarineMax is pleased announce their one year anniversary of the launch of MarineMax Vacations Yacht Charter Division.

MarineMax Vacations has been delivering outstanding charter vacations in the British Virgin Islands with the newest and most exceptional fleet in the market since its introduction in October 2011.  Operating from its beautiful base in Tortola, the year has been one of accelerated growth through its fleet additions of sailboats, power cats and the building of a custom 46 power catamaran to be introduced in January 2013.

With a cutting-edge dual-console design, the exciting new Boston Whaler Vantage combines performance, comfort, function and style.

The Vantage series debuts with two sizes—23’ and 27’. Fully equipped for everything from leisurely cruising to family watersports to serious fishing, each Vantage suits a wide variety of boaters’ needs and desires, opening up a whole new view on the possible.

One of the most notable new features on the Vantage is its revolutionary convertible portside lounge seat, which folds into a variety of positions so that passengers can ride facing fore or aft, partially or fully reclined, or even use it as a leaning post for offshore fishing.

A dramatic new Victoria Harbour marina to serve superyachts to 150’ has moved a major step closer to reality with approvals from Transport Canada and the Department of Fisheries Oceans. When complete, Victoria International Marina will provide 29 moorage slips for yachts 65’ to 150’ in length on the north shore of Victoria Harbour, just outside the Inner Harbour.

“The project has already received municipal and provincial approvals, and these federal approvals are significant milestones,” said Larry Halgren, who recently joined the marina project team.

Snaps and zippers are one of the most overlooked mechanical items on a boat.  Boat owners tend to notice them the most when they stop functioning properly by becoming stiff or hard to snap.  To help prevent this, every owner should have Shurhold's Snap Stick and the EZ Snap Tool on hand.

The EZ Snap Tool has a long, forked end that slides on the underside of a snap and allows users to pull and seal a snap from the inside.  Owners can now put up an entire enclosure in the rain without having to go on the outside.

Now, many boat owners can skip the rebuild and simply replace their troublesome old carb with a brand new Sierra carburetor and restore the performance and fuel economy of their engines.

These new carburetors from Sierra are built to original factory specs, and are not rebuilt or remanufactured products. Housings are cast from corrosion resistant aluminium and machined using Sierra’s own specially engineered tooling. Components are anodised and carefully assembled to provide season after season of reliable performance.

Furuno, renowned manufacturer of marine electronics, once again received more National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) awards than any two manufacturers combined at the prestigious 2012 NMEA Convention in Orlando, FL. These four awards bring Furuno’s NMEA Award total to an incredible 205, since NMEA started presenting awards in 1971.

For seven years running, Furuno has received the coveted Manufacturer of the Year – Support award. Furuno remains the sole recipient of this award since its introduction on the ballot in 2005.

A pristine 11-hectare island near Halifax has been saved from development after local groups raised enough money to save the land.

Troop Island, home to an Acadian forest full of towering hardwoods hundreds of years old, is now in the hands of the Nova Scotia Nature Trust.

Effective November 1, Brad Anderson will lead the Marketing and Planning functions for Sea Ray, Meridian, Bayliner and Trophy brands. This newly created group focuses the group’s marketing talent across all Recreational Boat Group (RBG) brands, further accelerating our progress at building stronger brand equity with consumers. Reporting to Brad will be: Matt Guilford, Vice President, Marketing and Janet Ritchie, Director of Portfolio Planning. Supporting Matt will be Joe Cacopardo, Director of Marketing – Sea Ray and Meridian, Michael Yobe, Product Portfolio Manager – Bayliner and Trophy, and Shelby Deck Marketing Manager. Brad will report to Andy Graves, President of the Brunswick Boat Group in this role, and will also be accountable to Rob Parmentier, President – Sea Ray Group and Jeff Behan, President – Bayliner as brand leaders.