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March 15, 2010

New foul release coating from Seacoat Technology
  • Seacoat Technology released Sea-Speed V5 Non-Toxic
  • Northern Lights: better generator
  • West Marine: foul weather gear
  • Iridium: data transceiver
  • OceanView: night vision camera
  • VEI Technologies: marine display
  • Inmarsat broadband honored
  • KVH adds Singapore office
March 15, 2010

United Arab Emirates: New entrant to yacht codes

We have a new player in the ever-increasing field of international standards for yacht safety. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) joins the likes of the United Kingdom, the Marshall Islands, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Malta, and Belize with the introduction of its “Yacht Regulations for Yachts above 24 meters.”

February 15, 2010

Satellite navigation system to be compatible with U.S. GPS

EU issues Galileo contracts

The European Commission awarded more than €1 billion worth of contracts on Jan. 7 to set up its Galileo satellite navigation system, Europe's effort to compete with the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS.

German company OHB-System AG received about half the amount -- €566 million -- to build the first 14 satellites, the commission said in a statement. The system is expected to require no more than 32 satellites.

February 15, 2010

US Customs Cruising Permit for Yachts

As faithful readers of this column know, our organization, International Yacht Bureau (IYB), acts as an inspection agency on behalf of several flag administrations. We are similar to a classification society, but focused solely on yachts.

Belongs to The Triton. Uploaded on March 14, 2010 - 3:19am.
January 25, 2010

Trimaran, Earthrace, lost in Antarctic collision

M/V Earthrace, the biodiesel-powered, wave-penetrating trimaran, was lost in the Southern Ocean on Jan. 5 after a collision with a Japanese whaling ship

January 18, 2010

New products, alliances make cruising safer, better connected

New couplings can fix alignment

Thermoboat of Sydney, British Columbia, has introduced a line of Powertrain couplings to the U.S. and Canadian markets.

Manufactured by Powertrain Europe AS of Norway, the all new Powertrain coupling is used to connect marine transmissions to propeller shafts and can correct shaft-to-transmission misalignment by as much as 8 degrees without the need of a mounting bulkhead.

January 18, 2010

Peterson Fuel gets ‘reprieve’ to continue fueling one more year

City officials in Ft. Lauderdale have given Peterson Fuel Delivery permission to continue fueling vessels in the waterways around town for one more year while it investigates how it can regulate the unique business.

January 18, 2010

Vessel load lines were first put in place more than 4,500 years ago

The original sailors who set to sea in wooden boats thousands of years ago learned, through trial and error, that vessels require a certain amount of freeboard. Some, too, probably discovered that overloading their vessel could have severe consequences.

December 14, 2009

Companies launch new products for fuel, satellite, more

New exhaust eliminates sheen

Centek Industries, a manufacturer of exhaust systems, has introduced Gen-Kleen Wet Exhaust Filtration System at the Marine Equipment Trade Show. Gen-Kleen eliminates the sheen that appears in the water around a boat when the diesel generator is running on board. The patented system binds hydrocarbons to a filter system and discharges clean water.For more, visit www.centekindustries.com.

 Hum-bugs kill hydrocarbons in fuel

December 14, 2009

In regular use or sitting idle, yachts need to be maintained

Capt. Paul Stengel is sole crew in charge of M/Y Griff as it sits at the dock in Ft. Lauderdale. Monitoring the 143-foot megayacht is more than a full-time job because a minor failed system can cause major damage.

And as yachts sit with minimal crew, decreased care and bare-bones budgets, systems onboard begin to show wear.

December 14, 2009

Nine products get innovation awards at IBEX conference in Miami Beach

battery. In the Hardware Fittings category, the winner was the The Intelli-Hinge by Taco Metals. Intelli-Hinge offers manufacturers design flexibility with an integrated ball-and-socket pivot point permitting pivoting on concave, convex and multiple plane surfaces, allowing it to hinge from any two sides.

October 26, 2009

A tribute to my friend, Tom Dinan, who made yachts work

This is a tribute to a real icon of the hard-working class in our industry, Tom Dinan, who recently passed away after a long illness causeTom was vice president and superintendent of Merrill Stevens Dry Dock in Miami. He was a World War II hero on destroyers in the Pacific, a hard hat diver. He retired as a Navy chief and then went to work in what used to be called Dade Dry Dock Downtown Miami, a division of Merrill Stevens Dry Dock. Few of you will remember that but they could really haul the large, deep-draft yachts with tall rigs of days gone by.d by a severe car accident that he was in, which was not his fault.

October 26, 2009

KVH partners to offer[br] cell, emergency service at sea

  • Fire, alarms systems work together
  • Blinding laser halts pirates
  • YachtSpot finds marine wi-fi
  • Night vision camera not green
  • New grease made for heavy duty
  • Life vest light now stronger
Belongs to The Triton. Uploaded on October 26, 2009 - 9:45pm.
October 26, 2009

Life rafts important before you need them

When Capt. Pete Mathieson ran yachts, he used to take his crew to the recertification of the yacht’s life rafts. “They got to climb in and check out the safety devices and emergency supplies,” he said. “They commented that they got a certain amount of reassurance with that familiarity.”

October 1, 2009

Palladium upgrades its iPhone touch control monitoring app

Palladium Technologies has upgraded its iPhone/iPod Touch application for the Simon monitoring, alarm and control software for large yachts. Simon was the first and only “native” (not Web-based) monitoring application for yachts designed for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch devices, and now it’s even more advanced.

September 28, 2009

Guiding green: IMO is targeting energy efficency

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) this summer continued its efforts to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improved environmental performance of ships. The latest meeting, held in July, was attended by numerous delegates, comprising representatives from the world’s major shipping and yacht registries. It produced a series of reports and guidelines for public use.

September 28, 2009

Tech Briefs: Oct 09

Palladium upgrades its iPhone touch control monitoring app

August 26, 2009

Tech Briefs: Sept. 2009

Navionics charts now compatible with Mac OS-based systems

Software manufacturer Northport Systems has announced that Fugawi X-Traverse online map collection supports Navionics charts for use with MacENC version 7 software for Apple Mac OS X version 10.4 or later.

July 22, 2009

Tech Briefs: Aug. 2009

Biological sewage plant gets DNV approval

July 22, 2009

The history, importance of tonnage

Tonnage is an important topic in the maritime industry. It forms the basis for manning regulations, safety rules, registration fees, and the calculation of port dues.

June 24, 2009

Tech Briefs: July 2009

Technicold launches system to manage electrical loads

Technicold by Northern Lights announced an advanced solution for electrical load management, the Technicold Automatic Linear Load Bank System. It is the only fresh-water cooled, non-modular load bank commercially available that features variable outputs to manage electrical load on each individual 3-phase leg.

May 22, 2009

Tech Briefs June 2009

Globe Wireless, Iridium launch OpenPort to megayacht market

April 29, 2009

SOFTWARE-BASED NAVIGATION PROGRAMS- Best choice is driven by your needs

What’s new in software-based navigation programs? There are too many to cover, so I will talk about a few well known and a few less well known, but equally powerful systems.

Keep in mind that manufacturers make multiple versions, but I am focusing on the bread-and-butter installments. These are the workhorses and the starting point for PC-based navigation.

April 29, 2009

Tech Briefs: May 2009

Partnership helps anglers find best fishing holes on iPhones

Canada-based software manufacturer Northport Systems has added Hilton’s Realtime-Navigator support to its online Fugawi X-Traverse collection for use with Fugawi navigation software, Apple iPhone and MacENC for Apple OS X.

April 29, 2009

Technology, monitoring can help ward off tender thefts

There are two main methods of tracking tenders: via VHF and via satellite. VHF only works in line of sight, while satellite offers greater range.

There are four solutions for tracking.