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September 2003 - NC Marine TradeWinds Newsletter
SBTDC NC Marine Trades Services
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IBEX-U in Greenville – September 22 & 23 (Greenville Hilton & Convention Center)
Community Colleges Host Skip Burdon of ABYC for Boatbuilding Training Discussion
Boatbuilding is smokin’ in post-tobacco N.C. – Soundings Trade Article Brings Attention
Realities of Pumpout Use - by Spencer Rogers, North Carolina Sea Grant
Boating’s Dirty Secret – Article by Liz Walz in the Sept/Oct Boating Industry a Must Read
IBEX-U
in Greenville – September 22 & 23
(Greenville Hilton & Convention Center)
Make
your final plans to attend. Avoid registration lines at the site; use the
Internet at www.IBEXshow.com and click on
the IBEX-U link to obtain your free trade pass and sign up for exhibitor demos
and a choice of 12 seminars. (Fees apply for seminars.)
Protect
your NC tax base; buy NC products and services when competitive. Seventeen North
Carolina companies will be exhibiting at the Greenville IBEX-U.
They include: Carolina Power
and Performance Inc.; ComMar Sales, Inc.; DNA Group Inc.; G-S-W and Associates;
IPS Corporation (Weld-On); Klingspor Abrasives Inc.; Marine Products Sales;
Marine Systems Inc.; Morse Industries; Piedmont Plastics Inc.; Preston Marine;
Rim Craft Technologies, Inc.; ShopBot Tools, Inc.; Shuford Mills Inc.; Technicon Industries; The
Gartner Group; Transmatic Environmental Systems; and
Wade S. Dunbar Insurance Agency. Stop by their booths and check out their
products.
Seminar
topics include: Core
Repair; Case Study: Cape Fear Yacht Works and TrueWind Catamarans;
Vacuum-Infusion Processes: An Introduction; Stray Current and Corrosion;
Personnel: It’s About the People; Carbon-Monoxide Poisoning; Boatyard
Estimating; Troubleshooting Composite Details; Closed-Molding Processes in the
Production Shop; Sportfisherman Design; Re-Thinking Survey Reports; MACT
(Maximum Achievable Control Technology). Register on line or contact Jackie
Fuller at 207-359-4651 or e-mail jackie@woodenboat.com.
Community
Colleges Host Skip Burdon of ABYC for Boatbuilding Training Discussion
With IBEX-U as the backdrop, Carteret, Pamlico, and Craven
Community Colleges have invited Skip Burdon, ABYC president, to discuss training
for the boatbuilding industry in North Carolina. This will be an opportunity for
Skip to discuss standardized marine curriculum efforts, training programs to
meet boatbuilding needs and endorsement by NMMA and Professional Boatbuilder
of ABYC’s efforts to create career development standards. Hosted by the
community colleges and the Carteret County Economic Development Council, the
by-invitation reception will introduce future marine trades training
opportunities that will be offered through the Marine Trades Education Center (MARTEC)
located on the campus of Carteret Community College in Morehead City.
Boatbuilding
is smokin’ in post-tobacco N.C. – Soundings Trade Article Brings Attention
Good
press for the NC marine trades industry is always welcome, and the August
edition of Soundings Trade Only newsletter provided some great
front-page coverage. The focus of the article is the growth of boatbuilding
across the state. The article highlighted new and established builders as well
as companies providing products to boatbuilding businesses. In addition to
providing a good story on our industry, it prompted a number of calls to our
offices from out-of-state company representatives requesting information about
doing business in the state.
Of
note in the article was a series of quotes by Bryant Phillips of Hatteras Yachts
and Joey Weller of Grady-White Boats, referring to boatbuilding as one of four
North Carolina heritage industries, along with tobacco, furniture, and textiles.
“…the industry that seems to be flourishing over the past three
decades and gaining momentum is the marine industry” – Weller.
To learn more about this article, go to www.NCwaterways.com
and click on the ticker at the lower right side of the screen.
Congress
Passes 50% Expensing Allowance
Congress
has passed and President Bush has signed into law, a $350 billion ten-year jobs
and economic growth tax cut that includes a 50% expensing allowance through
2004; quadrupling the $25,000 small business expensing allowance (Sec. 179)
through 2005. You may be able to write off as much as 100% of the purchase cost
in one year. Ask your accountant if this would work for you! (This information
is from NC’s ShopBot Tools robotic tools company website, www.shopbottools.com/products.htm.
Hurricane Plan –
Print It Off Our Website
With
Isobel breathing down our necks, you may want to print out our marina-focused
Hurricane Checklist. A lot is
common sense, but it helps to have reminders. You can get to it from the
scrolling ticker found on the front page of www.Ncwaterways.com.
Another plan, from BoatU.S., is
found on www.boatus.com/hurricanes/brochure.asp.
2003-2004
Coastal Boating Guide NOW AVAILABLE
The
new larger format 2003/2004 DOT coastal map has friends and foes, but mostly
friends. One side has all the coastal waterways and marinas/boatyards and is a
real bonus. Difficulty opening the sizable map in a boat or car seems to be the
prevailing concern. This guide/map is now digitized which means that corrections
regarding marina/boatyard locations, new additions, etc. can be made easily.
To correct errors or to make new additions go to this page http://www.ncwaterways.com/boating/2003-2004_Corrections.htm.
We will work with the DOT map division to make corrections for the next map. The
map is free in small number - you pay shipping for cases of 200. Go to www.NCwaterways.com
to order or call toll free to DOT at 1-877-368-4968.
Realities
of Pumpout Use - by Spencer Rogers, North Carolina Sea Grant
Let’s face it: water quality in our sounds and most
of our waterways is not getting any better.
The most important thing marinas can do to help is provide clean,
shoreside restrooms. If you cater
to boats large enough to have heads, the second most important facility is a
pumpout system for boat waste holding tanks.
The NC Division of Coastal Management offers grants to cover 75 percent
of the equipment and installation costs up to $10,000, so installation costs
shouldn’t be an issue. Where possible, install a fixed pumpout system near a
common pier such a fuel dock. Pumpout equipment that is not convenient and easy
to operate will not get used. For
details see the Business and Regulatory Assistance tab on
our website: www.NCwaterways.com
NC Sea Grant and NC Marine Trades Services have encountered a few waste treatment system operators and health departments that have discouraged the connection of pumpout equipment to existing systems. Boat discharges are more concentrated waste and chemically-treated compared to other home discharges, leading to fears of treatment system failures. Research has shown that boat waste concentrations diluted as little as 50 percent do not significantly affect treatment processes in either septic tanks or small package plant systems. Most holding tanks discharges are small volumes, less than a long shower. Based on the research and normal use, the North Carolina State University Department of Soil Science has recommended that the best way to treat boat holding tank discharges is to mix the discharge with other normal marina waste from toilets, sinks and showers in a properly functioning treatment system. If you are having trouble getting permits for pumpout equipment connections, contact us. Sea Grant is available to help. (910-962-2491) or e-mail rogerssp@uncw.edu.
Boating’s
Dirty Secret – Article by Liz Walz in the Sept/Oct Boating
Industry a Must Read
The
boat sewage issue impacts boatbuilders, marinas, towns – the whole maritime
enchilada. The most recent edition of Boating Industry International
magazine has one of the better summaries of the controversies related to
no-discharge zones NDZ (called no-treatment zones by Mike Sciulla of BoatU.S.)
and use or non-use of pumpout facilities by the average boater. At
issue is the Saxton Bill, which “would give boaters a choice between using
holding tanks and onboard treatment devices in NDZ. Know as H.R. 1027 or the `Recreational
Waters Protection Act', the bill finds that “Advances in marine sanitation
device technology have now made it practical for wastes to be treated on board a
vessel to the extent that pollutants can be reduced significantly below the
current marine sanitation device standards” and “Setting new marine
sanitation device performance standards will recognize existing technological
advances and spur further innovation to a level of on-board waste treatment far
superior to that envisioned by the original marine sanitation device standards
of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act”.
Beyond
being an issue pulled in one direction by those who want to sell pumpout systems
and in another by those who want to sell treatment equipment, it is an issue
that is has serious economic consequences to boatbuilders that have to design
and build for the equipment, marinas that have responsibilities for providing
no-fun-no-revenue pumpout systems, and the boater/customer/waterway user that
doesn’t want to pollute but doesn’t want hassles. The Waltz article and
back-page comments on the topic from John McKnight of NMMA and Mike Sciulla –
and the Marina Survey on economics of marinas – makes this issue a must read.
You can get the issue by calling Kirsten Bergren at 763-383-4400 or by e-mail at
kbergren@affinitygroup.com.
The Marine Trades Services is a program of the Small Business Technology Development Center (SBTDC). The SBTDC is a business development service of The University of North Carolina operated in partnership with the US Small Business Administration.