The U.S. Coast Guard's Office of the Auxiliary and Boating Safety has officially launched its redesigned Boating Safety website to provide easier navigation for recreational boaters to locate the information they need. The site offers users—whether a manufacturer, a boating safety partner or a recreational boater—a more streamlined route to quickly find the content or [...]

Exhibitors and attendees may book hotel rooms online or via phone or email. Exhibitors and attendees of IFAI Expo 2015 in Anaheim may now book their hotel rooms online or via phone or email. Room blocks are secured at the Anaheim Marriott and the Hilton Anaheim. ConferenceDirect is the only official housing company for IFAI [...]

City leaders in Key Biscayne, Fla., are suing the city of Miami over plans for the Miami International Boat Show. The Key Biscayne Village Council voted to sue the city over the $16 million plan to rehabilitate the area around the Miami Marine Stadium to host the show in 2016, according to the Miami Herald. [...]

Marine industry vendors have already committed to nearly 90 percent of exhibit space on the show floor of the 25th International BoatBuilders’ Exhibition & Conference (IBEX) taking place at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 15-17. Exhibitors will promote new products and technology, network with peers, conduct strategic negotiations, and monitor cutting-edge trends [...]

The deadline for design entries with the 2015 Innovations in Life Jacket Design Competition is April 15. The BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water and the Personal Floatation Device Manufacturers Association, contest sponsors, encourage boaters, armchair inventors, design, engineering or high-school students to submit designs. The grand prize is $10,000. (Additional cash prizes [...]

Welding is the most vital and fundamental manufacturing process in the construction of ships and metal-hull boats. Attendees at the American Welding Society’s 2015 Shipbuilding Conference-slated for April 7-8 in Virginia Beach, Va.-will learn about emerging technologies in both commercial and Navy shipbuilding. The conference will benefit designers, engineers, fabricators and suppliers who seek to [...]

The bipartisan effort to establish a uniform national framework for the regulation of vessel discharges took another step forward as the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation approved S. 373, the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act, with strong bipartisan support. A broad-based coalition of nearly 60 organizations joined the American Waterways Operators in urging the [...]

U.S. boat sales were still running slightly less than 10 percent ahead of 2013 through November, according to a report by Info-Link, which tracks the outdoor-recreation industry. Its Bellwether report tracks boat sales across the country based on new U.S. boat registrations. Continuing a trend the service had noted during 2014, every segment of the [...]

The City of Miami Commission has approved the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) to produce the Progressive Insurance Miami International Boat Show at Miami Marine Stadium Park. “In 2016, the Miami International Boat Show will mark 75 years in Miami,” noted NMMA President Thom Dammrich, “and I’m not sure there’s a better way to commemorate [...]

Hendersonville, N.C.-based technical textile maker Heytex has purchased BondCoat of Pulaski, Va., and will retain all current management and employees. Established in 1949, BondCoat specializes in coated and laminated textiles for defense equipment, transportation, specialized industrials, commercial tents, and leisure and sports markets. The combined company now has a total of four production sites on [...]