Transactions, Milestones and Developments

Raritan Marks
Half a Century

Established in 1958, Raritan celebrates 50 years in business. Raritan will unveil a new boat show display along with its commemorative 50-year logo at the Miami International Boat Show. For the last 50 years, Raritan has manufactured all of its environmentally friendly products in the U.S. at its facility in Millville, New Jersey, and plans to continue doing so. Raritan has achieved ISO 9001 certification for quality. For more information, call Raritan at 856-825-4900, or visit raritaneng.com.

Mercury Marine
Recognizes Dealers

Mercury Marine of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, is presenting 69 dealerships with a Service Customer Satisfaction Index Award for 2007. The award recognizes a high level of satisfaction from customers who have had service work performed on their Mercury outboard or MerCruiser sterndrive products. Following a visit to the dealer, Mercury Marine sends a survey to customers asking them to rate their overall service satisfaction with the dealership, their satisfaction with their service advisor and indicate if they would revisit the dealer in the future. For more information, contact Mercury Marine at 920-929-5340 or mercurymarine.com.

Grand Banks Adds
Two Service Centers

Grand Banks Yachts of Seattle, Washington, has added two service centers along Florida’s west coast to its authorized network. Olsen Marine in Fort Myers is a full-service boatyard in operation for 37 years. This family owned yard has ABYC-certified staff experienced in all areas of repair. Viking Boatworks in St. Petersburg is an all-around service yard with an emphasis on engine repair. The yard has a new 88-ton TraveLift that accommodates boats up to 100 feet. For more information, contact Grand Banks at 206-352-0116 or grandbanks.com.

MarineEast
Changes Ownership

Kenneth Coates, president of Kenco Plastics, has purchased MarineEast from David Thompson. Kenco has manufactured MarineEast’s products for 30 years and will move the MarineEast’s headquarters from Brick, New Jersey, to Kenco’s facility in La Porte, Indiana, to streamline communications and production. Thompson will remain as chief designer at the new company now named MarineEast Inc.

Additionally, MarineEast recognized three independent representatives for their significant contributions during its annual sales meeting. Greg Hardison of Love & Associates was named sales rep of the year for achieving a 17 percent growth in his territory of Florida’s east coast, Georgia and Alabama. Also of Love & Associates, Alex Love was recognized for selling the most new-design products while Peter Brewer of Cressy Marketing was recognized for selling the most new products. For more information, contact MarineEast Inc. at 219-362-7463 or marineeast.com.

Q-Tran Celebrates 15 Years

Designer and manufacturer of power supply systems, transformers and components for low voltage lighting, Q-Tran, Inc. of Bridgeport, Connecticut, celebrates 15 years in business. John Tremaine founded Q-Tran in 1993 to resolve problems with the way power was fed to low voltage fixtures. He designed a series of flexible remote transformers to eliminate noise and heat while enhancing the light quality. Today, Q-Tran supplies its low voltage lighting fixtures to boating retailers across the country. For more information, contact Q-Tran at 203-367-8777 or q-tran.com.

Azimut Partners
with SeaKeeper Gyro

Azimut Yachts is partnering with SeaKeeper Inc. to offer SeaKeeper’s new gyroscopic stabilizers. SeaKeeper’s compact gyroscope counters a boat’s rolling motion while consuming minimal energy. Efficiency is delivered by computer control and the rotation of the gyroscope’s flywheel in a vacuum. Azimut is the first and only Italian builder to offer the SeaKeeper gyroscope, however, the system will be supplied to builders of other types of boats including trawlers and sportfishermen. For more information, visit azimutyachts.com or seakeeper.com.

Carolina Yacht Enterprises
Picks SeaComfort

Wanchese, North Carolina-based Carolina Yacht Enterprises is the first boatbuilder to select the new SeaComfort marine mattresses from the Hickory Springs Marine Group. The SeaComfort mattresses are available in three models–Select, Premium and Ultra–and three different colors with stain-resistant, water-repellent covers. They are the only marine mattresses manufactured in compliance with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission mattress flammability standard and have an optional hinge for convenient access to storage. For more information, contact the Hickory Springs Marine Group at 828-328-2213.

Mack Boring Expands
in North Carolina

For the second time since opening its Wilmington, North Carolina, facility 10 years ago, Mack Boring & Parts is expanding. Originally growing from 4,000 to 8,500 square feet after just four years, Mack Boring is now set to build an additional 15,000-square-foot facility. The expansion will allow the company to keep pace with its growing industrial and power generation business. For more information, visit mackboring.com, or call 908-964-0760.