2008 METS

Shop till you drop

It's boat bits bliss in November every year in Amsterdam, where the world's largest boat bits show attracts throngs of visitors from more than 100 countries. Called METS for short, the Marine Equipment Trade Show is the meeting place for every boat part and marine accessory known to man. If you haven't been there, you really must. Meantime, here's a little insight into what goes on and the latest cool kit for boats this season.

Housed in a massive exhibition venue, METs is so vast it takes three full days just to walk around, let alone stopping to spend time at the booths. On my first day, I devote 30 seconds at each booth. The second day, I zero in on the products I'm interested in, and then on the third day I don my business hat and do my deals.

POPULAR ANZACS
Much of the show is taken up by national exhibitions and pavilions. Naturally, boating-mad Australia and New Zealand are well represented and, even better for them, popular with marine distribution buyers. In fact there is a group of Australians who for as long as I can remember return year-after-year selling a diverse range of products such as winches, hydraulics, electrolysis detection machines, construction materials and marine electronics. They took more than 200m² of display space at METS this year.

In short, if you want to be on the world stage with your products, then METS is the place to showcase them. Although a 'marine trade only' show, it offers a fascinating insight into the global boating industry. There are products for everything from tinnies to superyachts.

 Flying in the face of global recession, METs was positively buoyant and attracted more visitors than in 2006 when the economy was booming. There was no real concern about world economic conditions and there were seemingly more new products and innovations than I can remember. Accessorising and upgrading your boat is big business these days.

So what took my fancy? I invested in three product lines, starting with a neat alternative to antifouling your boat; the pontoon; and, that fleet of hire boats or the workboat living in the water.

2B SURE 2B SURE
The 2B Sure antifouling system uses two electrodes placed in the water at either end of the boat or whatever object(s) you wish to protect from marine growth. Minute electrical currents are run in opposite directions between the two electrodes, with each electrode alternating between being the anode or the cathode.

The electrodes gradually erode of over a period of about two years, with the harmless dissolved material being placed in suspension and carried away by the currents. This is similar to a zinc dissipating.

Electrons then move back and forth between the electrodes and, says 2B Sure, negate the growth of marine organisms on the hull. The device is Lloyds of London rated, tested by the Dutch Navy, and environmentally friendly. Oh, and isn't expensive, costing about $2000 or so. Think of all the applications for existing marinas, slipways, remote floating marker buoys and boat owners.

MARINE BABY SEAT
The second product that took my fancy (and yes I put my money down) was a baby seat for boats.

You simply strap your child into it and the chair can be moved between the flybridge, cockpit and cabin or to wherever you have installed a mounting point. The mounting point can also be used as a base for an optional table, too. A very clever piece of design and my young son John was happy to test it out at the trade booth.

Based on many enquiries from customers, I have never been able to find a suitable supplier of electric fans for boats. These are useful to create airflow in cabins, especially in summer when air-con may not be available.

Existing fans on the market are designed for cars and are either cheap and nasty or use too much power. I found a Canadian company called Caframo Marine with an extensive innovative range of DC marine cabin fans which look good and are power frugal. Hopefully, a big distributor will pick up this range (visit www.caframo.com).

Marine electronics just seem to get bigger, better and more complex every year. Just when I thought that I understood analogue NMEA 0183 transmissions - you know the ones, they distribute analogue information in one direction between chartplotters, autopilots and displays - along comes the new wave digital NMEA 2000 communication protocol.

To the layman, it means that NMEA 2000 devices can communicate digitally between each other and not in a single direction. The 2000 standard will allow a single wire run through the boat to connect VHF radio data, autopilots, AIS transponders, radar, sonar transponders and digital displays, for example.

 There are new products coming that will also convert NMEA 1083 data to 2000. Check out www.actisense.com for the full range of marine data communication interfaces. The gear is distributed by Taylor Marine in Australia.

AXIS STERNDRIVE
Without a doubt the most magnificent piece of engineering and possibly the most revolutionary item on show was a sterndrive propulsion system from South Africa. Called the Axis drive by Caudwell Marine, it is a stainless steel sterndrive coupled to a completely sealed three-axis gimbal.

The Axis sterndrive creates the same movements as an aeroplane: pitch, yaw and turn. There are no bellows and the unit is installed with the engine in one piece. The company has elected to use Nissan-based engines. This product was by far the most visited display and everyone was simply fascinated. Go to www.caudwellmarine.com for more information.

But sometimes the simplest products are the best. Durasafe manufactures a range of universal key locks for marine electronics including Lowrance, Humminbird, Furuno, Icom and more. The lock replaces one of the securing knobs on the mounting bracket. Visit www.durasafelocks.com.

240V AT ANY RPM
A Swiss company Dynawatt has developed an innovative 240V engine-powered charging system that doesn't require the engine to run at 1500rpm or 3000rpm to make 240V at 50Hz. This ingenious approach takes AC power generated by the alternator, converts it to DC and then back to pure sine wave AC again.

The advantage here is that any reciprocating engine operating at any speed can create quality 240V. This product has many applications beyond marine including fire brigade, mobile homes, refrigeration, and communications vehicles. Vist www.dynawatt.ch.

OZ BATTERY BOX
Last but not least, the Aussie Battler, namely Ark Engineering, deserves a heap of praise for its innovative and useful smart charging battery box. Called a Power Pack, the 12V battery box has a fully automatic built-in charger, cigarette lighter output, isolation switch, waterproof terminals, battery display and mounting brackets.

I predict this product will make it big in the RV and marine environments, as it solves so many battery-related issues in one neat and tidy package. More at www.arkeng.com/products.html And, yes, there was a lot of interest in their booth within the Australian Pavilion.

AUSSIES AT METS
So what other Australian companies were flying the flag at METS? All told, the Australian International Marine Export Group (AIMEX) led 27 companies to METS: Aeronaut Automation, Aqualuma Underwater Lighting, Ark Corporation, Austral Propellers, Burke Marine, Coursemaster Autopilots, Donaghys Pty Ltd, Evrsafe Marine Technology, Fiber Glass International, Fixtech Marine Solutions, Global Moorings, GME, Go Boating Publications (Boating Business), Hydrive Engineering, Marina Protection Systems, Muir Windlasses Australia, Multipanel, Poly Flex Australia, Powerdive, Ronstan International, Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, Sea Gyro, Stress Free Marine, Superior Jetties, TMQ Electronics, Veem Propellers and Zhik Pty Ltd.

GME's Sean Griffin describes METS as pivotal to the company's European endeavours and its global marketing.

"METS represents a fantastic opportunity for all serious equipment manufacturers, both large and small, to showcase their products to a well-qualified, enthusiastic audience of marine professionals," said Griffin.

Meanwhile, I noticed Aqualuma taking on the world with their innovate range of underwater LED lighting. This company has also developed an LED stoplight system for PWCs which should be standard issue for these craft.

Muir winches from Tasmania had a massive display of their gleaming stainless steel windlasses and goodies.

Marina Protection Systems, which make the world-class Maddox anodes and stainless underwater fittings, were at their sixth METS show. They just released a stainless steel shaft strap for providing a positive connection for the shaft to the boat's bonding (anode) system.

Oh, yeh. What was the last product I invested in? The answer is grommets! These are the little rings that appear in the corner of tarpaulins and marine covers. A UK company has developed a particularly good range of quality eyelets and an impressive grommet press. It's a really simple product used in a multitude of applications. My wife, now referred to as Mrs Grommett, loves them.

Footnote: This year, METS will be held from November 17 to 19 in Amsterdam. For more information, visit www.metstrade.com

This year's overall DAME winner was Steyr Motors GmbH for its hybrid propulsion system, a trendsetting product that will have a significant influence on boating in the next few years, said the DAME jury.

The hybrid engine allows a yacht to operate in any one of four modes: The engine is its own starter motor; the engine can be used as a generator to charge the vessel's batteries; it can be used to leave a harbour in 'cruise' mode under electric power at speeds up to five knots; and the engine can be used in 'boost' mode for situations where additional power is required to get a boat onto a plane.

The best part of the Steyr product is that the additional generator/motor adds only 100mm to the overall length of the engine and an additional 75kg of weight, yet it produces an output of 7kW at 48V. The electric control unit uses CAN bus protocol to monitor and regulate the engine in each mode, thus allowing it to be linked to other smart engine controls.

2008 DAME AWARD CATEGORY WINNERS
This year there were category winners selected in six out of eight possible categories.