Article by Capt. Steve Katz
Welcome to the 2022 Coastal Fisherman! I am honored to continue the Ship-to-Shore column and collaborating with the Coastal Fisherman crew!
Last fall, our industry was booming with sales of boats and all related equipment. The limited supply chain was expected to begin to open up over the winter and spring. Most of you know that is not the case, many products are still in short supply and with no end in sight to shortages and delays.
One company who has not stopped growing is Seakeeper. Just a few weeks ago I attended the Seakeeper dealer training school in Tampa, Florida. They had just completed construction of a brand-new training facility to train and educate dealers and employees all year long. This is an ambitious plan along with their ambitious sales forecast for 2022 should make for a busy year for Seakeeper and its dealers. Last fall, Seakeeper purchased a 250,000 square foot building on twenty-five acres near their existing factory in Pennsylvania. Once they transition into the new facility, their capacity will increase and they plan to better meet demand.
This bustling scene is repeated at other marine manufacturers, whether boat builders, boat yards, marinas and service companies demonstrating both a surge in demand and shortage of materials and often the workforce. Boaters around the country have embraced patience, or at least settled for long delays when getting work done on their boat or buying parts and supplies. Luckily, most of the major marine manufacturers have been accurate in projecting delays, allowing boaters to schedule appropriately. Many informed boaters and anglers have gotten used to the “new normal “and put their orders and service calls in earlier than ever. Just recently, a customer ordered a new Garmin chartplotters knowing there was a backorder situation and was given a delivery date about 2 months later, and to their credit, Garmin shipped as scheduled, though it does not always work so smoothly, with many customers waiting for products for months past the due date.
What’s new and trending for Spring 2022? Finally, the annual Miami Boat Show along with other winter shows went on as scheduled. There was fantastic attendance at all the fall, winter, and spring shows. Marine manufacturers often introduce new products during the winter boat shows and this year the announcements were spread out through the winter, but new and updated products still hit the market and often instantly created backorders! Luckily for early adopters, the two popular products below are currently available to purchase.
Simrad introduced their new Simrad NSX product at the Miami boat show, this is the latest evolution in chartplotters and fish finders for powerboaters as a new midrange product in the Simrad line. Available in 7, 9 and 12-inch display sizes and based on a new operating system built from the ground up to redefine boating experiences. Garmin, last fall, announced the GMR Fantom™ 18x and GMR Fantom 24x solid state dome radars, offering 50 watts of output power for long range and better target detection on the water, even at high speeds. Equipped with Garmin’s signature MotionScope™ technology, the new high-powered Fantom 18x/24x radomes can detect and highlight moving targets in different colors, providing mariners with valuable vessel position information, track weather and more.
Raymarine announced the Cyclone™ radar, the newest range of open-array radars, conceived and crafted to give mariners the confidence to tackle the harshest conditions, gain distinct advantages in the hunt for fish, and safely navigate busy waterways. All-new Cyclone radars are available in 3, 4 and 6-foot arrays and in two high-power output options for each size. Each model features innovative detection technologies, including Cyclone Bird Mode, that elevates Cyclone into a class all its own.
While software almost tops the list for spring tune-ups, this year is no different. This winter, the major manufacturers, Garmin, Furuno and Simrad released software updates, some minor fixes, and some major improvements such as the new Garmin user interface.
Last Fall, the National Marine electronics association held its annual conference and expo, with the product awards continuing to be a highlight of the week. Members of the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) vote for eligible products in 18 product categories.
This year Furuno dominated the awards at the 2021 NMEA Conference by winning 7 NMEA Product of Excellence Awards, continuing their long-running streak of taking home more accolades than any other manufacturer!
Garmin won the Manufacturer of the Year award for the seventh consecutive year and was also awarded five NMEA Product of Excellence awards in the multi-function display (MFD), autopilot, safety, multimedia entertainment and mobile application utility categories.
Whether maintaining, updating or even purchasing a new boat, carefully planning, scheduling and patience is necessary to avoid disappointment.
Until next time...
Stay Grounded!
