Scanstrut recently released a new wireless charger which, according to the company, is the market’s first waterproof wireless charger. More info here.

An interesting article on Paint Square’s website regarding the different surface preparations on steel welds and their affect on a coating’s performance. The result of the experiment showed that the coating’s performance was almost the same regardless of the initial grinding (ISO G1 to G5), so long as the welds were blasted to ISO’s Sa-2.5 standard. Read the entire article at Paint Square’s website.

The 1000 CAN/AM Islands Poke Run will be held in Kingston, ON from August 17-18. Visit pokerrunsamerica.com for more information.

Here’s an useful looking tool featured on BoatingMag.com: the Sea Dog Plugmate Garboard Wrench, which contains seven tools in one. The most useful feature is the designated storage for the boat’s drain plug!
Check out other useful tools at BoatingMag.com.

Mercury Marine has an interesting tool for boaters who have a Mercury engine: it’s called the VesselView Mobile and it provides access to your engine’s performance data on your phone via a bluetooth dongle. Once you download the app (both iOS and Android), you can view basic information such as speed, RPMs, engine temperature, battery charge state, and fuel consumption. More detailed information is available depending upon the engine.
The app also provides handy features such as scheduled maintenance reminders, authorized Mercury dealer locations and customizable checklists for your boating trips.
The bluetooth dongle unit costs around $350 but check with your local Mercury dealer for current pricing.

Some interesting information for dock talk:

Most people have probably heard of a Brunswick billiard (pool) table. But how many people know that the Brunswick Corporation is the parent company of over 10 recreational boat brands?

Ever heard of Crestliner boats? What about a Boston Whaler? Bayliner maybe? All three brands are owned by Brunswick. How about Lowe, Lund and Princecraft? Yup, all are owned by Brunswick. And all those boats need to be powered; so guess who owns the Mercury lineup of engines? Brunswick Corporation also owns the Attwood brand (marine accessories) and the Whale brand (best known for their pump, plumbing and heating systems).

To top it off, in June the Brunswick Corporation announced that it had acquired Power Products’ Global Marine & Mobile Business. This acquisition includes brands such as: Ancor, Blue Sea Systems, Marinco, Mastervolt, and ProMariner!

Visit www.brunswick.com to learn more about this impressive company.

One week until the annual National Capital Regatta (14-15 July 2018). The event is hosted by the Britannia Yacht Club on the Ottawa River and has been ongoing since 1957! More information here.

Here’s an interesting product from a Australia-based company: it’s called the Seabin and it’s a floating garbage collector that can be installed in marinas and yacht clubs (or anywhere else that has a problem with floating debris and garbage).

The Seabin floats just below the water’s surface and sucks in the surrounding garbage and debris using a built-in pump. The Seabin is equipped with a filter (or “catchbin”) which removes the garbage while the filtered water is pumped back out into the marina. This system can remove up to 1.5 kgs of debris a day; even more impressive is the Seabin’s ability to filter out plastic pieces as small as 2mm!

You can read more at the Seabin website.

Last week, the Brunswick Group announced its intention to stop producing sport yachts under the Sea Ray brand. Instead, the company intends to focus on the “growing and evolving” segment of 24 ft. to 40 ft. boats. Although this news may not be of interest to boaters along the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers, what is interesting is that the decision to stop producing the sports yachts was in part due to the company’s inability to find a suitable buyer for the entire Sea Ray brand.

More information can be found at Boating Industry Canada.

Swedish company Zipwake has just released interesting product as a replacement for trim tabs: the Zipwake Dynamic Trim-Control System. The system claims to improve fuel consumption and offer a more comfortable ride over traditional trim tabs. More information here. Imtra Corporation is the authorized Canadian distributor of the Zipwake system.