Products at IMTEC 1997

Products
at IMTEC 1997

We are showing a number interesting products we saw at the show on this page. This is just a portion of our product photos. Many other photos are on other pages throughout our IMTEC 97 report.


See Rescue Banner	Colonial Sport Boats Blackhawk Outrigger Canoe	Checkmate Boat	Heavy Duty Boat

See Rescue Banner - a novel orange banner that rolls up into the small bag shown in the insert at the bottom of the photo. They had some application photos in the booth indicating the much improved visibility of people in the water or on the ground from the air during search and rescue operations.

Colonial Sports Blackhawk Outrigger Canoe - the outriggers are electrically powered up and down to allow normal operation during canoeing and then provide exceptional stability during fishing. We gave it one of our RBBI Awards for being one of the most novel and innovative products at the Fishing Show.

Checkmate Boat - all the red carpet and the lights tricked my camera, but this boat was a real knockout at the show. It looked great and was in a location where one Aisle formed a "T" with a crossing aisle. The boat was at the head of the "T". The red color of the boat and the carpet really created an impression on me. I thought it was "striking".

Heavy Duty Boat - I am not sure of the name of this company, but they had a boat hull made from very durable materials. They were inviting people to hit it with a sledge hammer. I gave it a real good "whack" the morning the show opened and put a pretty good dent in it. Perhaps they should have noted I weigh 315 pounds and pickup cars while people change the tires. Anyway, this photo was taken as a momento after the real swing. Their hull material is obviously incredibly superior to fiberglass in taking a sledge hammer blow.


Sonic Jet Rescue Boat 1	Sonic Jet Rescue Boat 2	Sonic Jet Boat	King Sailfish Mounts

Sonic Jet Performance Inc. - this company really appeared to be "on the ball" to me. They had several very innovative products on display in their booth and even had flyers showing some more. I liked their Rescue Craft which could be set up for a variety of applications including fire fighting. It also had a ramp for pulling injured people up out of the water. OEM's doing high speed testing, racers, and boat race sites might do well to have one of these around. The other craft was very stylish and also demonstrated their "Step Ahead" a patent pending unique "pull out and rotate down" step initially designed PWC applications. It automatically retracts when the jet takes off. They did not display, put also have an "oil skimmer" craft somewhat similar to the rescue craft called the "Vacuum Jet." I was very impressed by these guys. They are showing some really innovative ideas at a time when most of the majors are trying to "save nickel." It was a shame they seemed to have one of the worst booth spaces available. It was way over to the side of the South Building in a low traffic area. Would have been nice if they were in the area of the "concept craft" display.

King Sailfish Mounts - they had a beautiful display in the Fishing Show of their "replica fish". They are hand laid fiberglass and sure look real to me. They were a "crowd stopper."


Gripster	Honda Booth	Life Rafts	Life Raft Lock

The Gripster - by Northern Pacific Products allows you to join to boats or PWC's together without having them banging against each other. It even allow you to "raft" down the river together. Just attach the suction cups and off you go.

Honda - Their booth featured their new emission qualified engine and the display looked great. It was on a turning pedestal. I think our photo is pretty good, but it still doesn't capture the niceness of the display.

SwitLik Life Rafts - the rafts collapse into the small boxes shown at the left of the photo or into other small bags. The boxes were especially interesting. They can be mounted to a boat and if the boat sinks, when it reaches a depth of 15 feet, a special lock ruptures and releases the box which floats to the top. The lock is shown in more detail in the second photo.


Fishbone Fred	SeaRay Boat	Shoe Boat	PSI Surface Drive

Fishbone Fred - this interesting gentleman sings some funny fishing songs and has a group of "safety songs" for kids that teach them "how to spot dangerous situations and where to turn for help." I thought he was very interesting. This is the "kind of thing" that could promote boating and boating safety. With a little added funding from the NMMA / MRAA group trying to promote boating he might be able to be quite a missionary. I think operations like this could get a "lot of bang for your buck."

SeaRay Boat - this is the nice huge boat that won the RBBI Biggest Boat at the Show Award.

Shoe Boat - this interesting booth display from a shoe company won the RBBI Most Memorable Exhibit Award.

PSI Surface Drive - This surface drive from Propulsion Systems Inc. is steerable. I've seen some much larger units of the same design by them at some Navy technology displays.


Windjet 1	Windjet 2	Yamaha Booth

Windjet - this was a very interesting craft that is propelled by two PWC's. The units are coupled together (and very quickly released when desired) and the steering is transferred to a normal steering wheel up front. I thought it was a very interesting application. They said it would accommodate most PWC models. They are located in Salt Lake City. I met a few of their folks at the booth and some more at the "Exporting to Japan" seminar. They had a very active booth and seemed to be having a good show.

Yamaha - Yamaha did not seem to have any thing to really "show off" at the show, but they had a very nice booth.

Mystery Products: a couple small accessories really "caught my eye" and we'll have more info on them later.