Calling All Boat Owners

In late May, the relevant House and Senate committees approved passage of their respective versions of 2008’s Clean Boating Act (S. 2766 and HR 5949). The next hurdle is to get these bills to the floor for a vote before September 30, 2008, the date after which it becomes illegal to discharge any water out of your boat without an exemption permit from the Environmental Protection Agency. To make your voice heard, contact your senators and representatives to urge passage of The Clean Water Act of 2008. These bills will maintain the status quo for up to three years (current wording) and prevent boat owners from having to obtain permits for face fines in order to operate any engine with raw water cooling.

It Had to Happen Sometime
On May 1, the fuel terminals at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale began receiving and thus distributing a 10 percent ethanol-blended fuel product. We remind boat owners–even those far from the corn belt–that ethanol and fiberglass do not peacefully coexist. Certain fuel line materials may also fail. Before adding blended ethanol fuel, make sure that there is no water in your fuel tank. Unlike pure gasoline, which separates from water, ethanol binds with H2O and thus travels along in the fuel stream, where it may make your engine quite unhappy. For information about ethanol fuels in marine engines, visit the National Marine Manufacturers’ Web site at nmma.org.

Brunswick Bids Adieu
to Four Boat Brands
Brunswick Corp. will cease production of 38 models under four brands–Sea Pro, Sea Boss, Palmetto, and Laguna–with the 2009 model year, which begins July 1, and will close its production plant in Newberry, South Carolina. The brands being discontinued have been under Bruns-wick’s umbrella for only a few years. Sea Boss was founded in 2003 and acquired by Brunswick in 2004; Sea Pro was established in 1987 and bought by Brunswick in 2004; Palmetto was founded in 2001 and acquired in 2005, and Laguna was established by Brunswick in 2006. In March, Brunswick sold its Baja Boats division to Fountain Powerboats.

USPS Reminds You to Zip Up
The United States Power Squadron released some important, albeit grim, statistics as summer began in effort to get more people to wear life jackets when operating boats. According to their statistics, two-thirds of all fatal boating accident victims drowned. Of those who drowned, 90 percent of the victims were not wearing a life jacket. Before entering the water to check an anchor or for watersports, the USPS cautions to first test the rate of drift from wind, tides and currents by attaching a floating line to a safety device and dropping it overboard. Watch as the float distances itself from your boat. Using this knowledge, you should stay within reach of the floating line. Statistics indicate that craft under 24 feet are involved in the highest incidence of drowning deaths where MOB is the primary contributing factor. Anytime you plan to leave a perfectly good boat for the water, put on a life jacket.

Please, No Buffalo Sauce
Lake Worth, the big body of water inside the Palm Beach (Florida) Inlet, is going to become a little cleaner when the county’s Department of Environmental Resources enhances a portion of the 34-acre tract around John’s Island with 5,000 tons of strategically placed rocks to “recruit” oyster colonies. It seems each adult oyster is capable of filtering 50 gallons of water daily and controlled studies show this filtering is essential to restoring seagrasses and fish habitat in the lagoon.