Maritime Publishing of San Diego has acquired the parent company of Ocean Navigator and its companion publication, Professional Mariner. The sale included both of Navigator Publishing’s print magazines and their respective websites, newsletters and email marketing products. The agreement, which closed in mid-March, has Ocean Navigator and Professional Mariner joining Maritime Publishing’s two other magazine titles: Pacific Maritime and Fishermen’s News. Maritime Publishing previously acquired those publications from Philips Publishing Group of Seattle. Both magazines, which ceased publication early in the COVID-19 pandemic, are set to re-launch this spring. Abrams, an experienced mariner, will serve as publisher for the new…
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With seven employees, the closing of Broomfield & Son, Inc., in Providence, R.I., in March 2020 didn’t make a splash on the business pages. For boat builders, boat owners and repair yards, however, Broomfield’s shutdown was an outsized event. That’s because Broomfield & Son, Inc., makes production keels, custom keels, and does re-surfacing and the replacement of keel bolts for customers nationwide. The company also offers billets (block and custom shapes and sizes), M-blocks, and more, and does repair work. The small, family-run business, a fourth-generation enterprise in existence for more than 60 years, was forced to close last March…
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When sails fail due to sunlight damage, what parts of sails are most likely to fail? We asked a sailmaker, Mike Bartles of M&H Bartles Sailmakers in Boothbay, Maine, this question. According to Bartles, it usually isn’t the cloth but the stitching. The most common damage to modern sails happens silently and invisibly: the steady beating of the sun. Sunlight contains ultraviolet (UV) light, which is more energetic than the wavelengths of visible light. This UV light has enough energy to slowly break down the fibers in nylon and polyester. The stitching holding the panels together is what breaks down…
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