Meet the Crew! Credits & Current Events - The people behind iBuySailboats.com
Steve Barth is a veteran cruising sailor and businessman with a background in engineering, drafting and commercial rigging. In addition to refitting his own 38' ketch, he's currently busy developing a new Discount Rigging & Marine Consignment Shop in the Florida Keys, which is set to go live in April 2010.
As a service to our visitors and subscribers, many of Steve's products and consignment items will be featured here on the iBuySailboats.com website, including many hard-to-find items that may be simply unavailable elsewhere.
For information about buying or consigning sailboat hardware, contact him at floatinoff@hotmail.com
Scott Watts is a licensed professional boatbuilder, an ASA Certified sailing instructor and a well-traveled delivery captain. As the owner and founder of Seaworthy Solutions (Scott Watts, LLC), he currently operates a six-acre boatbuilding and full service yacht repair compound in St. Augustine, Florida.
Over the past three decades, Scott has also bought and sold over 45 of his own cruising & racing boats, plus specialty craft, multihulls and traditional schooners.
His precise, technical contributions and unusually wide range of abilities have helped shape the Sailboat Sales Manual 101 into a practical, 'hands on' resource for like-minded sailors.
Ed Morris is a cruising sailor and private investor who has been buying, selling and refitting sailboats for over 30 years through his own companies. Having started as a teenager and 'worked his way up' from scratch, he remains active in the business and has since logged upwards of 40,000 sea miles in the course of managing his own fleet.
Originally from the Annapolis, Maryland area, Ed has also been a featured guest speaker at various safety and seamanship seminars held throughout the Chesapeake Bay region.
Current projects include the development of a new charter and sailing school program for visitors in South Florida. He's also the Senior Editor of our featured publication, the Sailboat Sales Manual 101.
Dr. Joseph Cater III is the Chief Economist and President of Market Economics (Annapolis, MD), specializing in research, analysis and trends forecasting for marine-specific industries and markets. As such we owe him a world of thanks for his professional insights and contributions to the Sailboat Sales Manual 101.
Joe is also a life-long sailboat owner and an avid racer, plus he serves as a leading coordinator for several non-profit sailing and boatbuilding programs benefitting the inner-city youth of Baltimore and Washington, DC.
Jake Wilhelm is our most recent protege', apprentice and project helper. Upon deciding that he could no longer tolerate the frigid winters of central Illinois, he packed his belongings and came to Florida in order to learn everything he could about the sailboat business.
The photo to the left shows Jake happily removing all of the companionway hatch tracks and trim from an older Catalina 27. After some minor fiberglass repairs to the edges of the hatch cover, new tracks were fitted and all the remaining trim was replaced with brand new solid teak. No more leaks, and no more squeaks... Good job, Jake!
More photos and details of this project will be added soon.