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What Happens In Vegas...
Thusday, 30-NOV-2006 by
Matthew Packard - Project Engineer
Hopefully won't just stay in Vegas. That is if you
are talking about the National Marine Propeller Association's
annual convention that was held at the Orleans Hotel on November 10th
through the 12th. This year brought many companies together to promote
their businesses and exchange tips on marine propeller repair and
manufacturing.
Friday night was a time when attendees could get to know the vendors and
to meet up with old friends. This year on HydroComp’s front, Don
MacPherson was at METS so he sent Vin and myself in his place.
Saturday was the first full day of the convention. For those of you who
have been to the event in past know that the bulk of the convention
consists of presentations given by various companies in the industry.
This year HydroComp lead the way by giving the first presentation
titled, “Shaft Angle: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”.  The
presentation encouraged much conversation and constructive group
discussion among attendees. HydroComp was also lucky to be one of the
first presentations as throughout the day seminar attendance seemingly
dwindled. Could this possibly be due to the fact we were in Vegas?…
Saturday night brought everyone back together to have a little fun
racing go-carts. To call them go-carts almost seems belittling as they
could travel upwards of 35-40 mph. Let’s think of them more as mini
Indy cars. This tradition was started a couple of years back and with
the majority enjoying the competition there is no doubt we will see it
again next year.
Sunday morning brought us to the R&R Prop Shop where Kevin
Taylor (a recent PropCad user) gave a tour of his shop. The new Prop
Press 360 was also setup for demonstrations. This device allowed the
user to modify a propeller using pneumatic pistons rather than the
traditional method of hammering. For some the ability to modify and fix
propellers without having the sore shoulders and arms at the end of the
day seemed enticing.
The convention ended Sunday after a few more presentations. Overall it
was a good event and great to meet with users of our products. At
conventions like these, it is user feedback that helps improve our
products, something we are continually doing.
So, until next year’s NMPA convention I’ll save up so I can
hopefully win big in Las Vegas.
Links:
NMPA - www.nmpa.net
R&R Prop Shop - www.randrpropshop.com
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