August 10, 2025 • 20 mins
Quiet innovation is revolutionizing the world of sport fishing boats, and Reese Fullerton of Canyon Marine Solutions is at the forefront of this transformation. Recorded live at the 22nd Annual Carolina Boat Builder Foundation Tournament in Manteo, North Carolina, this enlightening conversation reveals how cutting-edge marine bearing technology is enhancing performance across multiple industries.
Founded in 2019, Canyon Marine Solutions has quickly established itself as a pioneer in shaft bearings and dripless shaft seals. What makes their proprietary polymer bearings extraordinary? They're significantly quieter than anything else on the market—a claim backed by submarine testing data—and typically last two to three times longer than competing products. For tournament fishing boats where every advantage matters, this difference can be crucial.
But the story extends far beyond recreational vessels. The same innovative materials powering championship sport fishing boats are also at work in aircraft carriers, Coast Guard vessels, and hydropower plants. This versatility speaks to the exceptional quality and reliability of Canyon's engineering solutions. As Fullerton explains, their success stems from a commitment to customization rather than off-the-shelf solutions. They evaluate each shaft line holistically, taking into account the specific needs of boat builders, captains, and owners.
The conversation takes an inspiring turn when discussing industry relationships, revealing how fierce competitors like John Bayliss and Paul Spencer maintain a spirit of collaboration that strengthens the entire boat building community. This mirrors Canyon Marine's own business philosophy centered on integrity and exceptional service—values that align perfectly with "the Ward's Way" of doing business.
Subscribe to hear more conversations with marine industry innovators as we celebrate 75 years in business and share insights from the water's edge. Have you experienced the difference quality bearings make in marine performance? We'd love to hear your story!
Wards Marine Electric
https://www.wardsmarine.com/
Wards Way YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@WardsWay75
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Season 4 of the Wardsway Podcast.
We're here live in Manteo,North Carolina, at the 22nd
Annual Carolina Boat BuilderFoundation Tournament.
Join us as we celebrate 75years in business and we're just
(00:22):
getting started.
Welcome to the Warsway Podcast,Season 4.
We're live here at the 22ndAnnual Carolina Boat Builders
Tournament here in Manteo, NorthCarolina.
I'm here with my friend ReeseFullerton with Canyon Marine
Solutions.
All right, well, welcomeWelcome to being here and Reese
(00:46):
agreed to be our first guest atthis billfish tournament, so
we're super excited.
And we don't really have a hugetopic.
I don't.
I'm not Barbara Walters withall of these questions, but I
think one of the things I wantedto ask everybody how did you?
Well, first, how did you startyour business?
When did your business start?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Uh business started, I'd say, uh, what was it?
20, 2019.
Okay, I think it was about that.
Yeah, yeah, um, I worked, soI've worked on the water my
whole life, whether it was onfishing boats, uh, commercial
boats.
I worked on ships for years.
Um always kind of had a thingfor I love the industry and I I
(01:32):
kind of got thrown into like thesales side of stuff.
So I worked for a previousdistributor that was the
distributor for the polymer thatwe use in our material.
Okay, when they were bought out, um, basically the that the
area went up.
You know that needed morerepresentation, right?
So, um, I decided, hey, Ialways want to have my own
business.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Let's just give this a shot.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So, uh, I got some you know partners together and
where are you based out ofVirginia beach, virginia?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Okay, so that's only a little bit further North from
here, so you are really is theheart of your business.
Sport fish, the boat builders?
Not at all.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Okay yeah yeah, so the heart of our business is
actually commercial, marine,military and industrial so the
same material that we use in ourbearings for the sport.
Fish boats is actually the samematerial that's being used in
applications and aircraftcarriers, coast guard vessels,
hydropower plants, anything andeverything.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
So you know, I find that, um, we're very much the
same at Ward.
So we um, obviously we startedat recreational but we do
commercial work, we dogovernment work and it's
interesting how I hear thatstory a lot, that people say you
know, this is the industry welove right, this is the part we
love, and these are.
These are the really hard showsthat we have to come to.
(02:45):
Let's show our burden.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, exactly, somebody's got to do it.
It's a tough one, it really isas owners, we have to be the one
to do it.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
But but it is interesting how it does kind of
overlap into other industries.
So you do work in the.
So you've been working on thesport fish.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
You mentioned that you work with John Bayless and
one of the builders of thefounders of this tournament.
Yeah, and kind of exactly whatyou.
What you were saying is justthat, uh, it, this, this
industry, is the one that we'rewe just love and that we're
passionate about, and, um, theway it all came about was the
builders, like, like JohnBayless, had had seen what we
were doing, you know with withother um, and there was a few
boats here and there out therethat had had the material that
(03:29):
they were using.
But, you know, one day he uhgave it a shot and we, we worked
on perfecting it and making itsuit his, his boat.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
So let's say what is it?
Tell us what the it is.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So we do, uh, shaft bearings, um, or some people
know is like cutlass bearings,okay, um, and then we do
dripless shaft seals and that's,that's kind of the main, really
the main thing we're doing withthe sport fish boats right now
okay some other stuff in theworks, but as of right now, uh,
you're looking at shaft bearings, some rudder bearings and then
(04:02):
dripless shafts.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And what's your?
What is your uniqueness?
What makes your product thebest?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
So we use a proprietary polymer material as
our bearing material.
So what that is, what thebenefit of it is is it's
significantly quieter thananything else out on the market.
We have the testing to prove it, because when we're going and
doing work on, say, submarinesand things like that, they
actually will go do a criticaltesting and send us back the
(04:28):
reports on anything else that'sout there.
So we can confidently say thatwe're the quietest bearing
material on the market, which isa huge deal for these guys
trying to go out and catch fishduring the tournament season.
And we also last on averagenormally like two to three times
longer than anything else onthe market as well.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Well, that's important too, especially as
they use their boats, and theyuse their boats a lot.
So now is quieter affect thefishing.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
That.
That's an interesting question,because that's going to be,
that's debatable.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
There's a lot of people that absolutely say that.
I think I think saying to sayquieter, that's hard to say
because it's like uh depends onthe sound, right, if you've got
kind of a steady, constant humgoing on, like a lot of these
older boats, they've got thattraditional hum of the diesels
and things like that, a lot ofthose boats raise fish, raise a
lot of fish.
I think where you start gettingwhen the bearings come into
(05:20):
play, when you start getting alot of like squeaking, squealing
, knocking, that's where it'sgoing to make a big difference.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
so definitely, certain noises not being present
are going to absolutely affecthow well?
So I was going to ask thequestion for people that, um,
you know, we do, I do electricum that is there.
I was going to ask some of thecrew is there anything electric
that helped you, or is thereanything electric that hurt you?
Is that a question you've askedsome of these captains?
Is there anything on yourbearings that have helped you,
or is there anything electricthat hurt you?
Is that a question you've askedsome of these captains?
Is there anything on yourbearings that have helped you or
hurt you?
Do you think that it's?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
yeah, I mean so there's a so there's kind of a
common conversation that we have, where a lot of it is is like
they want quieter.
But then there's another sideof it, too, that you're starting
to see with a lot of these,these builders, that are kind of
going away from some of themaybe the old school way of
doing things and they're they'repaying a lot more attention to
(06:14):
things being within alignment,making sure that alignment's
right, making sure those runningclearances are there, keeping
that shaft line tight,everything tight, staying within
tolerance where they want it tobe.
It's not so much anymore asit's like well, if the shaft
gets through the strut and thestern tube and the coupling
locks up, then we're good to goLike yeah, these guys are
getting away from that.
So, different captains,different owners, builders they
(06:37):
have the certain things thatthey like more about what we're
doing, but the common thread, Ithink, is definitely the fact
that we're a lot quieter and, tomy knowledge, we're also the
only company that's doingbearings and shaft seals that
we're going to show up to theyard, we're going to look at
(06:58):
what's going on.
We're going to take a wholeview of the shaft line and ask
exactly what it is that theywant.
We can make them custom Off theshelf is great if you're trying
to do volume, but we reallywant to focus on making it kind
of a custom fit for exactly whatthat boat owner or that captain
or that builder wants.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Do you have to do service in the field?
Do you?
Do you end up having to travelto these destinations and
provide?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
sometimes, um, we're fortunate enough to where the
the builders in the yards andstuff that we work with, they're
um, they're able to handle,okay, handle that all.
Now it's more so of like phonecalls, of like, hey, we ran into
this, what do you think?
Or, every once in a while, doyou mind coming down and taking
a look?
But man, these guys are sosquared away and we've been
(07:47):
working with them for so longnow with our material that they
they know it just as well.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So, any other uh ventures in the Marine industry?
Looking into yachting, lookinginto, yeah, looking into.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah.
So I mean, we we definitelyhave done a couple yachts good,
good size yachts, I think.
Uh, now that, um, so what I dida few years ago is I kind of I
wanted, I wanted, like baylessand the rest of these builders,
to to run our stuff hard for acouple years to where when we go
(08:19):
and talk to customers it's notjust a sales pitch.
We can confidently say and havethe data to say like Nope, this
stuff works.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Now that we've seen that over the past three, four
years, now we're starting tolike ramp up production, we're
going to expand our reach.
Our area is not seeing as manylike large yachts as like what
you're going to see, like inflorida, sure, um, but we've
been talking with the yards downthere that are interested.
We've got stuff potentially nowbeing stocked in costa rica
(08:50):
nice, you know.
So we're just kind of branchingout from there.
But I, um, I wanted to be ableto confidently tell people that
this will work, will solve yourproblem, and not just give them
like a sales pamphlet.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Well, you know that's it's your name and it's your
business and you know it's yourreputation, so you want to make
sure that all of that is exactlythat's met yeah.
So any new expansions you'regoing to expand yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I mean, come on, we can tell people here you heard
it here right now.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
I've still got some things that we're not going to
say publicly, just yet I wouldsay that's good that you've got
stuff in the works, though, yeahyeah, and we're looking at.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
We are looking at expansion stuff.
We're at larger machine shop,you know things like that.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
See retooling extra, you know, for different sizes.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yep, yep, definitely, and then there's Potential
product lines in the works.
I'm really really picky aboutwho I want to work with and
represent.
I don't want to be just anothercompany that just kind of has
this huge line card of thingsthat they only know a little bit
(09:56):
about.
We want to really kind of stayfocused on the type of work that
we do and be able to offer thatservice and everything along
with it.
We got some stuff, though, thatwe're working on.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Is any of your stuff on the boats that are out during
this tournament you think?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Bearings and seals.
Yeah, yeah, okay, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
So are you going to watch and see?
Should we do something thatsays you know if they had canyon
, you know bearings in them thatthey brought in more fish.
Let's see.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Maybe that they they brought in more fish.
Let's see, maybe we could do arecap at the end of the, at the
end of the tournament, we coulddo a recap.
I don't want to jinx it, butmaybe we can do a recap.
We can do the recap.
We're not saying what it'sgoing to be.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah, yeah, but, but we could definitely add it to
your to your case studies andyour testimonials that in
addition, yeah, yeah, you knowthe equipment that was on this
boat helped it bring in morefish yeah, maybe you could draw.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
You could draw that correlation.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I'm doing the same thing, electric wise you know,
trying to find out.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
It's a good idea.
I would have to look.
I want to see the um.
I haven't even seen the whatthis year's participant list
looks like just yet.
No, I was?
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I was listening.
Did you listen to the captain'sbriefing?
I was listening to some of thatto see and, and and how they
were all doing.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
But it looks like a good group.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
They were all already getting competitive, already
making their wagers.
You know yeah best part aboutthis industry, I think, is that
they use their boats oh, yeah,you know, so I definitely these
boats are being used oh yeah,these boats are getting out
there, these boats are being putto the test, to the weather, to
the fishing um, and that's whatthey're designed to do you know
, so I I love seeing, yeah,especially in the sport fish
(11:22):
side.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, same here.
There's so many tournaments nowLike it's hard to keep up with
them.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Do you go to a lot of them?
Speaker 2 (11:30):
We don't go to a lot of them, but we try to.
I've always been really badabout kind of like the social
media marketing side of things,and now I'm trying to keep up
with it more and more becauseyou know we were word of mouth
for a long time, which is great.
You know we were word of mouthfor a long time, which is great.
But now I'm trying to just kindof get more exposure out there
on what boats we have runningour stuff and who's out there
(11:51):
fishing, and all of them do sowell.
And there's so many tournamentsthat you're you know you're
watching.
You know the South Carolinatournament and the next thing,
you know they're in Bermuda andthen now they're back in.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
North Carolina and they're planning ahead and they
already have their schedule outfor the entire year.
And it's interesting, I know,from our perspective, when we
try to do a yard period, I meanthey're planning a yard period
28 months in advance because thefishing schedule is such that
they can't yeah they can't makethe time or what?
Are they going to give up?
And I love that again, theboats are designed to be used
yeah, so we're happy for that.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
you know, absolutely yeah, and that helps us too to
where we can kind of likeforecast a little bit about kind
of what we have coming like.
We know that before the eastcoast season tournament season
starts, we start seeing a rampup in in sales material and
things like that, and then weknow that after that you got a
lot of boats that are going tocome in before they head to
(12:41):
costa rica, so we get a ramp upthere and then, um, yeah so, but
it's been fun watching all ofthem do as well as I do, and you
know that's for me like kind ofgrowing up around it, like
that's my um, um, satisfactionof you know like if I see like a
I don't know, like a, let's say, a celebrity or a sports
(13:03):
athlete, or like a rock star.
I'm like, yeah, cool, that'sso-and-so.
These guys like when I was akid, like being at the docks and
watching them back into a slipand throw fish on the dock which
, by the way, I'm still in awejust setting up here watching a
couple of the guys come insideways right down this channel
and just bang it right into theslip You're like okay.
Not their first time, it's socool.
And then when we get a call todo like a certain boat, like a
(13:25):
big name boat, like if you'renot in the industry, you're kind
of like, oh yeah, cool, that'sa pretty boat, but for us we're
like no, that's, that's wavepaver, that's tar heel, that's
sketch 23, that you know like.
So we just get really excitedabout the people that we get to
work with and we're we'rehonored, we're honored to be
used on a lot of these boatsthat we're working with.
So, yeah, it's that is exciting.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Yeah, did you hear about?
Sorry to always go intolegislative um, did you?
Um, were you a part of, orpaying attention to, any of that
noah rule that it was going tobe with the, with the offshore,
are you?
Happy what's your comment?
What are your comments orthoughts on that, now that it's
been?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
you're talking about like the vessel speed.
Oh man, that would have beenterrible that would have been
terrible right.
I mean we, we look at it fromfor us, I mean where we are in
virginia beach.
I mean you talk, you got youryou know shipping channel going
in through there.
You know you've already got theright whale speed, stuff that's
in place.
I mean that would have been.
That was going to be a long run, a very slow ride to get out to
(14:25):
the canyon or get to get towhere we're going to be.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
So yeah, that would have been tough and I do think
that it's actually quiteremarkable that the rule, even
though the comments were putthrough, I it was remarkable one
that the rule went throughafter all the comments that were
posted, especially by builders.
I mean, there were nationalassociations out there saying
yeah, this is going to be adetrimental impact.
(14:48):
And it still went through, buteven more astonishing is that it
was retracted.
And that just goes to show thepower of the industry and, I
think, enough in common sense,which we don't always see in
this day and age.
But it was.
It was actually nice to seethat here's a legislative rule
with a wonderful intent bypeople that just maybe aren't
familiar with an industry.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
And understanding the impacts, but then to have it be
retracted and recognizing thesignificance of the industry.
I thought was incredible.
It was and that is notsomething you see all the time.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
No, no, and it was.
I mean the industry worked hardagainst it for a while, because
I mean I remember being at FortLauderdale boat show like was
it two, at least two years agoand Viking had the whole thing
going on at their booth and like, yeah, I mean, it was a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
I feel like it could have been three years ago.
It could have been 2022.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yeah, a lot of hard work was put into that it is it
is, uh, it is cool to see whenthe industry comes together that
way, and that's.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
It is and we get united.
It would be nice to be united alittle more without having to
have a fight, but it's always agood fight that.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah, it helps bring everybody together.
Yeah, and speaking on that it is, I do like to with like with
working with these builders, andEspecially here, you know, in
Dare County, but even from darecounty to ocean city and down,
like these guys I mean everybodyis building an amazing boat um,
(16:10):
their businesses are theircompetitors in that regard, but
they also like help each other,they're sharing and like they're
working together, like there'sstill that camaraderie that's
there in the boat buildingindustry and the sport fishing,
with john bayless and paulspencer standing there helping
each other building industry andthe sport fishing industry.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
You saw it tonight with John Bayliss and Paul
Spenser standing there helpingeach other on the same island in
Wanchese, and yet they'recompetitors.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
But, in this moment they're just collective builders
and supporting an industry, andI'd love to see that the amount
that they learn from each otherand how much they've learned
from one another throughout theyears and things like that.
It's really cool to see.
You don't see that a lot.
I mean especially in business.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
It's tough, it is it is, and I and you know, there's
only so many owners out therethat are that are willing to buy
these, and God bless all ofthem.
Thank you, thank you, reach out, thank you for all of you
owners that go purchase thesevessels and purchase our
equipment and use them, becauseyou really do, uh, drive the
industry, but you know there'sonly a limited amount that's
right of people and soultimately everybody's, you know
(17:10):
, vying after that customer.
So it is still nice though tosee, and I I do get the sense
that they want it to be theirboat, but they're just happy
they would stay in a boat rightand still continue to do
billfish and sport fishtournaments so yeah, yeah,
absolutely, I do think that thatwould be good.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah, it's a it's a big industry, but it, but it is
very small at the same time.
We I was just having aconversation about this before
uh, we, we met at the boothwhere, you know, if you can,
just, you just work hard, you doright by people.
You know you answer your phone,you try to help them as much as
possible operate with integrityright.
Whatever everybody else is doing, let them do it.
(17:44):
You know, don't get into itwith other companies.
Any of those things Like theindustry is also small enough
that even from what we learnedfrom being word of mouth for so
long, like word of mouth spreadfor us.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yes, I mean, and also can be detrimental.
That's right If you do it wrong.
That word of mouth.
Exactly Doesn't matter whatyour social media campaign is,
is one rumor on the dock thatyour product or my product or
somebody's product wasn't.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
You know yeah, wasn't what it needed to be.
Everybody knows it.
Yeah, and if there's a problem,just fix it just fix it.
Stand behind your work, standbehind your product yep, you
can't figure out how to fix it.
Find somebody who can just bendover backwards for for the
customer and just try to doeverything in your power to make
it right, and this is the bestyou can do.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
So if you're wondering why it says the Ward's
Way, that's what we call.
That's really the name of ourculture, so to speak.
We say it's the Ward's Way ofdoing things.
We always try to do our best tooperate with integrity.
You have to be honest, you haveto look somebody in the face,
even if it's news they don'twant to hear, or um, people are
going to make mistakes and youhave to own them and you have to
(18:50):
stand behind your work and Ithink you're going to be very
successful in many, many yearsto come.
So thank you for being on thewordsway podcast today, season
four, and I hope you have atremendous tournament and we are
going to do that follow-up.
I want to know, based on the onthe winners on Friday.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
We're going to see.
That sounds good.
Yeah, let's do it.
And I'll say I'm I'm a fan ofthe words way we talked about it
.
I've the amount of time andeffort that you guys put into T
is into making a catalog, likeyou.
I mean that is impressive,because that is something that
you could easily overlook andjust make it a super quick
handout.
I mean that's.
I mean that thing is like.
I mean it was like I don't knowwhat it was like a yearbook or
(19:29):
like a you know exactly, andthat's what we were going for.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
We wanted it to be something that you could sit on
a table, sit on a helm, sit inthe, in the cockpit, and it'd be
something that you're likethat's worthy of being there and
you'll never get rid of it.
Absolutely no, it was fantastic, Okay Well thank you for being
on the show today and thank youfor being part of the Worthway.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Appreciate it.
Thank you guys.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Thank you for joining us this season of the Worthway
podcast.
Be sure you subscribe, becausethere's much more to come.
Welcome to Season 4 of the Wardsway Podcast.
We're here live in Manteo,North Carolina, at the 22nd
Annual Carolina Boat BuilderFoundation Tournament.
Join us as we celebrate 75years in business and we're just
(00:22):
getting started.
Welcome to the Warsway Podcast,Season 4.
We're live here at the 22ndAnnual Carolina Boat Builders
Tournament here in Manteo, NorthCarolina.
I'm here with my friend ReeseFullerton with Canyon Marine
Solutions.
All right, well, welcomeWelcome to being here and Reese
(00:46):
agreed to be our first guest atthis billfish tournament, so
we're super excited.
And we don't really have a hugetopic.
I don't.
I'm not Barbara Walters withall of these questions, but I
think one of the things I wantedto ask everybody how did you?
Well, first, how did you startyour business?
When did your business start?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Uh business started, I'd say, uh, what was it?
20, 2019.
Okay, I think it was about that.
Yeah, yeah, um, I worked, soI've worked on the water my
whole life, whether it was onfishing boats, uh, commercial
boats.
I worked on ships for years.
Um always kind of had a thingfor I love the industry and I I
(01:32):
kind of got thrown into like thesales side of stuff.
So I worked for a previousdistributor that was the
distributor for the polymer thatwe use in our material.
Okay, when they were bought out, um, basically the that the
area went up.
You know that needed morerepresentation, right?
So, um, I decided, hey, Ialways want to have my own
business.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Let's just give this a shot.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So, uh, I got some you know partners together and
where are you based out ofVirginia beach, virginia?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Okay, so that's only a little bit further North from
here, so you are really is theheart of your business.
Sport fish, the boat builders?
Not at all.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Okay yeah yeah, so the heart of our business is
actually commercial, marine,military and industrial so the
same material that we use in ourbearings for the sport.
Fish boats is actually the samematerial that's being used in
applications and aircraftcarriers, coast guard vessels,
hydropower plants, anything andeverything.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
So you know, I find that, um, we're very much the
same at Ward.
So we um, obviously we startedat recreational but we do
commercial work, we dogovernment work and it's
interesting how I hear thatstory a lot, that people say you
know, this is the industry welove right, this is the part we
love, and these are.
These are the really hard showsthat we have to come to.
(02:45):
Let's show our burden.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, exactly, somebody's got to do it.
It's a tough one, it really isas owners, we have to be the one
to do it.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
But but it is interesting how it does kind of
overlap into other industries.
So you do work in the.
So you've been working on thesport fish.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
You mentioned that you work with John Bayless and
one of the builders of thefounders of this tournament.
Yeah, and kind of exactly whatyou.
What you were saying is justthat, uh, it, this, this
industry, is the one that we'rewe just love and that we're
passionate about, and, um, theway it all came about was the
builders, like, like JohnBayless, had had seen what we
were doing, you know with withother um, and there was a few
boats here and there out therethat had had the material that
(03:29):
they were using.
But, you know, one day he uhgave it a shot and we, we worked
on perfecting it and making itsuit his, his boat.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
So let's say what is it?
Tell us what the it is.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So we do, uh, shaft bearings, um, or some people
know is like cutlass bearings,okay, um, and then we do
dripless shaft seals and that's,that's kind of the main, really
the main thing we're doing withthe sport fish boats right now
okay some other stuff in theworks, but as of right now, uh,
you're looking at shaft bearings, some rudder bearings and then
(04:02):
dripless shafts.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
And what's your?
What is your uniqueness?
What makes your product thebest?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
So we use a proprietary polymer material as
our bearing material.
So what that is, what thebenefit of it is is it's
significantly quieter thananything else out on the market.
We have the testing to prove it, because when we're going and
doing work on, say, submarinesand things like that, they
actually will go do a criticaltesting and send us back the
(04:28):
reports on anything else that'sout there.
So we can confidently say thatwe're the quietest bearing
material on the market, which isa huge deal for these guys
trying to go out and catch fishduring the tournament season.
And we also last on averagenormally like two to three times
longer than anything else onthe market as well.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Well, that's important too, especially as
they use their boats, and theyuse their boats a lot.
So now is quieter affect thefishing.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
That.
That's an interesting question,because that's going to be,
that's debatable.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
There's a lot of people that absolutely say that.
I think I think saying to sayquieter, that's hard to say
because it's like uh depends onthe sound, right, if you've got
kind of a steady, constant humgoing on, like a lot of these
older boats, they've got thattraditional hum of the diesels
and things like that, a lot ofthose boats raise fish, raise a
lot of fish.
I think where you start gettingwhen the bearings come into
(05:20):
play, when you start getting alot of like squeaking, squealing
, knocking, that's where it'sgoing to make a big difference.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
so definitely, certain noises not being present
are going to absolutely affecthow well?
So I was going to ask thequestion for people that, um,
you know, we do, I do electricum that is there.
I was going to ask some of thecrew is there anything electric
that helped you, or is thereanything electric that hurt you?
Is that a question you've askedsome of these captains?
Is there anything on yourbearings that have helped you,
or is there anything electricthat hurt you?
Is that a question you've askedsome of these captains?
Is there anything on yourbearings that have helped you or
hurt you?
Do you think that it's?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
yeah, I mean so there's a so there's kind of a
common conversation that we have, where a lot of it is is like
they want quieter.
But then there's another sideof it, too, that you're starting
to see with a lot of these,these builders, that are kind of
going away from some of themaybe the old school way of
doing things and they're they'repaying a lot more attention to
(06:14):
things being within alignment,making sure that alignment's
right, making sure those runningclearances are there, keeping
that shaft line tight,everything tight, staying within
tolerance where they want it tobe.
It's not so much anymore asit's like well, if the shaft
gets through the strut and thestern tube and the coupling
locks up, then we're good to goLike yeah, these guys are
getting away from that.
So, different captains,different owners, builders they
(06:37):
have the certain things thatthey like more about what we're
doing, but the common thread, Ithink, is definitely the fact
that we're a lot quieter and, tomy knowledge, we're also the
only company that's doingbearings and shaft seals that
we're going to show up to theyard, we're going to look at
(06:58):
what's going on.
We're going to take a wholeview of the shaft line and ask
exactly what it is that theywant.
We can make them custom Off theshelf is great if you're trying
to do volume, but we reallywant to focus on making it kind
of a custom fit for exactly whatthat boat owner or that captain
or that builder wants.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Do you have to do service in the field?
Do you?
Do you end up having to travelto these destinations and
provide?
Speaker 2 (07:25):
sometimes, um, we're fortunate enough to where the
the builders in the yards andstuff that we work with, they're
um, they're able to handle,okay, handle that all.
Now it's more so of like phonecalls, of like, hey, we ran into
this, what do you think?
Or, every once in a while, doyou mind coming down and taking
a look?
But man, these guys are sosquared away and we've been
(07:47):
working with them for so longnow with our material that they
they know it just as well.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So, any other uh ventures in the Marine industry?
Looking into yachting, lookinginto, yeah, looking into.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah.
So I mean, we we definitelyhave done a couple yachts good,
good size yachts, I think.
Uh, now that, um, so what I dida few years ago is I kind of I
wanted, I wanted, like baylessand the rest of these builders,
to to run our stuff hard for acouple years to where when we go
(08:19):
and talk to customers it's notjust a sales pitch.
We can confidently say and havethe data to say like Nope, this
stuff works.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Now that we've seen that over the past three, four
years, now we're starting tolike ramp up production, we're
going to expand our reach.
Our area is not seeing as manylike large yachts as like what
you're going to see, like inflorida, sure, um, but we've
been talking with the yards downthere that are interested.
We've got stuff potentially nowbeing stocked in costa rica
(08:50):
nice, you know.
So we're just kind of branchingout from there.
But I, um, I wanted to be ableto confidently tell people that
this will work, will solve yourproblem, and not just give them
like a sales pamphlet.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Well, you know that's it's your name and it's your
business and you know it's yourreputation, so you want to make
sure that all of that is exactlythat's met yeah.
So any new expansions you'regoing to expand yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I mean, come on, we can tell people here you heard
it here right now.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
I've still got some things that we're not going to
say publicly, just yet I wouldsay that's good that you've got
stuff in the works, though, yeahyeah, and we're looking at.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
We are looking at expansion stuff.
We're at larger machine shop,you know things like that.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
See retooling extra, you know, for different sizes.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yep, yep, definitely, and then there's Potential
product lines in the works.
I'm really really picky aboutwho I want to work with and
represent.
I don't want to be just anothercompany that just kind of has
this huge line card of thingsthat they only know a little bit
(09:56):
about.
We want to really kind of stayfocused on the type of work that
we do and be able to offer thatservice and everything along
with it.
We got some stuff, though, thatwe're working on.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Is any of your stuff on the boats that are out during
this tournament you think?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Bearings and seals.
Yeah, yeah, okay, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
So are you going to watch and see?
Should we do something thatsays you know if they had canyon
, you know bearings in them thatthey brought in more fish.
Let's see.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Maybe that they they brought in more fish.
Let's see, maybe we could do arecap at the end of the, at the
end of the tournament, we coulddo a recap.
I don't want to jinx it, butmaybe we can do a recap.
We can do the recap.
We're not saying what it'sgoing to be.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah, yeah, but, but we could definitely add it to
your to your case studies andyour testimonials that in
addition, yeah, yeah, you knowthe equipment that was on this
boat helped it bring in morefish yeah, maybe you could draw.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
You could draw that correlation.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I'm doing the same thing, electric wise you know,
trying to find out.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
It's a good idea.
I would have to look.
I want to see the um.
I haven't even seen the whatthis year's participant list
looks like just yet.
No, I was?
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I was listening.
Did you listen to the captain'sbriefing?
I was listening to some of thatto see and, and and how they
were all doing.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
But it looks like a good group.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
They were all already getting competitive, already
making their wagers.
You know yeah best part aboutthis industry, I think, is that
they use their boats oh, yeah,you know, so I definitely these
boats are being used oh yeah,these boats are getting out
there, these boats are being putto the test, to the weather, to
the fishing um, and that's whatthey're designed to do you know
, so I I love seeing, yeah,especially in the sport fish
(11:22):
side.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, same here.
There's so many tournaments nowLike it's hard to keep up with
them.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Do you go to a lot of them?
Speaker 2 (11:30):
We don't go to a lot of them, but we try to.
I've always been really badabout kind of like the social
media marketing side of things,and now I'm trying to keep up
with it more and more becauseyou know we were word of mouth
for a long time, which is great.
You know we were word of mouthfor a long time, which is great.
But now I'm trying to just kindof get more exposure out there
on what boats we have runningour stuff and who's out there
(11:51):
fishing, and all of them do sowell.
And there's so many tournamentsthat you're you know you're
watching.
You know the South Carolinatournament and the next thing,
you know they're in Bermuda andthen now they're back in.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
North Carolina and they're planning ahead and they
already have their schedule outfor the entire year.
And it's interesting, I know,from our perspective, when we
try to do a yard period, I meanthey're planning a yard period
28 months in advance because thefishing schedule is such that
they can't yeah they can't makethe time or what?
Are they going to give up?
And I love that again, theboats are designed to be used
yeah, so we're happy for that.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
you know, absolutely yeah, and that helps us too to
where we can kind of likeforecast a little bit about kind
of what we have coming like.
We know that before the eastcoast season tournament season
starts, we start seeing a rampup in in sales material and
things like that, and then weknow that after that you got a
lot of boats that are going tocome in before they head to
(12:41):
costa rica, so we get a ramp upthere and then, um, yeah so, but
it's been fun watching all ofthem do as well as I do, and you
know that's for me like kind ofgrowing up around it, like
that's my um, um, satisfactionof you know like if I see like a
I don't know, like a, let's say, a celebrity or a sports
(13:03):
athlete, or like a rock star.
I'm like, yeah, cool, that'sso-and-so.
These guys like when I was akid, like being at the docks and
watching them back into a slipand throw fish on the dock which
, by the way, I'm still in awejust setting up here watching a
couple of the guys come insideways right down this channel
and just bang it right into theslip You're like okay.
Not their first time, it's socool.
And then when we get a call todo like a certain boat, like a
(13:25):
big name boat, like if you'renot in the industry, you're kind
of like, oh yeah, cool, that'sa pretty boat, but for us we're
like no, that's, that's wavepaver, that's tar heel, that's
sketch 23, that you know like.
So we just get really excitedabout the people that we get to
work with and we're we'rehonored, we're honored to be
used on a lot of these boatsthat we're working with.
So, yeah, it's that is exciting.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Yeah, did you hear about?
Sorry to always go intolegislative um, did you?
Um, were you a part of, orpaying attention to, any of that
noah rule that it was going tobe with the, with the offshore,
are you?
Happy what's your comment?
What are your comments orthoughts on that, now that it's
been?
Speaker 2 (14:03):
you're talking about like the vessel speed.
Oh man, that would have beenterrible that would have been
terrible right.
I mean we, we look at it fromfor us, I mean where we are in
virginia beach.
I mean you talk, you got youryou know shipping channel going
in through there.
You know you've already got theright whale speed, stuff that's
in place.
I mean that would have been.
That was going to be a long run, a very slow ride to get out to
(14:25):
the canyon or get to get towhere we're going to be.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
So yeah, that would have been tough and I do think
that it's actually quiteremarkable that the rule, even
though the comments were putthrough, I it was remarkable one
that the rule went throughafter all the comments that were
posted, especially by builders.
I mean, there were nationalassociations out there saying
yeah, this is going to be adetrimental impact.
(14:48):
And it still went through, buteven more astonishing is that it
was retracted.
And that just goes to show thepower of the industry and, I
think, enough in common sense,which we don't always see in
this day and age.
But it was.
It was actually nice to seethat here's a legislative rule
with a wonderful intent bypeople that just maybe aren't
familiar with an industry.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
And understanding the impacts, but then to have it be
retracted and recognizing thesignificance of the industry.
I thought was incredible.
It was and that is notsomething you see all the time.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
No, no, and it was.
I mean the industry worked hardagainst it for a while, because
I mean I remember being at FortLauderdale boat show like was
it two, at least two years agoand Viking had the whole thing
going on at their booth and like, yeah, I mean, it was a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
I feel like it could have been three years ago.
It could have been 2022.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yeah, a lot of hard work was put into that it is it
is, uh, it is cool to see whenthe industry comes together that
way, and that's.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
It is and we get united.
It would be nice to be united alittle more without having to
have a fight, but it's always agood fight that.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah, it helps bring everybody together.
Yeah, and speaking on that it is, I do like to with like with
working with these builders, andEspecially here, you know, in
Dare County, but even from darecounty to ocean city and down,
like these guys I mean everybodyis building an amazing boat um,
(16:10):
their businesses are theircompetitors in that regard, but
they also like help each other,they're sharing and like they're
working together, like there'sstill that camaraderie that's
there in the boat buildingindustry and the sport fishing,
with john bayless and paulspencer standing there helping
each other building industry andthe sport fishing industry.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
You saw it tonight with John Bayliss and Paul
Spenser standing there helpingeach other on the same island in
Wanchese, and yet they'recompetitors.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
But, in this moment they're just collective builders
and supporting an industry, andI'd love to see that the amount
that they learn from each otherand how much they've learned
from one another throughout theyears and things like that.
It's really cool to see.
You don't see that a lot.
I mean especially in business.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
It's tough, it is it is, and I and you know, there's
only so many owners out therethat are that are willing to buy
these, and God bless all ofthem.
Thank you, thank you, reach out, thank you for all of you
owners that go purchase thesevessels and purchase our
equipment and use them, becauseyou really do, uh, drive the
industry, but you know there'sonly a limited amount that's
right of people and soultimately everybody's, you know
(17:10):
, vying after that customer.
So it is still nice though tosee, and I I do get the sense
that they want it to be theirboat, but they're just happy
they would stay in a boat rightand still continue to do
billfish and sport fishtournaments so yeah, yeah,
absolutely, I do think that thatwould be good.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah, it's a it's a big industry, but it, but it is
very small at the same time.
We I was just having aconversation about this before
uh, we, we met at the boothwhere, you know, if you can,
just, you just work hard, you doright by people.
You know you answer your phone,you try to help them as much as
possible operate with integrityright.
Whatever everybody else is doing, let them do it.
(17:44):
You know, don't get into itwith other companies.
Any of those things Like theindustry is also small enough
that even from what we learnedfrom being word of mouth for so
long, like word of mouth spreadfor us.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yes, I mean, and also can be detrimental.
That's right If you do it wrong.
That word of mouth.
Exactly Doesn't matter whatyour social media campaign is,
is one rumor on the dock thatyour product or my product or
somebody's product wasn't.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
You know yeah, wasn't what it needed to be.
Everybody knows it.
Yeah, and if there's a problem,just fix it just fix it.
Stand behind your work, standbehind your product yep, you
can't figure out how to fix it.
Find somebody who can just bendover backwards for for the
customer and just try to doeverything in your power to make
it right, and this is the bestyou can do.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
So if you're wondering why it says the Ward's
Way, that's what we call.
That's really the name of ourculture, so to speak.
We say it's the Ward's Way ofdoing things.
We always try to do our best tooperate with integrity.
You have to be honest, you haveto look somebody in the face,
even if it's news they don'twant to hear, or um, people are
going to make mistakes and youhave to own them and you have to
(18:50):
stand behind your work and Ithink you're going to be very
successful in many, many yearsto come.
So thank you for being on thewordsway podcast today, season
four, and I hope you have atremendous tournament and we are
going to do that follow-up.
I want to know, based on the onthe winners on Friday.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
We're going to see.
That sounds good.
Yeah, let's do it.
And I'll say I'm I'm a fan ofthe words way we talked about it
.
I've the amount of time andeffort that you guys put into T
is into making a catalog, likeyou.
I mean that is impressive,because that is something that
you could easily overlook andjust make it a super quick
handout.
I mean that's.
I mean that thing is like.
I mean it was like I don't knowwhat it was like a yearbook or
(19:29):
like a you know exactly, andthat's what we were going for.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
We wanted it to be something that you could sit on
a table, sit on a helm, sit inthe, in the cockpit, and it'd be
something that you're likethat's worthy of being there and
you'll never get rid of it.
Absolutely no, it was fantastic, Okay Well thank you for being
on the show today and thank youfor being part of the Worthway.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Appreciate it.
Thank you guys.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Thank you for joining us this season of the Worthway
podcast.
Be sure you subscribe, becausethere's much more to come.
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