EVERGLADES BOATS’ STRENGTH & DURABILITY SETS THEM APART NOT LIKE OTHER BOATS Over ayearhaspassedsinceBluewater Yacht Sales became the exclusive dealer for Everglades Boats in both North Carolina and Virginia. Our team of sales professionals, admins and management has delighted in introducing this brand to our customers and impressing them with the patented RAMCAP structural foam and assembly technology. Now, we take a deeper dive into the brand to learn more about what makes an Everglades boat special. In order to gain a deeper look into this Edgewater, Florida-based boat builder, we tapped the experience of James Allen, Everglades’ Senior Manufacturing Engineer and Tech. Allen got started at Everglades in 2005, albeit reluctantly. “When I interviewed at Everglades, I wasn’t sure I wanted to get back into boats again,” Allen recalls. After working for another boat builder for four years, Allen had become bored with his job. “However, when they took me around the facility and showedme how the boat is built, I realized, these are not normal boats, there is a lot of engineering in them.” Allen started out on the assembly floor and worked his way through the ranks while also spending time in different departments and a variety of positions. He has worked in assembly, warranty and customer service, product development and engineering, and now his current role overseeing production lines 1 through 4, responsible for models in the 24- to 36foot range. “Working at Everglades, it is very intricate because this is not how you normally build a boat,” Allen explains. “RAMCAP is incredibly safe, reliable, and a high-tech construction.” FILLING IN THE BLANKS RAMCAP, an abbreviation for Rapid Molded Core Assembly Process, was innovated by Bob Dougherty and won the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) Innovation Award in 1999. Six-pound structural foam is used to create specially shaped blocks that fit perfectly into voids of the hull before a second infused liner is installed with structural adhesives. These highdensity foam blocks ensure the entire void between hull and deck liner is filled, and provides a tremendous amount of bonding surfaces, largely reducing the need for hardware fasteners. A side benefit to this revolutionary construction process is that the inner liner is finished to a brilliant white gel coat. While the liner adds strength and rigidity to the entire structure, it also ensures no water can get to the foam or hull skin. That benefit of a resilient finish is seen 22 BLUEWATER
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