Muirhead supplies its leather to various boatbuilders, including Sunseeker, Princess Yachts and Fairline.

Leather is strong and won't tear and has a much longer life than fabric, making it considerably more cost effective, says the company, and being cool in summer and warm in winter makes it very comfortable.

Muirhead's leather complies with all IMO specifications and conforms to fire retardancy standards.

Andy Johnson of JW Marine spent nearly two years developing and testing the Fridge Mate, which monitors battery charging activity and automatically turns the power to the fridge on and off as appropriate.

"We had a Coolmatic on our yacht which I forgot to turn off, " he said. "Luckily it didn't drain the battery but I decided then that I wanted to do something which would prevent this happening again."

So he developed the Fridge Mate. "It's been an ongoing development and now it has a two hour boost switch and has been modified to work with both wind generators and solar panels, " says Johnson.

It waits for the batteries to recharge before turning itself on again and can be left on the whole time and has proved to be very successful, he added.

When the batteries are being charged, Fridge Mate automatically turns power to the fridge on. When battery charging stops, power is turned off, protecting the batteries from accidental drain.

Aqua-Marine handles the Techimplex range of cooking appliances and has the company's new Mastergrill cooker.

They say all Techimpex products are developed in close cooperation with some of the most prestigious boatbuilders in the world and the development of the new Mastergrill has been no exception.

The new unit has a number of unique features and is available in two models, standard and luxury stainless steel.

Both feature a new powerful improved grill with a uniquely designed cavity for exceptional grilling performance; a high standard oven thermostat; a unique grill tray with a special lock which retains the grid when moved; high grade enamel finishes; a powerful hob and oven burners; an automatic door lock; gimbals that can be locked into position; each cooker is equipped with pan holders and gimbals as standard; a one-piece hob grid and the oven is fitted with enamelled tray and grid.

Features unique to the luxury stainless steel model include a stainless steel oven cavity; a new oven door design with attractive mirrored glass and stainless steel handle for comfort and chrome knobs.

The standard model is priced at £500 RRP inc VAT and the luxury stainless steel model is priced £553.20 RRP inc VAT.

Marathon Leisure handles the Indel range and has the company's new BI29 fridge/ freezer. Indel says it's a versatile unit with new features for space saving and easy installation.

Based on the Isotherm BI 41, a top-opened, integrated fridge/ freezer, the BI 29 has sidemounted roller slides that allow the box to be pulled out as a drawer. They say the unique lid design means the drawer need only be pulled out halfway to reach the contents, making a noticeable difference when space is restricted.

The 29-litre capacity BI 29 is constructed with a stainless steel inner lining and a plastic bottom section. A minimum consumption fan cooled compressor has been mounted on the inner side of the unit.

Indel also produces the Isotemp Slim Square water heater, a slimline, box style water heater designed for easy installation in narrow spaces.

In order to achieve the square shape, Indel altered the design of the internal tank. The Slim Square can be installed in three different positions and has a 16-litre capacity. Heating is via the boat engine or by the electrical element if the boat is connected to shore power.

To prevent the build up of bacteria from water that has not been correctly heated, the unit is fitted with a thermostatmixing valve as standard, which enables water to be heated to the correct levels for hygiene and safety purposes.

Cleghorn Waring says its calorifiers are unique in including a temperature and pressure relief valve from Honeywell to prevent the possibility of an explosion.

"Most modern boats have a pressurised hot water system, but there are no regulations governing design or installation, " said engineering director Gerald Kennion.

We decided to comply with the regulations governing domestic heating, said Kennion, which has differentiated our products in this unregulated market.

At the heart of the system is a calorifier - an unvented water storage cylinder, usually fitted with an immersion heater. An important feature of each Cleghorn Waring calorifier is its Honeywell TP152 temperature and pressure relief valve.

Without this double safety element, there is a risk: a boat can be destroyed if an unvented calorifier explodes.

The pressurised system on a boat is identical to a domestic system in effect, says Cleghorn Waring, but has a pump controlled by a pressure switch, instead of a rising main. An expansion tank smooths the system pressure.

"Few installers of marine systems understand pressurised systems fully, or the possible consequences if they are not safe, " stated Kennion.

The company says it used standard immersion heaters and only pressure relief valves at first, but quickly saw the sense in complying voluntarily with domestic regulations. "We now install a Honeywell temperature and pressure relief valve, with the temperature probe immersed in the water at the hottest point, " said Kennion.

The company raises safety levels further by fitting immersion heaters with two thermostats: if the first, used for temperature regulation, fails, the second provides a safety lock-off at a higher temperature and requires manual resetting, so the user cannot ignore or easily override the problem.

Dometic has introduced a new series of air handlers for Cruisair and Marine Air circulated-water boat air conditioning systems.

Dometic says the AT-series air handlers provide many improvements and options, including a sloped positive-flow condensate drain pan that reduces standing water, larger drain connections, improved coil design for better cooling and dehumidification performance, offset coil from drain pan edge to ensure capture of all condensation, redesigned bypass valve to avoid dripping condensation and pressure test ports for easier troubleshooting.

The 24,000BTU unit also features a high-efficiency motorblower for quieter operation. On units with auxiliary heat, the new design allows for easier access to the heating unit for servicing.

The new air handlers are available in 4,000 to 24,000 BTU sizes for operation on 230V 50Hz or 115V 60Hz power.

ASAP Supplies is a major supplier to boatbuilders with fitting out packages. The latest 8th Edition product catalogue, launched at the recent Schroders London Boat Show, is aimed at fitting out customers.

The catalogue has a simpleto-follow format and is laid out to give customers the opportunity not only to purchase the major high value items, but also includes all the small low value related items that go together to make up the complete installation package. All are supplied from one company in one delivery and backed up with technical support.

ASAP offers a range of high quality marine brands. Perko; a range that features interior lighting, latches, catches, fasteners, hinges and handles. Racor; fuel filtration systems, Quietlife noise control products, which include sound proofing, drive systems and complete exhaust systems. SeaFlow; high quality range of hose suitable for exhaust, sanitation, fuel, drinking water and general purpose applications. Centek; exhaust components.

All 2005 production will now feature VIPEL K190 fire resistant resins in each component with no additional cost. Mayfair; bilge pumping systems. Faria; instruments, a comprehensive range of display gauges and senders which also display the very latest Smart engine and Serial Bus data. Mycelx; environmental discharge. BilgKleen;

filter systems that remove 99% of harmful hydrocarbons from the bilge. HotPot; calorifiers and warm air heaters.

The new catalogue will be available in CD format later in the month.

Kuranda handles the new range of diesel operated hobs and ovens from Wallas and tells us the new range includes the 85DU, 85DP, 86D and the combined 87D.

With 30 years of experience and continual product development, their product range emphasises both safety and reliability.

Wallas uses its own burner technology throughout the range to ensure an exceptionally clean laminar burn. The closed and balanced combustion air circulation combined with non-exploding and nonpressurised fuel guarantees a safe operation.

The diesel hobs can also be combined with the optional heater/blower lid to give a great source of heating for the cabin (approx 1.9kW) which is ideal for the smaller boat.

Aqua Marine T: 01489 776050 F: 01489 776035 E: sales@aqua-marine.co.uk W: aqua-marine.co.uk<$>ASAP Supplies T: 01502 716993 F: 01502 711680 E: asap-supplies. com W: asap-supplies.com<$>Cleghorn Waring T: 01462 480380 F: 01462 482422 E: mail@cleghorn.co.uk W: cleghorn.co.uk<$>Dometic T: 0870 3306101 F: 0870 3306102 E: sales@dometicmarine.com W: tmenviro.com<$>Honeywell Control Systems T: 01344 656000 F: 01344 656240 E: ukinforcentre@honeywell.com W: honeywelluk.com<$>JW Marine T: 0121 733 7059 F: 0121 744 5663 E: jwmarine@blueyonder.co.uk W: jwmarine.co.uk<$>Kuranda T: 01663 734800 F: 01663 733343 E: info@kurandamarine.co.uk W: kurandamarine.co.uk<$>Marathon Leisure T: 023 9263 7711 F: 023 9263 7722 E: sales@marathonleisure.co.uk W: marathonleisure.co.uk<$>Andrew Muirhead & Son T: 0141 554 3724 F: 0141 554 4741 E: sales@muirhead.co.uk W: muirhead.co.uk