Rogers man invents, sells boat-draining system. (Manufacturing).

MOST KIDS GET THE KEYS TO a car when they turn 16. Randy Myers got the keys to the family Cobalt.

Twenty-eight years later, he's turned his love for boating into a new motor accessory business that grossed nearly $1 million for 2002. Myers, founder and president of Minute Drain of Rogers, has launched a nationwide marketing campaign for a new product that can drain the water from inboard and stern-drive engines in 55 to 70 seconds.

The Minute Drain system, which retails for $399, is designed to give boaters who get seasick at the thought of docking their boats every winter a new lease on lakes.

A typical stem-drive boat, Myers said, holds 4-6 gallons of water in its engine. Boats, then, must be drained before the first hard freeze of winter to avoid cracking the engine block.

Mechanics charge $250-$300 to winterize a boat, so most inboard and stern-drive boat owners wind up docking their watercraft from November until spring arrives in late March. Myers said his Minute Drain product--which consists of proprietary brass block fittings and extruded aircraft aluminum drain rails--makes inboard boats usable year-round.

"All you have to do is open up a couple of valves, and it drains all of the water out of the engine," Myers said. "First-time boat buyers who get caught with their pants down and let their engine block freeze will pay $3,000 to $6,000 for repairs.

"That gives people a bad taste in their mouth, and there's no question the sport is on the decline because of the costs and maintenance. But this is a product that absolutely will promote boating."

The engine automatically refills with water during its next use. Minute Drain is compatible with Mercruiser and Indmar, the industry's dominant engine manufacturers. Myers said he is also "tooling" the' product for Volvo engines.

All necessary components for installation are included in Minute Drain's do-it-yourself kit. No drilling or rethreading of the engine block or its components is required, and the product comes with a one-year warranty. For an additional $350, the company will install the system in a customer's boat.

Five years of private testing on Beaver Lake has netted Minute Drain about 200 local customers, including 86 in the Prairie Creek Marina alone. A random, sampling of 12 new and multiyear Minute Drain users yielded nothing but glowing feedback.

Kerry Jensen of Rogers bought a Minute Drain for his 20-foot stem-drive Cobalt about a year ago. He said the device has protected his investment.

"I live on the lake, and before I had a Minute Drain I basically put the boat away for six months," Jensen said. "Now my kids fight for the opportunity to be the one who turns the knobs to let the water run out. I would not own another boat without one."

Minute Drain was founded in July as a subsidiary of Beaver Lake Maine Center in Rogers, a licensed Cobalt dealer that does business as "'The Marine Center." Betty Launius, Myers' mother, is owner and a partner of the store, which also sells all types of boating equipment. Myers is its general manager and a partner.

Myers said he expected Minute Drain sales to drive the dealership's annual revenue up 44 percent from $2.7 million in 2001 to $3.9 million for 2002. A final accounting for last year is not yet complete, but Myers said he was pleased with consumer response.

Sales at The Marine Center were down about $200,000 in 2001, hurt like most in the recreation industry by the terrorist attacks of September ii.

Minute Fulfillment 

After launching the product in July, Minute Drain became a revenue engine, for Myers with basically no promotional effort. He expected to install about 225 additional Minute Drains by 2002's end.

Myers estimated there are 3,5004,000 boats sitting at commercial or private docks on Beaver Lake alone. About 2,000 of those, he said, are inboard.

But the real opportunities lie with the 502,000 registered Mercruiser owners and 3,500 dealerships nationwide with which Minute Drain plans to do business. Myers said the company was shipped 2,000 Minute Drain kits in mid-October.

"We originally thought we'd sell $150,000 to $200,000 worth in the first year," Myers said. "But we've already got 25 dealers on board. I introduced this product to the Cobalt dealer network at a recent meeting, and their response is what has me so charged up."

Myers said the company's biggest concern at present is order fulfillment. With nine employees on hand, the company can ship up to 150 orders per day. In the past, it took about five hours' to assemble every kit by hand.

But Minute Drain has lined up several manufacturing sources--including Jim Nance Machines of Siloam Springs, which is making Minute Drain's engine block fittings--and reduced its labor time by 30 percent. The cost is also now down about 70 percent, Myers said.

Dick Rowe is chairman of Indmar Products in Memphis, the largest privately owned inboard manufacturer in the world. His company's products include Malibu and Mastercraft engines. Rowe's only concern 'is that boaters might skip needed annual maintenance just because the hassle of draining the engine is eliminated.

"There are a lot of other things that need to be done every year," Rowe said. "You've got to change your oil and filters, lube the propeller with Vaseline, and if you don't get grease under your own fingernails you need to take it to a garage. I haven't seen a [Minute Drain] yet, but I would just tell people to' make sure to get their annual maintenance done, too."

Myers said The Marine Center goes so far as to include first-year maintenance costs in the price of its boats to make sure it's done properly. And, he admits, Minute Drain does not eliminate about $189 worth of annual maintenance that includes changing filters.

The Marine Center was named Cobalt's No. 1 service dealer in the world for 2001. It was the first time any of Cobalt's dealers received a perfect service rating. Then 2002 marked the second-straight year it received a Cobalt Platinum Dealer Award and the seventh-straight year The Marine Center got an Outstanding Customer Service Award from Mercruiser.

Water People

During the fourth quarter, The Marine Center typically does $500,000-$700,000 worth of business, Myers said. That includes nearly $60,000 worth of winterization.

But after the September 11 attacks in 2001, fourth-quarter business fell to less than $100,000. Rather than cutting back like hundreds of boating stores did nationwide, Myers said, The Marine Center treated the lull as a blessing in disguise.

"Finishing development on the Minute Drain was something I had wanted to do for a couple of years, but we stay so busy," Myers said. "So after 9/11, we didn't reel in. We expanded and remodeled our showroom. And I concentrated on getting this product ready for market.

"There are a lot of pluses coming our of that climate [in 2001], too. People have rethought their traveling. Boat sales nationwide were down 8 percent [for 2001], but they're already picking up. People have decided to stay closer to home."