Latham Marine, a small manufacturing company in Fort Lauderdale, may not be a household word, but its products are found on some of the fastest racing boats in the world and on high-performance and pleasure craft, as well as military and law enforcement patrol boats.

Owned by Bob Latham and his wife, Kathy, Latham Marine designs, manufactures and sells original equipment and replacement parts to the marine industry.

Over the years, the company has evolved from a boat-repair business, to a racing-boat shop, and to the design and manufacturing firm that it is today. It supplies everything from hydraulic steering systems to rudders and marine hardware, equipment and accessories made at two facilities in Fort Lauderdale.

Bob handles the design and production side of Latham Marine, while Kathy runs the business.

As a child in South Florida, Bob had a knack for taking apart and successfully reassembling appliances at home. He enjoyed working on cars while he was in high school in the late 1960s, and he designed and built a hoist system in the family garage to make it easier to pull out engines.

``I've always had the ability to walk up to a machine, understand how it works and know how to fix it,'' he said.

About the same time as Latham was hopping up cars, offshore power boats were becoming popular in South Florida. One of his neighbors, a yacht broker, recruited him to fix go-fast boats.

Latham got his start in business with a mobile boat-repair service, using a Volkswagen Beetle to transport his tools and equipment. In 1972, he opened a repair shop in Miami and did custom rigging and repair work on power boats. He set up Latham Marine in 1973.

Over the next several years, the business evolved as Latham became involved in boat racing. After he helped convert a high-performance Magnum boat into a championship-winning offshore racer, Latham gained a following among the boat-racing crowd and began specializing in work on competition boats.

He also agreed to be the Magnum throttleman -- the crew member who controls speed while the pilot drives the boat. ``I had never raced before or even throttled a boat,'' Latham said.

This was his first of many races in the United States and overseas.

A RACING START

Boat owners hired Latham as the throttleman while Kathy shot videos of his races from a helicopter. Racing provided Latham with first-hand experience into the kinds of equipment racing boats needed as they became more powerful and achieved higher speeds.

A race in Key West was critical in converting Latham Marine from just a boat-repair business to a design and manufacturing center.

During a 1979 competition, the racer's steering failed at high speed, nearly throwing Latham and the pilot/owner out of the boat. The owner asked Latham if he could find a solution, realizing that simply replacing the original cable system could lead to another high-speed failure.

While other racing teams were trying to reinforce their cable steering systems, Latham decided he needed to design and build a different system. He bought a manual metal lathe, taught himself how to run it and -- using his knowledge of how hydraulic equipment worked for other applications -- built the first hydraulic marine steering system for racing and recreational watercraft. Up to then, these steering systems were controlled only by cables.

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