IBEX acquires Professional BoatBuilder magazine

The International BoatBuilders’ Exhibition and Conference (IBEX), a major trade event for the recreational marine industry in North America, has acquired Professional BoatBuilder magazine (ProBoat), a publication known for its technical focus and online resources.

IBEX says the acquisition aims to combine IBEX’s live experience with the editorial expertise of Professional BoatBuilder. The collaboration continues a longstanding partnership, as Professional BoatBuilder staff have contributed to IBEX’s technical seminar series since its inception in 1992.

“This acquisition represents a powerful synergy between two leading and trusted brands in the marine industry,” says Anne Dunbar, executive director of IBEX. “By combining our annual event with Professional BoatBuilder‘s trusted technical journalism, we’re creating a robust, continuous pipeline of information and an opportunity for our entire community.”

Aaron Porter, formerly the editor of Professional BoatBuilder, was hired as IBEX’s editorial director in October. He explains: “I welcome the chance to keep producing the essential boatbuilding information our readers have come to rely on and the challenge of pursuing that goal in a rapidly evolving print and digital publishing environment. We’ll be working with largely the same editorial contributors but with some changes to the delivery media.”

IBEX says it plans to integrate the magazine’s technical content into its IBEX 365 online platform, which currently provides product updates, educational materials and event-related news. Details about these changes and updates for subscribers and advertisers will be announced in early 2025.

The recent IBEX trade event kicked off on 1 October 2024, running for three days as planned in Florida’s Tampa Convention Center, despite the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene just days prior.