Inspiration strikes in many different ways. For Bainbridge Island artist and industrial designer Mark Adams, it occurred one day shortly after he stubbed his toe on a common boat cleat.

Adams was living and working on a run down 72-foot-long yacht a few years back when he accidentally dragged his big toe over the horn of a traditional boat cleat fastened to a railing. Rather than cursing and grimacing, which he had done plenty of times in the past, he thought, “There has to be a better way.”

That bit of inspiration turned into the Karlyn Cleat, an innovative stainless steel cleat that performs the same functions as a traditional cleat, minus the potential safety hazard. Named after Adams’ daughter, “Karlyn,” the new-fangled cleat gives users the option of securing lines with a simple half hitch, along with simultaneously functioning as a chock and pad eye. It mounts in the same manner as a traditional cleat, yet has no moving parts to jam or fail.

“You can’t stub your toe on it, it ties up better and it’s less of a hazard to get things caught on,” says the 50-year-old Adams. “Because of its shape, it eliminates all kinds of potential problems.”

Adams sees applications for his patented product in the pleasure boat industry, commercial shipping, the automotive after-market and the home hardware market.

The editors of Business Week Magazine were so taken with Adams unique and safety inspired cleat design that he was awarded with a Gold Medal in the Transportation Hardware category in the Industrial Design Excellence Awards.

The Karlyn Cleat was entered as one of 1,260 products from around the globe in what is billed as the “Oscars of the Design World’s” annual competition — sponsored by the Industrial Designers of America (IDSA) and Business Week. The prestigious weekly business periodical featured the Karlyn Cleat in a recent issue, and in August Adams will fly back east to pick up his award in person.

“What blows my mind,” says Adams, “is that I was competing against companies with hundreds of people doing design. ... I couldn’t believe it. I thought maybe I’d get an honorable mention or something. I was definitely surprised.”

Indeed, Adams was up against some pretty heady competition in his category — the PT Cruiser, a new airline seat, a new boat design by a well-known manufacturer, as well an innovative feature to the Mercedes-Benz automobile.

Adams didn’t know what IDSA was until two years ago when a fellow designer at a Florida boat show encouraged him to enter the contest. This past year he entered the organization’s international competition and came home with the gold.

The call from IDSA last spring announcing his first-place finish came in the knick of time. Adams had been struggling to find enough backers and financing to keep his idea, and a few prototypes he had designed, afloat.

“I had called my accountant and told him I was going to shut it down,” he said. “Then I got the call from the IDSA saying I won. It’s amazing, everything just flipped. ... The whole thing is to be tenacious and to pay attention to the red lights (flags).”

When Adams began working on the Karlyn Cleat in 1998, he formed a limited liability corporation, Karlyn Group LLC, for tax purposes and raised money from friends and family. He also received significant help from “in-kind” investors.

The latter group includes accountants, lawyers, marketing and sales people, researchers, prototype specialists and others who provided their services for free in exchange for stock service units in the company. Adams split his LLC units into cash and service varieties.

“It took a lot of work,” he said of the company’s initial structuring. “I’m not sure I’d do it that way again.”

Despite his best efforts to bootstrap the company, Adams had exhausted his savings and maxed-out his credit cards before the IDSA award helped rescue his venture.

Karlyn Group LLC is not exactly rolling in dough, but the publicity surrounding the design recognition and the Business Week story, has given Adams and his fledgling company a bit of a lift.

“It helped finish our funding and sparked (new) investor interest,” Adams said. “It also helped supply one of the biggest missing pieces - how to get the word out.”

Even so, Adams’ company is still struggling to determine whether the consumer and pleasure boating markets will accept or reject his new product. To date, he has no firm orders in place and only a spec order on the books for cleats designed for two mega-yachts.

Adams, though, is betting multimillion-dollar markets of which he is aiming for a small piece, roughly 5 percent annually. He figures the market for his cleats in the pleasure boat category alone, is around $90 million a year. The boating industry itself is a $5 billion annual market and big chunk of that are consumer boats in the 18-foot-to-24-foot range that could be equipped with a Karlyn Cleat.

“It’s mainly marketing and market acceptance,” said Adams. “It’s (about) showing it to designers and having designers install them on mega-yachts to generate credibility. The goal from the beginning was to go after the (boat) manufacturers,” he added. “We’ve broken some of the (design) rules. We have to prove it from the end-user and the customer side.”

Besides the pleasure and consumer boat markets, Adams sees great potential for his cleats in the automobile after market and the home hardware market.

“Any place where you need something secured,” say on the back of a pick up, or where you would otherwise use a cleat, is where Adams sees the Karlyn be employed. Combined, the auto and home markets for cleat applications represent about $45 million a year, Adams figures, of which he hopes to gain a small toehold.
Adams, who is the manager of the LLC and the partnership’s sole vendor, eventually would like to license his invention to entrepreneurs who can reach his targeted markets. He’s currently working with a manufacturer’s representative and plans to retail the marine cleats in stores some time this fall.

“This has been fun,” Adams said. “It’s an accumulation of everything I’ve done. ...The biggest thrill is learning something everyday.”

To reach Adams, check out his web site: www.karlyncleat.com or call (206) 780-2510.

(Editor’s Note: Kevin Dwyer is a Bainbridge Island free-lance writer).