The primers are written for two readers. The first is the working tradesperson at another shop who is reviewing a refit specification and wants to compare our framing to theirs. The second is the vessel owner who is preparing for a refit and wants to understand the system before they call us. Both readers benefit from a deliberately conservative, working-shop framing; both should treat the primers as a starting point for their own further reading, not as a comprehensive standard.

For owners new to the trade: start with the MSD primer. Marine sanitation is the system most likely to put you in regulatory exposure (and into your own bilge, in the worst case). It is also the system the shop sees the largest number of bad installs on. Read it before you call us.

For tradespeople reviewing our work: every primer carries a citation block at its foot with the standards we relied on, the manufacturers we have a working relationship with, and the prior issues of this journal that pre-discussed the material. We welcome correction and disagreement; the Letters to the Trade department is the place to send it.

If a primer is out of date — if a standard has been updated, if a manufacturer has changed its product line, if our shop practice has shifted — please write to the editor. We mark every primer's review date at the top, and we re-cite every standard every issue.