Customer story, Orange marks the spot

01-04-2019

Wencon UW Coating in action: A customers story of a repair that saved them a second round in the dock and prevented corrosion to the hull.

In 2016 a bulker from Maestro Shipping S.A. suffered a grounding. Fortunately it grounded on sand bottom, and the damage was minor. Nevertheless, the sand had quite effectively, scraped off the paint down to bare steel on some areas on the flat bottom.

The Bulker was taken to dock for minor repairs and recoating of the flat bottom where the paint had been scrapped off. After docking, there were still a few spots left without paint where the supports and keel blocks had been positioned. Therefore they decided to use the UW coating to protect the hull, on the areas that still had no paint.

It took 3 days in total to complete the job.

The divers first performed tests of the product on a small steel plate (see images), while testing different application methods, paint brush, paint roller and spatula.

They ended up by deciding on a technique for the underwater application, by pouring a small portion of the Wencon UW Coating into some small plastic bags, from which they could press out the coating directly on to the appointed surface and apply it with a spatula.

After mixing the two components, the pot life of the UW coating is 25-30 minutes at 20° C. Therefore the product had to be mixed in small quantities for each dive.

In one of the pictures you see the many small pots with the UW coating, lined up and ready for mixing. This way, only small portions are mixed at the time, reducing waste and simplifying the mixing process.

“At first I thought that the bright orange colour was too bright, but after a diving inspection about 6 month after the repair, this bright orange colour actually proved to be very useful, as the diver could immediately find the areas where the repair had been carried out.

After the diver showed us the photos of the coated areas, we were impressed with the good condition and intact sealing the Wencon UW Coating has provided.”
Says Michael Dannesboe from Maestro Shipping S.A.

We thank Maestro Shipping S.A. for their testimonial to the adhesive properties of our Wencon UW products.

You can read more about our UW products and their technical specifications below.