A Vessel Warranty Surveyor provides independent third-party technical review and approval to any marine vehicle or structure, It is crucial to include surveyors from the planning stages through to the physical execution.
You will get:
Independent and impartial advice.
Review, approval, and attendance for location surveys in accordance with regulations, standards, and best practices.
Condition and suitability surveys for a wide range of vessels.
In this video wee 24Marine.com surveyors conducting a Warranty survey on a Catamaran.
Most of us has been affected by corrosion our boats.
There are different types of corrosion affecting our boats:
In simple words, Corrosionis the irreversible damage or destruction of a material due to a chemical or electrochemical reaction with the environment.
Metal Corrosion is Caused when it reacts with another substance such as oxygen, hydrogen, an electrical current, or even dirt and bacteria. Corrosion can also happen when metals like steel are placed under too much stress causing the material to crack
On boats are mainly three types of corrosion:
Galvanic Corrosion: It is simply an electrochemical reaction between two or more different metals. The metals must be different because one must be more chemically active (or less stable) than the others for a reaction to take place. When we talk about galvanic corrosion, we’re talking about the electrical exchange. All metals have electrical potential because all atoms have electrons, which have an electrochemical charge. (see https://www.boatus.com/)
Electrolytic Corrosion: It is simply a process of accelerated corrosion. In this process, a metallic surface is continuously corroded by other metal it is in contact with, due to an electrolyte and the flow of an electrical current between the two metals, caused from an external source of electromotive force.
Ordinary Corrosion: Some times called rust, it is a chemical process which results in the formation of red or orange coating on the surface of metals, this reaction causes damage and disintegration of the metal starting from the portion of the metal exposed to the environment and spreading to the entire bulk of the metal.
Rigging surveyor job is to check and review the key components of the boat system to ensure that is fit for purpose.
In general, a Rigging system survey has three objectives:
Check that the system has been regularly inspected and serviced.
Check the states of the sails
Check that the rigging is less than 10 years old.
Regular service periods:
The regular service period is calculated by Insurance companies, flag states, Cost guard, and standards organizations, based on FATIGUE LOAD CYCLE of the rigging. The statistical data shows that rigging failure rates are higher after 10 years.
The picture below shows how a load cycle in the normal operating range, due to the large numbers of such cycles can cause cumulative damage to the material.
The 5 years inspection needs to be done with the mast un-stepped, as it is impossible to check key components (Terminal, plates, buckles, wires, stays, etc.) with the rigging fully un-assembled. Also, NDT (nondestructive Test) as a penetrant liquid test need to complete with the system on the floor.
The 10-year rigging checks need to be completed with all rigging wires replaced, due to the FATIGUE LOAD CYCLES, which normally cause Cracks, deformations that affect the structural properties of the rigging system.
See the video below where you can see many comon failures we have colledted during years of rigging surveys.
The list below shows the most common issues found after rigging collapses:
Terminal and fittings failures
Turn Buckle failures
Mast deformations
Chain Plates failures
Stays (wire) failures
Rod heads
Below few notes from the Rigging experts:
Keep your rigging clear of corrosion, ALWAYS
Regularly check tension on stays
Never remove safety pins from Turnbuckles
Recommended to use Split pins.
Never replace only one side Stays or Shroud, the other side (older) will be a weak link.
If replacing a stay, is recommended to replace the associated turnbuckles.
Bring mast down every 5 years for inspection, if needed perform NDT (Nondestructive test)
Bring mast down every 10 years for inspection and ALL rigging components replacement.
The US Coast Guard published a Marine Safety Alert 07-09, call SAILBOAT RIGGING DANGER, you can download on the link below, has many useful information and tips for any sailor.
Now days most survey tasks involve robots that are designed in such way that they remove human intervention from labour intensive and hazardous work environment.
Sometimes they are also used to inspect inaccessible spaces / confines places which are generally impossible to access by humans.
Many pipes comes in the dangerous spaces because they carry toxic chemicals, fluids and most of the time has small internal diameter or bends which become inaccessible to human.
The complex internal geometry and hazard content constraints of pipes demand robots for inspection of such pipes in order to check corrosion level of pipe, recovery of usable parts from pipe interior, sampling of sludge and scale formation on pipe internal surface etc
In 24 Marine we have developed a Pipe Robot that ensure you are getting a pipe survey cost effective and reducing human exposure. we have developed virtual reality pipe inspection, that bring your pipes to real life.
