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Shipping And Marine

30 Years – Tailor Made Solutions – Accredited – Nationwide


Looking for a UK contractor who can clean the bottom of your fibreglass boat’s hull without damaging the gelcoat? Are you the owner of a wooden hulled boat that requires paint removal and renovation? Or do you need a full external renovation of your boat or ship?

Traditional ship and boat cleaning methods are time consuming and give imperfect results. In contrast to that, soda blasting is rapid, 100% effective and safer, both for the vessel and the environment.

Who Can Benefit From APT Marine Soda Blasting Services?

We set no limits, we have the means to carry out maintenance cleaning of any size of boat or ship, from lake based boats to international container ships and everything in between. This is possible because APT are the UK’s leading soda blasting company with over a quarter of a century’s experience.

With over 25 years of experience as marine cleaners, we can adapt our cleaning methods and techniques to suit the type of restoration required and the construction material of your boat – fibreglass hulls require different techniques to wood, which needs a different approach to steel and other materials.

For steel superstructures on ocean going vessels, soda blasting is ideal. It can be used to remove rust as well as paint stripping. The steel is ready for repainting immediately after the blasting process is completed. In most cases we are asked to apply a surface protective coating or primer and then carry out the painting. Soda blasting passivates the steel, preventing the immediate rusting associated with conventional steel stripping and preparation methods however, we do advise that your vessel is painted as soon as possible.

See our specialist commercial painting contractors for information.

What Can Soda Blasting Do?

Fibreglass and carbon fibre craft can be cleaned safely as only contaminants and unwanted coatings are removed. Old anti-fouling paint can be completely removed, leaving the surface ready for re-painting. Steel hulls and superstructure can be stripped to the base metal with no damage or distortion, unlike with conventional blasting employed by traditional marine cleaning companies. Areas around the rivets, screws and artistic metalwork, such as found on many wood construction narrow boats and wide beam barges, are easily cleaned. No more remnants of paint in those hard-to-reach places that conventional cleaning leaves behind – you get a perfect surface that is ready for re-painting.

Our soda blasting teams are fully trained and equipped to follow the stringent rules and regulations for blast cleaning operations in boat and ship yards so you have the peace of mind that you will not be the boat owner to incur the wrath of the yard manager!

For helpful and friendly advice for your particular situation, call an APT marine soda blasting specialist on 0800 0723 773.

Benefits of Soda Blasting in Marine and Shipping Applications

How is it possible that a single blast cleaning method can achieve all this?

The blast medium is sodium hydrogen carbonate (the same chemical used in baking powder) which is fired at the target surface at high velocity but at low pressure when compared with traditional methods. On contact with the surface, the crystals shatter, releasing energy that helps to break the bonds holding the unwanted material or coating to the hull of your boat.

Blasting soda is inherently soft (around 2.5 on Moh’s scale of hardness) so it can be used on delicate substrates, unlike traditional blast cleaning. So you don’t need to protect glass or remove rubber, neoprene or plastic components as they will not be harmed, saving you time and money.

In the hands of the well-trained APT soda blasters, surface materials such as old anti-fouling paint can be removed with absolute precision. Soda blasting deals easily with any hydrocarbon deposits such as oils and greases too. The cleaned surfaces are then ready for re-coating with no further degreasing operations required.

Sodium bicarbonate is a deodoriser and is thus effective for cleaning areas of boat or ship interior that are suffering from mould or fungal growth.

So which would you prefer – the traditional multi-stage lengthy approach of using solvents, scrapers, degreasers and perhaps even hard media blast cleaning or one simple non-toxic environmentally friendly operation?

Applications

Here are some examples of where shipping and marine soda blasting excels:

• Anchor & chain cleaning
• Barge/boat hull and exterior cleaning and renovation
• Decking & gang way cleaning
• Gelcoat blister removal
• Fibreglass hull cleaning
• Fibreglass panel paint removal
• Oil & grease removal
• Paint stripping
• Plastic coatings removal
• Propeller de-scaling
• Rust removal
• Stainless steel cleaning
• Steel hull cleaning
• Stripping adhesives, bitumen & bonding agents
• Surface preparation
• Superstructure renovation
• Wood restoration
• Wooden deck cleaning

The list is by no means exhaustive so if you have a shipping or marine restoration task, soda blasting is the optimal solution.

Stress Free Soda Blasting Services

Contact APT now on 0800 0723 773 for a no-obligation chat about your shipping and marine renovation work and to find out how we can benefit your project. We carry out a full risk assessment and ensure that the project conforms to UK Health and Safety Regulations.

       
CALL US ON 0800 0723 773

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