Practical tips for cleaning and prolonging the life of your water feature.
The marine environment is unforgiving. The combination of aggressive sea salt, high temperatures, intense UV radiation and constant mechanical impact from waves is the ultimate test for any material. With traditional vessels and wooden or concrete pontoons, maintenance often becomes a financial nightmare requiring constant sanding, painting with anti-fouling coatings and corrosion repair.
However, with smart engineering and selection of industrial materials, costs and maintenance time can be drastically reduced. Our floating platforms are designed with exactly this goal in mind - for you to enjoy or make money, while the materials themselves do the fighting with nature.
We bring you key maintenance tips that will ensure your platform looks like day one, even after decades.
1. Cleaning HDPE hulls: Forget about toxic coatings
The biggest problem with classic fiberglass hulls is water absorption (osmosis) and the strong adhesion of marine fouling (algae and shellfish). Because of this, they must be coated with expensive and toxic antifouling paints every year.
The hulls of our platforms are made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE). This material has an extremely smooth molecular structure that makes it much harder for marine organisms to attach to. Hull maintenance is reduced to the simplest possible process: at the end of the season, when the platform is taken ashore (or while partially extended), the hull is simply washed with a high-pressure washer (miniwash). Due to the resistance of the 20 mm thick HDPE, dirt and fouling fall off without the need for scraping or aggressive chemicals.
2. Care of artificial rocks and anti-slip decks
The visual identity of your platform – its natural rock edges – is protected by a shell of polyureas enriched with quartz sand. Polyurea is an industrial waterproofing coating that is resistant to mechanical shocks, which means it will not crack during minor impacts from boats or docking at a platform.
The main enemy of aesthetics above the sea surface are salt crystals. When seawater dries in the sun, the salt can act as an abrasive and leave white spots. Maintenance of this part only requires regular rinsing with plain fresh water. The quartz sand within the coating permanently retains its anti-slip properties, so avoid using strong detergents that can fade the pigments that give the rocks their authentic color.
3. Preservation of stainless steel 316 frames
Although for all metal components (such as the platform frame, handrails and fences) we use top quality marine grade stainless steel (INOX 316), it is not completely immune to so-called surface "tea-staining" if completely neglected.
To keep stainless steel shiny, it is enough to wipe it with a soft cloth a few times a season and rinse it with fresh water to remove salt. For a perfect shine, it is recommended to apply a protective stainless steel polishing paste once a year, which creates an invisible protective film against the effects of sea fog.
4. Conservation of “Off-Grid” and PLC systems
The heart of your platform is made up of advanced infrastructure and stabilization systems. Since these are working systems that use pumps and sensors, they require technical preparation for winter:
- Ballast and sanitary systems: All pumps in our PLC system and tanks for technical, grey and black water must be completely drained and flushed with fresh water before winter. This eliminates the risk of valves and pumps freezing during winter storage.
- Electronics: The PLC microcomputers and tilt sensors are housed in IP67 waterproof housings, but it is recommended to check the seals on these housings once a year to ensure that moisture cannot penetrate the sensitive printed circuit boards.
Design that saves you time and money
When superior industrial materials like HDPE, 316 stainless steel and polyurea are used to begin with, regular maintenance is reduced to basic facility hygiene with fresh water. Forget about winter nightmares in shipyards.
Do you want an investment that doesn't require you to become a slave to its maintenance? Contact us with confidence.
