It’s now the downtime after the busy Mediterranean season, and yachts are carrying out maintenance along with the inspections that ensure that their masts, rigging and other key components are meeting the standards of their in-house assurance programmes. Marine Results International is one of the leading companies that carries out these checks to verify that all systems are at their peak ready for the racing season either next year or in the Caribbean during the 2017/2018 winter season.
Marine Results is as busy as ever with its core NDT business, that of providing inspections to the big boat racing fleets including the maxis, Wally Class, some of the J Class yachts and an MOD 70 trimaran. The company has a skilled team of NDT (non–destructive testing) specialists, who detect flaws and carry out surveys on rig, hull and vessel structures. NDT includes dye penetrant testing and ultrasonics which detect internal flaws and cracks not visible to the naked eye.
Activities in the Marine Results NDT division has grown steadily over the past few years, complementing their superyacht rigging consultancy service. The state of the art testing centre at Marine Results is based in Hamble, UK but has a global mobile team of engineers which mobilise to even the most remote parts of the world. The equipment used for testing every aspect of rig, hull and structure has been developed in the aerospace industry.
No yacht is too small, however, and Marine Results continues with its supporting sponsorship of helping Alan Roberts, checking the key areas of his Figaro yacht and mast/rigging. Alan is continuing his campaign to become one of the UK’s top solo sailors and has already won first place in a number of Figaro race legs.
On a more responsive basis Marine Results has inspected a yacht that was involved in a collision, and a motor yacht that has been damaged in transit aboard ship. We have inspected them both to determine the extent of damage in order that insurers and repairers can make informed decisions.
The NDT skills of Marine Results have equally extended to other areas of the maritime industry. The company has most recently conducted R&D trials using ultrasonic testing to explore the feasibility of inspecting new Tidal Energy components that will be manufactured in the UK. In parallel with this project Marine Results is also carrying out an ongoing series of quality assurance inspections for A C Marine & Composites who are manufacturing carbon fibre beams for a UK based tidal energy scheme which will be going into service next year.
Marine Results continues to provided rigging and rig consultancy to the yachts with the tallest masts in the world. Their destructive testing machine evaluates breaking loads on running rigging and components enabling us to specify and meet safe working loads in the equipment that we supply. www.marineresults.com