Breaking the Ice Without Breaking the Paint...Or the Bank

Ecospeed is in a class of its own when it comes to protection of the bottom hull of icebreakers and ice trading vessels.

Ice breakers and ships that trade in icy waters have their own very specific problems when it comes to protecting their underwater hull. Icebreakers have to use their force to ram into thick ice and force a passage. Ice going ships, such as those trading in the North Baltic, the northern coasts of North America, the Great Lakes, and so on, are constantly being hit by chunks of ice which may be 50 centimeters or more in thickness. Not only is the ice highly abrasive, there is the additional factor that the steel of the hull flexes under the impact. This is not a problem for ships which are simply cutting through the water. When the metal sheets that form the hull flex and bend under the impact, the paint that is supposed to protect them does one of two things. It either is flexible and adheres so well to the metal that it is virtually part of the steel itself and thus survives, or it is less flexible than the hull and cannot flex with the steel, in which case the paint gradually, or not so gradually, is forced away from the hull and rubbed away under the impact. It is a problem which is unique to boats faced with impact with ice.

An icebreaker needs the smoothest and best hull coating available to break the ice. It does not need additional friction caused by flaking, blistering or missing paint which simply increases skin drag and friction and reduces the ship’s ability to cut through the ice. The rust build-up on bare steel where the paint has been worn away is a primary source of increased drag. Ice trading vessels need to preserve the integrity of their hull coating or they run the risk of corrosion and damage, and the resulting hull roughness increases friction and affects performance and fuel consumption.

Class societies have special requirements for ice trading vessels and icebreakers. As far as the hull is concerned, this can include additional hull thickness and also, in some cases, the application of specialized coatings is recommended as an option. Copper based antifoulants and many other hull paints used in non-ice conditions are not suitable. They come off, leaving the hull unprotected and rough, have to be replaced every year, and the roughness reduces the hull performance during the ice trading season. If biocidal antifoulants are used there is the additional environmental pollution as the paint is rubbed off by the ice, leaving deposits of biocides on the ice flows.

There are traditional ice breaker paints. They offer better protection and adhesion and are designed to cope with the ice, but they are very difficult to apply, requiring heating to exact temperatures and specialized equipment and personnel. They are therefore very expensive.They also have poor hull performance properties, thus increasing the fuel consumption of ice trading vessels. Ecospeed has proven to outperform regular abrasion resistant ice coatings due to the size and concentration of its glass-platelets embedded in a vinyl-ester resin.

Enter Ecospeed from Hydrex

Ecospeed is a Surface Treated Composite (STC) consisting of a high volume of glass platelets in a vinyl ester resin which provides an impermeable protection against corrosion, lasts the life of the hull, adheres very strongly to the steel and is flexible so that when the steel is buffeted by ice and flexes out of its normal shape, the coating flexes with it and remains intact. Composed mostly of glass, it is highly resistant to abrasion. This is even more important for vessels operating in the Antarctic zone where not only is the ice very thick and hard, but approaching the shore one also encounters increasing amounts of lava mixed in with the ice which greatly magnifies the abrasive effects. This problem is not limited to Antarctica but is very pronounced there.

In addition to offering superior protection and durability in ice conditions, Ecospeed has a major advantage over traditional icebreaker paint when used on icebreakers: it is very easy to apply, not requiring highly specialized conditions, equipment and personnel as the traditional icebreaker paints do. Ecospeed requires a grit blasted hull and is then simply sprayed on in two (or sometimes three) coats with a short curing interval in between and an extended overcoat interval which allows for a more flexible application schedule.). After Ecospeed is applied and the vessel launched, the coating is conditioned in the water by divers using mechanical brush systems, and is then ready to provide years of protection, requiring only minor touch-ups in most cases. It is very easy to clean in the water, and each cleaning results in a smoother, better performing surface. Years after its initial application, the Ecospeed coating is smoother and performs better than ever.

A major plus of Ecospeed is that it has been proven to be completely non-toxic and environmentally safe, both in application and in use.