Sealing To Prevent Flooding On-Board Ships

Since 1876, Beldam Crossley has been designing specific sealing products for all vessels and platforms at sea. As we have a global network of distributors who service the marine industry.  We offer a wide range of sealing solutions to prevent flooding, as well as addressing niche problems.

Every sea vessel must have flooding prevention.  For most ships, there will be sealing products between moving spindles and rotary shafts.  In larger vessels, there are a few main areas that work in unison to stop water from overflowing the capacity of the boat.  They are the compartments and watertight seals.

For the larger ships, sealing plays a major part in containing the water within these compartments and having multiple compartments ensures the water can’t just run freely across the bottom of the ship – which will eventually result in total sinkage.

As for the compartment segments, they are divided into zones, known as fire zones. Each fire zone is sealed off to prevent flooding, as well as fire and smoke. This contains any accidents to a single compartment, greatly reducing the chances of spread which could lead to a catastrophe on-board.

Pilotpack 76. Lubricated traditional marine packing.

Stern Shafts

Seawater can also break in through other ways, such as the stern shaft. Stern shafts (sometimes known as stern tubes), connect the tail shaft to the propellor(s). In this case, to stop the lubricant oil from wearing off or water sliding through potential gaps, we would use PilotPack.  There are different materials suited for specific applications, but in general – PilotPack provides a high wet strength when in contact with seawater.  PilotPack 76 for example, can withstand temperatures up to 120 degrees celsius and have a very high-pressure range of 70 bar.

The bearing of the stern shaft consists of a sealing arrangement to prevent the ingress of water. Additionally, preventing the lubricant oil from escaping into the sea.  The sealing also ensures that the tail shaft can rotate smoothly within the bearing space and not get stuck. As the tail shaft is responsible for keeping the vessel propelling forward, it is essential that the sealing is kept tight.

Application

The sealing itself has different places for application, such as engines, stabilisers, and rudder systems.  These are optimally matched for material type. In larger vessels, they can be made fit to large dimensions in size.  At Beldam Crossley, our sealing solutions have been extensively tested to withstand even the toughest of environments.

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See more about our Marine Sealing solutions here.

To get in contact with us to discuss your marine sealing requirements, please contact us here. You can also give us a call on 01204 675 700.