Testing Hull Coatings for EverClean: Insights from Our Test Facility

At Greensea IQ, innovation in proactive hull maintenance begins with rigorous testing. Our state-of-the-art test facility in Port Canaveral, Florida, plays a pivotal role in ensuring that EverClean technology is compatible with a wide range of hull coatings. Here’s a closer look at how we evaluate performance and durability through a blend of scientific methods and real-world conditions.

The Test Facility Setup

Port Canaveral offers an ideal environment for testing, with warm waters and high fouling pressure year-round. The facility consists of floating docks and custom-built immersion racks where coated panels are submerged. These racks ensure consistent exposure to marine conditions, simulating real-world fouling scenarios.

Our facility also houses an advanced wear-testing system. This equipment replicates the cleaning motion of the EverClean robot, subjecting coating samples to hundreds of brush passes under controlled conditions. This setup allows us to measure the impact of repeated cleanings over a simulated 10-year lifecycle.

Coating Preparation

A test of a coating provided by a manufacturer is compared to two controls: Epoxy (a basic anticorrosive coating expected to foul heavily that will demonstrate the fouling pressure of local biome) and a rosin-based copper coating that is common in the industry (expected to foul and wear slightly but will demonstrate the test procedure's ability to measure coating degradation.)

Samples of the three coatings were applied to aluminum substrates, then mounted for immersion and wear testing.

Preliminary Testing

Panels were submerged for up to 18 days to allow biofouling to accumulate. Fouling ratings were recorded before and after cleaning using EverClean brushes. This phase helps identify the ideal cleaning parameters and assessed biofouling removability.

Accelerated Wear Testing

Using the identified cleaning parameters during preliminary testing, panels underwent 240 cleaning passes, simulating years of monthly cleanings. Measurements of dry film thickness (DFT) and images of the coatings were collected at various intervals to evaluate wear resistance and cleaning efficacy.

Key Findings

• Fouling Accumulation

The experimental coating showed moderate fouling resistance, accumulating heavy slime but less macrofouling compared to the epoxy control. The antifouling standard performed best, developing only light slime over the same period.

• Cleanability

EverClean brushes effectively removed microfouling (slime) from all coatings tested. While macrofouling on the epoxy control remained intact, the experimental coating demonstrated fouling-release properties, with most macrofouling removed.

• Wear Resistance

After 240 cleaning passes, the antifouling standard and experimental coating exhibited minimal cosmetic changes and negligible thickness loss. These results confirmed that the EverClean system is non-damaging when used as recommended.

Advancing Hull Maintenance

Testing at our Florida facility ensures that EverClean remains compatible with a variety of coatings, enabling proactive hull cleaning while preserving coating integrity. By combining real-world exposure with controlled wear testing, we deliver data that supports class certification and instills confidence in our technology.

EverClean isn’t just about keeping hulls clean; it’s about doing so sustainably and effectively, ensuring peak performance for years to come.