Sustainability, temperature and weight are in focus for the latest cruise ship decking
Sika Marine has launched an innovative and sustainable technology in exterior deck coverings, a lightweight synthetic teak deck system that offers ‘cool touch’ technology, including significant weight saving benefits.
Sika corporate market field manager marine Michiel Bos says, “When analysing the market of synthetic deck coverings, we see great opportunities for product development to cover the market’s current needs. With our strong Sika technology centres, we were able to develop a product which pushes the boundaries on aesthetics and sustainability again. Our new Sikafloor Marine-595 is ultra-lightweight and is in average10°Ccooler than other synthetic teak decking systems on the market”.
Enter Sikafloor Marine-595
Sikafloor Marine-595 is a comfortable and elastic, low weight and highly decorative polyurethane resin floor designed as a synthetic teak deck covering, which has the patented Sika cool technology on board.
Mr Bos says, “Synthetic products tend to look artificial, similar to resin floors for interior decks. When developing this new technology, we tried to mimic real teak wood to create a natural looking deck.
Besides the aesthetics, weight saving is high on the agenda of Sika, as in cruise ship newbuildings, everyone is fighting the kilos and grams.
“For 1 mm of thickness, Sikafloor Marine-595 is 0.25 to 0.5 kg lighter than other synthetic products per square metre, so there are tremendous weight savings which can be achieved.”
Depending on the vessel and size, on average 2-4 kg per square metre will be saved in comparison with existing technologies, allowing for fuel consumption savings. If Sika’s new lightweight levelling compound Sikafloor Marine-560 is used, this weight saving can increase further.
The cooler touch of the product is an important benefit too. Mr Bos highlights how in some areas cruise ships travel to, synthetic teak can reach extreme temperatures creating a deck which cannot be walked on in bare feet. As Sikafloor Marine-595 feels on average 10°C cooler to bare feet than standard technologies, this product feature plays an important role in VIP areas and even Super Yacht buildings.
Recent decking contracts for the company include providing all the exterior decking for Viking Line’s Viking Glory. “The company’s synthetic teak deck Sikafloor Marine-570 and the full-coloured deck covering Sikafloor Marine-590 were used in combination with a lightweight levelling compound, combining weight savings and the strong, fit-for-purpose design features of the Sikafloor Marine exterior deck covering systems,” Mr Bos comments.
Sika Marine offers a one-stop-shop that deals with all elements of fitting a deck, from outfitting, bonding, sealant and so forth. Mr Bos says, “This saves time, money, contact and warranty issues as we are the global trusted partner.”
The company is about to go to market with a new booster product that saves a lot of time. Mr Bos says, “This booster process enables the contractor to apply multiple layers in one go and saves a lot of time, allowing the flooring to be completed in a day. For refitting purposes, this is fantastic and saves on the amount of traffic going to the ship. In addition, areas open faster as the curing is so quick.”
Highlighting the ability of the new booster technology, Mr Bos says with a conventional product, two hours is needed for preparation, and 24 hours is needed before the second coat can be applied. Curing therefore takes at least 18 hours, and depending on how many layers are needed, and can take a full week if working with four to five layers. Sika’s new booster technology can save an average three to four days and three hours after being applied, contractors can walk on it and apply the next layer.
Summing up Sika’s latest developments, Mr Bos says, “We want to highlight the road to sustainability for our highly respected contractors and applicators as well as end-users, together with our unique ability to create something special.”
Heated decking
Elsewhere, Bolidt has launched a new heated decking system for cruising in colder climates.
Bolidt director maritime Jacco Van Overbeek tells PST, “More and more expedition cruise ships are being built, and a lot of them plan to go to the North Pole and South Pole.
There was a request right away, can we do a heated deck? We did this many years ago in Holland, so we knew how it would work and we had the contacts.
“We found a company that would make it more industrialised because it takes a lot of heat to heat up a large deck on an expedition cruise ship. We found a way and are co-operating with a heating specialist. They install their pipelines, electronics or water heating system, then we co-operate to make it a smooth decking system, with extra thickness to put the heating system in.”
This ensures the decks remain ice-free. The company has installed the deck on Viking Neptune. Bolidt is set to finalise a further five Viking newbuild projects by the end of the year, including for Neptune’s sister ship, Viking Mars.
Another recent innovative feature is the latest Norwegian Cruise Line ship with its go-kart track, with Bolidt surfaces. While the Bolidt surface has been used on three go-kart tracks on previous Norwegian ships, the one for Norwegian Prima is especially novel.
Mr Van Overbeek comments, “We have done three before, but this one goes over three decks rather than two, so guests will be able to drive and compete with 10 people at same time and really race on the cruise ship. It has highlighted corners with white blocks like in Formula One, there is a starting grid, so there is a real Formula One start, and there is a black and white edged area to match the Formula one appearance. The surrounding is finished with Future Teak and Select Soft.”
Bolidt worked with go kart manufacturer RIMO to cover up the joints of the track with a special plate. This new system will ensurethe steel joints can withstand the movement of the track and stop the appearance of small tracks on the surface.
Elsewhere, Bolidt has been busy building up work in the burgeoning cruise shipbuilding sector in China. It provided 20,000 m2 of Future Teak, Select Soft and Select Hard for the new /Fincantieri China joint venture vessel being built at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding.
There has also been an uptick in the refit market, with Mr Van Overbeek saying, “The refit market is picking up again. In 2020 it was slow, but it picked up last year and things are really happening this year. Over the next two years the market will be back to 2019 levels.”
