Pile Ring is launched to the UK and Ireland market

Potential damage – and consequently costly repair – to boats, infrastructure and facilities is a constant issue.

Now aids to navigation supplier Hydrosphere is launching a new product to the UK and Ireland market designed to eliminate these problems.

The Pile Ring is produced by New Zealand based Monumental Plastics which has taken the concept of a floating, monitor-free mooring device and developed it into a safe and maintenance-free circular unit.

Constructed using a one-piece, seamless moulding technique, the Pile Ring integrates a marine-grade 316 stainless steel hoop inside a specially designed polyethylene float that as the name suggests floats up and down a pile according to the different water levels.

“The key to the Pile Ring’s advantage is our ground-breaking one piece moulding technique, which seamlessly integrates a marine grade Stainless Steel hoop into a unique and specifically designed float,” said Tony Trueman, Monumental Plastics MD.

“One of the many clever design features of the Pile Ring is the nesting or stacking function. This provides for additional fendering and buoyancy in the water, and more significantly it improves handling, storage and container shipping numbers.

“As such it means that the Pile Ring is now a primary consideration for use by new and existing marina/waterway managers all over the world.”

The circular flotation device fits onto piles and is suitable for new build or retrofitting, maintaining safe and secure mooring lines in marinas, rivers and estuaries.

And as it floats up and down with the tide gently rubbing on the pile, the device also reduces barnacle growth and weed build-up.

“Potentially every pile where boats are moored in between needs one,” explained Hydrosphere MD John Caskey.

“These products are very good quality, maintenance free and can be used on new piles going in or can be retrofitted.

“The ring floats with the tide and is suitable for marinas, ports and harbour authorities as well as yacht clubs – in fact anywhere that has boats moored between piles.”

And he explained that whereas previously a bar welded around a pile would need much more maintenance, these new rings are maintenance free with closed-cell foam filling, they are unsinkable, non-marking and are also UV proof.

In addition to the four tie-on points, they can also be stacked to accommodate additional vessels. The Pile Ring has been tested in marinas throughout New Zealand with the original rings utilised by the largest marina in the southern hemisphere, Westhaven in Auckland.

By Katina Read