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REGULATORY COMPLIANCE “Thordon’s ability to eliminate oil, grease, etc. in a variety of applications on board should make the more costly EAL’s even less attractive, as well. The Thordon advantage of ending redundant maintenance allows today’s crews more time to focus elsewhere. And, water lubrication or no lubrication – depending upon the application – completely eliminates potential environmental issues.” – David Marshall, Thordon’s Senior Regional Manager Americas 1980’s, when we began offering our shaft bearings – now make the more costly EAL’s even less attractive, as well. referred to as RiverTough,” he said, adding, “Thordon has The Thordon advantage of ending redundant mainte- done well in excess of 500 installations here in North Amer- nance allows today’s crews more time to focus elsewhere. ica related to shaft bearings. Rudder bearings are tougher to And, water lubrication or no lubrication – depending keep an accurate count on but roughly double the shaft upon the application – completely eliminates potential bearing applications, at a minimum would be a guess. In- environmental issues.” stallation growth has been driven by performance.”

According to Marshall, Thordon’s proprietary polymer

On the River Today is extremely wear resistant in even the toughest, most abra-

Bearing wear rates of vessels operating in the Missis- sive conditions. Thordon backs this up in RiverTough sippi waters show that RiverTough bearings last twice shaft bearings with a guarantee of twice the life of cutless as long as rubber bearings. In fact, documentation from rubber or other Composite or laminate products. How-

Mississippi workboat operators shows typical RiverTough ever, real world performance has far surpassed these ex- bearing wear rates of 0.075mm to 0.100mm (0.003” to pectations, yielding annual average wear of .002-.003” on 0.004”) in 6,000 to 7,000 hours of annual use. Jim Bate- vessels operating in excess of 6,000 hours annually. man of Louisiana-based Double J Marine last year replaced

Marshall was unwilling to guess at the ultimate impact the Thordon RiverTough bearings after 60,000 hours on of the Subchapter M rule, instead saying, “What we can one of his pushboats with new Thordon bearings. Those say is that Thordon has 50 years of experience in dealing original bearings, installed in February 2008, went into all with Class Societies, Government Agencies, and other reg- three of his boats.

ulatory bodies and will always work to assist our customers

Arguably, Bateman was well ahead of his peers in terms with compliance solutions where applicable.” of VGP compliance, but in truth, he went with Thordon

Addressing the VGP rules that require EAL lubricants for other reasons. “I got great feedback from others in in- for all equipment except where it is “technically infeasi- dustry about reliability, long wear and performance,” he ble,” Marshall insists, “Thordon’s ability to eliminate oil, said. In fact, Bateman’s case is perhaps unusual, but the re- grease, etc. in a variety of applications on board should sults were not. “I was using water lubricated liners to begin

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