Page 42: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2000)

Coatings & Corrosion Control

USCG "Paint Floats" Make Arduous Task Easier, More Environmentally Sound

The U.S. Coast Guard uses four small steel barges specifically engineered to provide a safe working platform and reduction in pollutants from painting operations during routine maintenance of Coast Guard Cutters.

Gone are the days of the staging or boson chair rigged over the side with a crew member wielding chipping iron and paint roller. The U.S. Coast Guard identified the need for an improved sys- tem to prevent paint chip and spatter from entering the environment, and after considerable research it was decided to design and construct a steel pilot model

Paint Float to provide a safe working platform to conduct topside mainte- nance.

The original float measures 30 x 12 ft. (9 x 3.7 m), with draft of just 1.5 ft. (.5 m) and displacement of 32,000-lbs. It has a water ballasting system consisting of four capped 24-in. diameter steel pipes, each 12 ft. long, two per side. The system was designed so paint crews could adjust the trim of the barge to accommodate the flair or tumble home of the cutter. The transferring of ballast water was by hand pump. In retrospect, the system was inconvenient and rarely used, as the paint crews found it easier to use lines from the upper level of the scaffold to the deck of a cutter to pro- vide heel. The painting scaffold is a two level working platform constructed of three-in. square steel tubing and plate with expanded steel deck gratings. The foot flanges of the scaffold frame bolt to raised deck pads. The bolt connection permits removal of the scaffold for repair and maintenance. In addition, the workers' safety is protected on the deck and each of two levels by lifelines that are easily arranged to suit the location of work at hand.

Bolted on deck under the scaffold is an expanded metal box providing for stowage of the anti pollution boom, which is routinely deployed during painting and fueling operations. The box was later removed, as the new and improved booms were too large for the container. This pilot model paint float has been in daily operation since 1990.

Three years after the first float was launched, two additional paint floats were constructed for Coast Guard units at Long Beach, Calif, and Seattle Wash.

These two floats were similar in design and construction to the first float, but with minor design changes, such as replacement of water ballast with inter- nal lead ballast.

The rub rails were changed from orig- inal split pipe to bolt on rubber "D" sec- tions. In 1998 responding to additional requirements for topside maintenance/preservation and increas- ingly stringent environmental regula- tions, a new float was designed and con- structed at Coast Guard Island, Alameda

Calif, by Coast Guard personnel.

The fourth float construction modifies the previous three designs with deck camber and replacement of cast lead ballast with commercial lead bricks secured below in a steel box. Deck drains have a more efficient closure device that will prevent paint or other toxic liquids from inadvertently going overboard, yet allow for rain water drainage. The added length provides space for vacuum collection and separa- tion equipment for use with standard tools, and possibility for negatively

The Royal Viking Sun Photo Courtesy of Wartsila Marine.

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