Hippo Marine Fendering - P.C. Jansen Marine Agencies BV · PDF fileImproving leisure, commercial and military boatbuilding worldwide Hippo Marine Fendering

Improving leisure, commercial and military boatbuilding worldwide

Hippo MarineFendering

Hippo Marine was established in 1979 as a manufacturer of mooring buoys for both commercial

and leisure vessels, becoming part of the FenderCare Group in 2002. Over time, the foam elastomer

technology and shop-floor equipment and know-how lent itself to Hippo’s diversification into the

design and manufacture of a much broader range of aids to navigation, mooring and berthing.

WHo Are HIPPo MArIne?

All our surface products are made from closed-cell,

thermolaminated polyethylene cores, which are then coated

in thick, protective yet flexible marine grade polyurethane

elastomer. The result is extremely hard-wearing equipment,

which is virtually unsinkable and requires very little ongoing

maintenance, providing a very good return on investment

over the extended lifetime of these products.

Our client base ranges from ports and harbours to

offshore engineers, construction companies, governmental

organisations, navies and shipyards. We used to say that

it covers every continent bar Antarctica, but having now

supplied vessel fendering for an Antarctic survey vessel we

can no longer make that claim.

Our current capabilities can be summarised into the

following product areas:

• Mooring Buoys

• Navigation Buoys

•Offshore Surface Buoys

• Sub-Surface Buoyancy

• Floating Foam Fenders

• Vessel Fendering Systems

Apart from our standard product ranges, we offer

the flexibility to design and manufacture tailor-made

solutions for flotation and berthing purposes.

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Dutch-built custom tender with

UV-stable white Hippo fendering

From l to r: navy fender, sub-surface buoy, mooring buoy, navigation buoy

WHAt Are HIPPo Vessel FenderIng systeMs?

Hippo Vessel Fendering Systems are extremely lightweight

but very durable foam elastomer fendering systems which

are typically bonded to the hulls of vessels but can also be

mechanically fixed if so required.

The inside of the fender is made of elastic polyethylene foam,

which provides the energy absorption. This core is then coated

in protective marine-grade polyurethane (PU), either via a

spraying or moulding process.

Depending upon the application, we can vary the materials we

use (i.e. the density of the foam, the material properties of the

PU and the mesh reinforcement system) to provide the ideal

combination for each specific project.

WHo tyPIcAlly sPecIFIes or Uses HIPPo FenderIng?

Anyone who is designing, building or operating a vessel

where there is a definite requirement for the fendering to

be extremely light, to look extremely good, or both.

The main current applications are as follows:

• Leisure – complete fendering systems for

luxury tenders and motoryachts

• Leisure – bathing platform reinforcements for

superyachts and megayachts

• Military – patrol, raiding or interception craft

• Commercial – production RIBs (inc SOLAS)

• Commercial – pilot boats and fast crew vessels

• Commercial – fast rescue craft / lifeboats

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From l to r: Wallytender, Spanish-built patrol craft, bathing platform protection for Italian-built megayacht

UK MOD Offshore Raiding Craft

There are, of course, alternatives to our foam elastomer

technology - the main ones being: rubber fenders,

inflatable tubes, ionomer foam and hypalon / foam.

We believe that Hippo Fendering offers the following

benefits over these technologies:

• It is ultra-light compared to rubber fendering

(from 3kg/m), therefore minimising hull

weight and boosting vessel performance in

projects where speed and mobility are vital.

• It will not puncture and deflate in the way

that inflatable RIB collars can, so is ideal

in situations where pneumatic collars are

perceived to represent too much of an

operational risk.

• It potentially offers better energy absorption

properties and lower transfer of loads to the

hull than ionomer-type fendering (depending

upon the application-driven combination of

materials we decide upon)

• It presents very little risk of permanent

shrinkage and offers very high tear resistance

- as opposed to the hypalon / foam systems

which can sometimes be seen to have

remained permanently deformed following

collision and which can sometimes be seen to

have been relatively easily torn.

WHy sPecIFy HIPPo FenderIng?

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Cuff and spigot systems allow for extremely neat joints and ‘invisible’ trimming to ensure a perfect fit

Turkish-built yacht tender

Italian-built coastguard vessel

otHer BeneFIts oF HIPPo FenderIng InclUde:

• It is light enough to be bonded to the hull,

for simplicity of fixing. No more drilling bolt-

holes, or watching fenders split around those

bolt-holes. 95% of our customers are now

successfully bonding Hippo Fendering onto

their hulls, with adhesive recommendations

and installation guidelines and technical

support from us as required.

• It is completely non-marking, which is

typically of great interest to yacht owners

and navies in particular.

• It is available in a full spectrum of colours.

We now have developed a unique completely

UV-stable white PU, which can be used as

the basis of all light colours. As we pigment

the PU ourselves, we can mix colours per

customer request.

•We offer a number of very neat jointing and

termination options for our fendering

•The surface finish and quality, especially of

the moulded fendering, is extremely high.

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Italian-built yacht tender

From l to r: Turkish-built patrol vessel, Dutch-built yacht and tender

UK-built offshore

support vessel

Hippo Marine has been working with designers and boatyards internationally on both leisure and

commercial fendering projects for well over a decade, and we have more experience of doing this type

of work in these materials than anyone else in the world.

oUr exPerIence

The niche nature of our fendering technology has allowed

our customer base to extend out from our UK manufacturing

facility into Europe and then further afield. We now supply

and support our fendering systems in all the major boat-

building markets, from North America to Australasia -

and most places in-between.

Each boat we work on is different, so each fendering project we

work on takes its own unique path, whether it is for a one-off

custom yacht tender or an ongoing series of patrol vessels.

Because of the almost infinite flexibility of our technology we

are not restricted to having to take our customers down the

route of a small number of off-the-shelf possibilities, so we are

in the very happy position of being able to offer a blank-page

approach to our customers, and to draw upon our experience

to jointly develop the fendering specification and arrangement

which best suits the operational requirements of our clients.

Our starting point is a drawing of the hull, an approximate

profile size which is being sought and an understanding of

the operational role of the boat. Given this information we

select the optimum combination of materials and then provide

an initial proposal for the supply of a suitable set of Hippo

fendering, this is then invariably modified over the course

of the project as the design criteria change, until the most

suitable fendering solution is ultimately arrived at and agreed

by all parties - at which point we move to manufacture.

However, our work in taking our customers through the

process from start to finish does not stop there. We can also

recommend / supply suitable adhesives and primers, and we

pride ourselves on offering comprehensive fitting instructions

and installation support to our customers as is required by

them to ensure that the end result is to their, and their own

end-customer’s, entire satisfaction.

Commercial / Military references

VT Halmatic, UK Holyhead Marine (UK MOD Offshore Raiding Craft)

Damen, NL FB Design, Italy

Yonca-Onuk, Turkey Rodman, Spain

Dubai Dry Docks, UAE Abu Dhabi Ship Building, UAE

Yachting references

Wally Yachts, Italy Lürssen, Germany

HavBoats, Norway Tresco, France

Vaudrey Miller, NZ New England Boatworks, USA

Open Boat, Italy CBI Navi, Italy

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Norwegian-built motorboat

From l to r: Canadian-built windfarm support vessel, Wally 70, UK-built pilot boat

FInIsHIng oPtIons – sPrAyed or MoUlded

Uniquely in our field, Hippo’s 5-axis CNC machining facility

gives us the ability to manufacture plugs and moulds in-

house - working off our customers’ drawings to provide a

market-leading level of accuracy and quality of finish. Moulded

fenders offer better material properties and a smoother finish,

but may potentially involve a tooling investment to take the

fendering smoothly around the angles.

Sprayed profiles offer greater flexibility on the size and shape

of the fendering without the need to invest in new tooling,

but offer a more industrial finish.

Moulded fenders are therefore more typically selected within

yachting applications whereas sprayed fenders are more

generally used within commercial and military applications.

Underneath you will find a graphic of our current moulded

profiles. Depending on the requirements of the project, we

can manufacture moulds in-house for new profile shapes and

sizes or we can move away from the costs and limitations of

the moulding process and spray the coating onto the fenders.

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Machining taking place

inside the CNC enclosure

Hippo MarineLimited

Hippo Marine Ltd

Enterprise House, Harveys Lane, Seething, Norfolk NR15 1EN, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 1508 482691 Fax: +44 1508 482710

Email: [email protected] www.fendercare.com

Could Hippo fendering Have prevented tHis?Probably not! But, whether integrated to the design of a high-speed military interception craft or retrofitted to a megayacht’s bathing platform, Hippo fendering systems offer performance and protection with no aesthetic compromise.Hippo fenders are…• Highly impact-absorbent - for improved protection

• Extremely lightweight - for improved performance

• Bondable to the hull - for improved installation

• Made-to-measure - for improved fit

• Coloured, UV-stable & non-marking - for improved aesthetics