Straight Line Marine Announces ABS Cladding Certification

2011 October 24
by Chris Brown

Chris Z expertly builds up the repair area

We are all very proud of the announcement today that Straight Line Marine (a division of High Seas Yacht Service) is now certified for American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) Cladding on Stainless steel shafts.  Straight Line is the only machine shop in the State of Florida to be awarded this certification which is a testament to the skill of our master Machinist Chris Zylka. 

Shaft cladding repair (otherwise known as a weld-over) is a machine shop process for repairing shafts with layers of welding.  The process is explained in more detail in this technical article.  When a shaft is worn or pitted with crevice corrosion the surface becomes hostile to shaft lip seals or cutlass bearings.  The lip seal will leak continuously while a cutlass bearing will wear out prematurely.

Crevise Corrosion on Shafts will Destroy a Lip Seal System

Crevice Corrosion is a chemical phenomena that occurs in warm, stagnant salt water.  The chemical properties change with time and corrosively attack the stainless steel.  This problem is outlined in more detail in this white paper that explains the chemical reaction and possible preventative measures that a Captain can take.

Prior to Straight Line Marine becoming certified an  ABS Class vessel that needed shaft cladding would need to ship the shafts outside Florida.  Straight Line Marine will pick-up and deliver shafts in the South Florida area.  This will save yachts a tremendous amount of time and money.

Congratulations to Chris Zylka for all of his hard work and accomplishments.

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