ReefFloat: The Foam-Free, Sustainable Concrete Marina Float.
100% Concrete - Made using ultra-low-density concrete for the core and high-strength engineered concrete skins.
Offering pontoon manufacturers, yacht harbours, and marinas an alternative to EPS foam to float their pontoons.
The Problem
It’s estimated that over 10 million marina pontoons have been built globally since the 1970s. The vast majority have used EPS foam in their floats.
After around 30 years, the protective skins (concrete, plastic, or textile) start to crack, tear, and fail, and if not replaced or repaired, the EPS starts to escape into the ocean.
Why is this a problem?
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Just one small pontoon float contains millions (5-10m) small white EPS balls.
When wave action, UV, and marine life break them off, they escape into the ocean. -
There is no definitive scientific consensus on how long polystyrene takes to degrade in the marine environment, but many studies suggest it can take hundreds or even thousands of years. Even if it does degrade on shorter centennial or decadal timescales, this is still enough time to pose a threat to marine life
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The EPS balls can look like food, so marine life from microbes to fish, birds and turtles eat them, with direct effects on the digestive system. Longer term effects that reduce the total energy budgets status of organisms has a lasting impact on species health
The Solution
ReefFloat has been developed specifically to solve this problem and offer marinas an alternative float for their pontoon decks.
The Foam-Free, Sustainable Concrete Marina Float.
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The first brief for ReefFloat was that it had to be inert in the marine environment. So both under a marina pontoon, or if damaged or washed out to sea in a storm, it would not be toxic and harmful to marine life like EPS is.
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Currently, most old EPS floats go to landfill.
Not only is this expensive, with the cost to dispose of an old float now being the same or more than the cost of a new float, but literally burying the problem.
Unlike EPS, which is classed as a hazardous waste, ReefFloat is inert. It’s just concrete.
So all you need to do at the end of its life is crush it locally and use it as hardcore. -
We didn’t just want ReefFloat to solve the EPS environmental problem.
We wanted it to be better than EPS floats in other ways. So we made it:
Stronger: At least twice as strong as EPS concrete floats in compression
Lower COG: Around 20% heavier than an EPS concrete float, it has a lower COG, making pontoons more stable.
Higher Inertia: Its increased mass gives it more inertia, allowing it to deal with wave action better and reducing pontoon movements.
NEWS
Get in touch
We want to speak to:
Marina & Pontoon Owners: Interested in putting ReefFloat under their pontoon decks.
Pontoon Manufacturers: Let’s talk about how you can offer ReefFloat to your customers and design it into your existing pontoon systems.
Press & Environmental Groups: Get more information and our press pack.
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