August 2021: a team of visionary Ocean Builders achieved a major milestone by putting in the water the test tripod frame that will be supporting our futuristic floating homes. We then took it for a spin! A little bit more than a year later, we pulled it out for inspection. Spoiler alert, we are thrilled by the result!
House foundations are a critical part of any property building because no matter how good the house on top of it is, if its foundations are weak, it won’t last very long.
Obviously, it is no news to you that steel and seawater aren’t great friends, and corrosion would be a danger to the structure we manufactured from steel sheets. But we really have some exciting news for you today because the steel structure’s well-being is in perfect condition!
We used both a paint coating and anodes to prevent steel corrosion. On top of protecting the Pod’s structural base, it creates a “home under the home” for corals. This technique is often used to protect boat hulls, but also to restore coral reefs damaged by human activity, be it direct damage from anchors, or bleaching caused by climate change.
What happens is that the electrode creates an electric current that goes through the steel to compensate and counteract corrosion. It attracts calcium carbonate toward the structure and that’s what corals use to create their skeletons. In exchange for providing a suitable environment, it helps in protecting the steel tubes. Actually, if we would scrap part of this coral protection, the spar’ steel would be self-healing because that’s where the electric current would be the strongest, hence attracting a new layer of calcium carbonate.
For more details about how it works, we strongly recommend you to read about how we are protecting steel from rusting with anodes because it really is a fascinating technique. We knew about the theory, but seeing it in practice as we look at our structure is really something else.
Moreover, we are very satisfied by the results so we are confident about moving forward with building the Pods tripod structure that way.
Now that we master the power or electricity to protect steel, we know that the Pods can be installed safely in the water.
