We have been making some strong progress on the second and third floating bases here at the factory. We are back with Grant to take a look at two of the outer spars that will eventually become part of those bases.

These four-meter tall spars will be mounted to the end of the outriggers and stand up vertically in the water. These outer spars are where we will have the Wazebo or solar array mounted. Since most of the floating structure will float below the surface, about 2/3 of these spars will stay submerged in the water.

Each of these spars will have a steel disk that will close off the bottom of the tube. You can see here that the disks were recently welded onto these spars. This is a great example of the stages of our sandblasting and protectant process.

The steel quickly gets a layer of surface rust that we have to remove with sandblasting. After we sandblast the surface and remove all of the oxidation, we apply an epoxy paint that seals the steel and protects it from the corrosive saltwater in which it will live. You can see in the video below where the steel on the spar still has the rust color, and then where it was sandblasted, welded, and then covered in epoxy paint to seal it.

Eventually, the entire spar and the rest of the floating base will be sandblasted and have the epoxy paint applied to the surface. These spars should be welded onto outriggers and then mounted to the central hubs very soon so be sure to stay tuned to the blog for more updates from the factory!