4 Apr 2012

Hull cleaning robot makes Spanish tour

By Belinda Liversedge

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An award-winning hull cleaning robot could be snapped up by Spanish marinas and service companies with the backing of a new marketing company, it has been revealed.
 
Compass Marketing in Barcelona have acquired the Spanish marketing rights for the French-designed and manufactured Hulltimo Remote Controlled Robot Hull Cleaner, and will be setting up 'Service Points' in Spain and the Balearics over the summer.
 
The hull cleaner, which can cover up to 6m of hull per minute via remote control, is an award winning invention by Eric Tardy and Sebastian Fontaine, who own 65 per cent of the Hulltimo business. The product won its remaining investment from the French government and other equity investors after the robot scooped innovation awards in France in 2011, the same year the first production model came out.
 
Weighing 23kg, and driven remotely, the Robot works by clinging to the hull whilst its rotating brushes clean the surface. Compass and Hulltimo foresee a “healthy potential market” for use of the robot on superyachts, owing to its suitability for large as well as small yachts.
 
Peter Franklin of Sea-Things in Palma de Mallorca, the representative for Compass Marketing in the Balearic Islands, said:
 
"After spending weekends during my youth scrubbing off bottoms of racing yachts between tides, I was immediately intrigued when Diana Corominas from Compass told me that you could now do it faster and more efficiently standing comfortably on deck with the boat still on its mooring, and a remote control unit in your hands."



The robot will be demonstrated to marinas and yacht maintenance contractors before the Service Point operator plan is rolled out. There will be robot demos too in Palma, Alcudia and at the inaugural Port Adriano superyacht Broker show, Mallorca Superyacht Days, from 28-30 April . 


Early demonstrations will support the later service point plan, which proposes that one company in a marina will have the potential to offer a new service to clean any yachts in his area on a one-off charge basis.
 
The entire Hulltimo package, including operator training, is based on a two year maintenance and spares contract from Compass Marketing in Barcelona.

Related Links

Compass Marketing Website
Hulltimo Website
Mallorca Superyacht Days Website

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