Shaft Seal Replacement- UNDERWATER DURING CARGO OPS

No one ever plans to perform shaft seal repairs to their vessel.  These failures typically happen at the most inopportune time and in the most remote locations.  While a vessel was transiting in the South Pacific, issues with the shaft seal developed.  Subsea Global Solutions was immediately put on alert together with the seal manufacturer.  Under consultation from the seal manufacturer and considering the location of the vessel it was decided to perform an inboard temporary repair to allow the vessel to transit to a suitable location to perform a permanent shaft seal replacement.  With this temporary repair in place the vessel transited back to the North American West Coast where Subsea Global Solutions’ West Coast office attended the vessel while it performed cargo operations.  Subsea Global Solutions deployed one of its dozen Transhab flexible hyperbaric cofferdams specifically designed to create a dry hyperbaric environment around the shaft seal system.  Due to the unique design of this particular vessel’s stern tube, the engineering department at Subsea Global Solutions created a unique adapter flange to accommodate this Transhab fit up.  Since the Transhab system is completely independent of the sealing system it allows a complete shaft seal replacement, housing replacement, liner replacement and even a shim installation or removal; all done in a dry hyperbaric environment.

Once the TransHab was installed the seal area was “de-watered” and a Original Equipment Manufacturer approved seal replacement was performed by certified and trained diver technicians.  Seal replacement included the replacement of all of the lip seal rings utilizing an approved dry hyperbaric bonding method.  Subsea Global Solutions is the only underwater service contractor that consistently trains annually with this seal manufacturer and maintains diver technicians certified to service and bond new shaft seals in a dry hyperbaric environment.  By maintaining diver technicians fully employed with this high level of training, Subsea Global Solutionstogether with the Original Equipment Manufacturer can provide a full factory warranty on this seal replacement.

Once the shaft seal was replaced the rope guard was welded back into place utilizing the “A” class wet welding procedures developed by Subsea Global Solutions and are class society approved.  By utilizing coded divers to this procedure, the welding performed was considered permanent according to class thus eliminating any notations on this repair performed.

The vessel sailed away with a completely renewed shaft seal system with a minimal impact to its schedule.  This critical repair allowed the vessel to remain in service even though it had years ahead of it to it’s next scheduled dry docking event.

Subsea Global Solutions is your one source for global underwater service.  The Cornerstone of our success is our ability to put your needs first and foremost in  the solutions we develop.  We remain your trusted resource in and out of the water so please feel free to contact us at any time. in any one of our 10 locations globally!

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