Signs, labels, and nameplates, for use by the sea, or on boats and ships, require special consideration. We manufacture a range of solutions, from signs for the exposed decks of ships, to offshore nameplates and seaside signage. To understand what the right product will be for your project, you need to understand the challenges involved.
Signs suffer a hard life by the sea. Airborne salt crystals are deposited on the surface, which attract moisture, becoming micro-droplets of concentrated saline solution. This destroys paints and other organic coatings. Constant high humidity and higher environmental UV levels caused by reflection off the sea surface add to the rapid decomposition of paints, plastics, and other organic materials. This problem does not only affect marine signage; anything painted has a shorter life by the sea, from window frames to cars.
Steel rusts astonishingly quickly due to this constant high salinity, and many grades of stainless steel will also rust. Brass oxidises and darkens, even marine brass, which is not a decorative product; it is an engineering grade designed not to corrode in salt water. There is no lacquer that will protect brass in a marine environment. Lacquer is just clear paint, and it will fail for the same reasons mentioned above for other paints.
A common misconception is that signage made from marine grade (316) stainless steel will be suitable for use in marine environments. This is partly true, but if you want to display graphics on the stainless steel, that will involve paint, print, or some sort of film, and they will all fail in a marine environment for the reasons mentioned above. We can etch into 316 grade stainless steel, and that etching will be permanent, but to make it easily visible involves filling the etched detail with paint, which could fail. There is no marine paint that can be used for etched stainless steel. Marine paint systems involve building up thick layers of primers, mid-coats, and top coats, and this is simply not possible within the confines of etched graphics in stainless steel.
Anoprinted aluminium is an excellent product for use in marine environments. The graphics are created within the hard anodised surface of the aluminium, and this surface is not affected by high humidity or salinity. Signs of this type have been successfully used for safety and information signage on the decks of cruise ships for a long time, and have outperformed every other product on the market. Use of colour is limited because like any other colour system in such an exposed high-UV environment, colours will fade, but we have developed some strong spot colours that provide a solution for safety and information signage. The black we use is permanent and will never fade. Fixing is best using specialist 3M adhesives, which we have tested in this environment and can advise on.
The properties that make anoprinted aluminium a good choice for ship signage also make it ideal for marina signage, and other types of coastal signs. It is an excellent product for everything from bench plates by the seafront, waterfront office and residential signage, to marine data plates. For applications where displaying information is essential such as offshore asset plates, marine nameplates, and offshore safety signage, anoprinted aluminium is often a better solution than stainless steel.
As well as making signs, we are also one of the biggest manufacturers of specialist offshore labels and nameplates in the UK. These are mostly 316 stainless steel, and they are subjected to slightly different conditions to signage, often fully immersed, and our own unique paint system serves these applications well.
If you have a project for signs, labels, or nameplates in any type of marine environment, contact us and we will advise the best way forward.