This project involved the design and fabrication of five large floating mesh pens and was the result of a collaboration with a large local engineering firm for their overseas client. The 13m diameter top of the pens were fabricated to enclose large buoyancy rings, the pens were designed to extend down 8m into the ocean.
The purpose of the pen was to hold a product that was being trialled as an absorber of CO2.
Webbing attachments were fabricated to allow for securing weights to the
net to help suspend the net underwater. The bottom of the mesh was drawn
in with ropes through a series of webbing loops to contain the product. The drawstring rope was contained in a pocket to mitigate propellor strike, the drawstring was designed so that the product could be released once the experiment had been completed.
The nets needed to be made to enable them to be filled and deployed from
a vessel at sea. Other challenges faced were the impact of tidal movement, as well as the effect of wind and surface waves.