Sea Pen finds solutions

Slipping, cleaning and antifouling a boat are the annual nightmare for every boat owner. Even if you leave all the job to the blokes at the boat yard, you know you'll get a phone call about barnacles invading the seacocks or suspect osmosis somewhere in the hull.

Boat owners who use the revolutionary Sea Pen docking system have no such worries. Their boats are only ever in the water when they are actually being used. When they are tied up at the dock in their emptied Sea Pen, the boats are as dry as they would be if they were parked in the middle of the Nullarbor Plain.

Once thought to be a docking solution only for runabouts or small cruisers, Sea Pen continues to expand its portfolio of large boat installations. Recently the company has developed pens for a 46ft Leopard cruising catamaran, a Fairline Targa 65 and an Archibald 40 deep-keel racing yacht.

Sea Pen works by pumping all the water away from the hull of a boat as it sits in its custom-made pen. As the water is pumped out, the pen shrinks around the hull and the rope webbing interior leaves the hull sitting high and dry -- surrounded by nothing but air.

The boat is kept in pristine condition and it looks and performs like a new boat every time it goes out.

The Sea Pen keeps the boat at water level, so owners can step aboard from their marina at any time. Shore power connections allow refrigeration and air conditioning to be run as needed.

Sea Pen can build docking pens for vessels from 6 metres to 30 metres. Check out Sea Pen's website for more information.