NYCAP It is easy to do an IR Camera shot of the electrical system with everything running, this will soon show up any hot areas. I can give you a guys No in Ft Lauderdale who works for a large survey company who runs one of these cameras with great success.
Do they do this as a regular part of their surveys or just if requested? I'd never seen it. In fact, we just went through a survey last week. On board was the surveyor, the boat's regular mechanic, a Cat mechanic, the new owner, old owner, the broker and myself. No IR camera.
Today I learned something new (not that it could be done, but that it should be done in the normal course of a survey). Thanks, I'll check into it. I've been dealing with this surveyor for 10 years so I don't think I'll dump him, but I'll certainly ask him about this.
Hi, Not every surveyor will have one as they are pretty pricey but they should all know someone who does and can be used when needed. We first used them back in 1993 as part of Switchboard Surveys, the images are now accepted by Class.
Opcn, Under the Redenbacher Rule of 2004, you are hereby prohibited from further posting until such time as all parties participating have made some popcorn.
Hi, I found a reasonable explanation of the current trend towards using IR Thermal Imaging for Surveys. Thermal Imaging in Marine Surveying Suitable Cameras: i5, InfraCAM SD, i50, T200, T250, T360 Once available only to the U.S. Navy, infrared technology now brings state-of-the-art thermal imaging to general marine surveying, so you can quickly and accurately use infrared detection to perform the four "Elements of the Marine Survey" 1. Pre-Purchase Surveys 2. Insurance Surveys 1. Appraisal Inspections 2. Damage Inspections Thermography is an important addition to the marine surveyor's toolkit, along with the percussion hammer, a moisture metre, and hands-on field experience. With today’s highly sensitive infrared detectors and advanced electronics, you can quickly scan a vessel for structural integrity. You can also examine electrical, propulsion, and fuel systems, as well as navigation and other on-board electronics. Thermal imaging can detect potential problems that would be invisible, not only to the naked eye but also to many instruments. Electrical, mechanical, propulsion, power generation and other systems often show unusual heat variations before failure. Likewise, structural problems in FRP, wood, and composite laminates are frequently accompanied by abnormal heat signatures. Such problems are clearly visible to the new generation thermal imaging cameras, with their extremely sensitive heat detection capabilities, allowing problems to be detected early and helping to avoid costly and catastrophic failures. Today’s infrared cameras are lightweight, portable, and extremely easy to use. Often weighing no more than a flashlight, they are highly sophisticated and can store over 100 images on-board, ready to download to a PC at the click of a mouse. Above info came from: http://www.thermascan.co.uk
This thread has been split and re-titled... "Surveying: Thermal Imaging Cameras". Good topic. Let's continue...
Having used thermography for machinery inspection and troubleshooting onboard ships for quite a few years I have one comment to make regarding use of the technology onboard yachts... The equipment is now relatively cheap and can be obtained by anyone, the skill required to analyze and interpret the data is not easily obtained and based on what I have read in several yacht surveys, should be subject to considerable skepicism. Ask a lot of questions about the background and knowledge of the person interpreting the data.
If the recent rash of ghost hunting shows in the US, UK, and Australia (sorry, don't know about non-English media) has taught us anything, its that using this sort of equipment is not intuitive and that training and experience are vital to actually making use of them.
