Published on: 16 December 2020
Two British Marine members, The Cruising Association (CA) and Wave International, have teamed up to offer members a range of discounted products that help protect the environment.
The CA provides a broad range of news, events, support services and facilities to its 6,300 members worldwide, and Wave International designs and manufactures products which help boaters protect the environment, from reducing single-use plastic on board to ensuring that no harmful pollutants, such as oily water or microplastic, get pumped overboard.
Supplied in the UK through its distributor Halyard, and now with discounted products especially for Cruising Association members, Wave products can be fitted onto any size of vessel from canal boats to blue water cruisers and superyachts.
Manufactured in the UK, Wavestream bilge filters are Lloyds Register Approved. Other Wave products include Wavebrite for processing waste (grey) water, Flostream for filtering and cleaning on-board drinking water, Waveshine for boat washdown, and Prostream which filters water prior to going through a watermaker.
“Using Wave filter products onboard protects both your crew, the environment and your equipment,” says Paul Gullett, managing director of UK-based Wave International. “Using filters for water coming onboard will improve the quality and taste of water – no matter what the original source – by removing all types of contaminants such as harmful bacteria, heavy metals and minerals such as calcium and limescale. Filters will also protect your valuable equipment on board, such as the watermaker.”
Users simply replace the watermaker’s standard sediment-only filter with Wave’s Prostream dual sediment and oily water filter, to ensure full protection against any ingress of contaminated sea water into the watermaker. This means that boat users can run their watermakers when in a marina or close to shore, something normally avoided for fear of getting contamination into the watermaker unit.
To ensure that no pollution from bilge water is emitted overboard, the Wavestream filter removes any traces of dirt from the bilges. Any trace of oil, microplastics, microfibres or other contaminants are filtered out before bilge water is pumped overboard. The Wavebrite performs the same task for grey water, ensuring that all harmful bacteria or pollutants are removed before the grey can be safely pumped overboard.
Paul continues: “Boaters generally are very respective of the environment and do not want to cause any pollution but it’s hard to avoid, especially when refuelling or after carrying out any engine or maintenance work on board. Even a tiny trace of diesel or oil causes low levels of surface pollution such as ‘blueshine’ which is when spills of oil or diesel can be seen on the water surface. But more significant, and invisible to the naked eye, are the very tiny waste particles which sink and could be ingested by fish and other wildlife. In some areas, such as National Marine Parks, there are extremely stringent rules on any emissions from visiting yachts. We’re delighted to be working with the Cruising Association to help its members be more environmentally friendly and save some money too using their membership discounts.”
Wave’s systems start from less than £100 and the replaceable multi-media cartridge filters last for 1-2 years, depending on use, and can be easily replaced through Halyard in the UK or Wave’s network of worldwide distributors. Most boaters carry spare filters with them and used filters can be disposed of safely at marinas and boatyards.
More information about Wave International products can be found through UK distributor Halyard’s website at www.halyard.eu.com and at www.waveinternational.co.uk.