Supporting gunwale doors reliably: highly resilient plain bearings for hinges in shipbuilding

Profile

• What was needed: iglidur X plain bearings
• Requirements: corrosion-resistant, heavy-duty plain bearings that require no lubrication or maintenance for bulwark door hinges
• Industry: Shipbuilding
• Success for the customer: The heavy-duty hinges not only look good, but function flawlessly. The bearings are robust and weatherproof, require no lubrication or maintenance, and have low coefficients of friction.

The hinges are completely hidden in the bulwark of boats and yachts and revealed only when the door is opened. iglidur bearings make them resilient and usable on the high seas.

Problem

Opening and closing heavy yacht bulwark doors easily over an angle of 180° and swinging them safely over the smooth cladding surfaces: For a long time, there was no satisfactory solution to this shipbuilding problem.
A bulwark door hinge from Vosper Thornycroft, the company that manufactures the world's largest single-masted yacht, provided an idea for even lighter alternatives. When lightweight hinges for heavy boat doors were still very much a niche market, PE Marine Designz Ltd developed new power-assisted, slim, concealed hinges for high load capacity and improved functionality. 
The design requirements were as follows: The hinge had to be hidden when the bulwark door was closed, but still look good when it was open. It was also to allow the door to self-open outwards so as to feel light for the operator. For this, PE Designz developed a patented gas strut to increase efficiency when the bulwark door was opened. To prevent the hinge from impeding door opening, it was also integrated into the door. Since aesthetics are just as important as durability and function in the seafaring industry, stainless steel was chosen as the material.
Completely different materials had to be chosen for the bearings, which were to be built into the hinges at a total of seven pivot points. To continuously withstand the harsh conditions on the high seas and reliably hold the great weight of the doors, the hinges required a robust, corrosion-resistant solution.

Solution

To make the heavy bulwark doors easy to move, PE Designz developed a patented gas strut to assist movement. The total of seven hinge pivot points also ensure that neither hinge nor door damages any of the fittings and bends on the front of the yacht, even with a 180° pivot.
These pivot points use polymer plain bearings made of the iglidur X material. Since the material is completely lubrication-free, there are no external greases and no resulting unsightly oil stains on teak and light boat panels. The material also has a low coefficient of friction and can absorb very high loads. Since iglidur X is a polymer, other environmental challenges on the high seas, such as salt water, do not pose a problem. In addition to the aesthetics, the heavy-duty hinges also feature flawless functionality, even under the adverse conditions on boats and yachts.
PE Designz now uses its new high-end hinge design primarily for bulwark, pipe, and hatch hinges, but also for custom hinges for specific projects in the marine and architectural industries.