| subscribe | magstore.nz/boatingnewzealand Boating New Zealand 95
Fancy a specific, unusual colour for
your boat? You might want to check out
AkzoNobel’s new MIXITTM – a digital
colour finding/matching tool that’s
available on your smartphone.Colour
your world
N
ot everyone wants a white boat – some boaties
have a more colourful outlook on life. And to help
them fnd a colour that best echoes that outlook,
AkzoNobel has introduced MIXIT™.
AkzoNobel is the name behind the global paint
brands Awlgrip and International. Te MIXIT™ tool draws on
some 18,000 colours in the company’s database palette and
has made them freely available – via a web-based platform – to
boaties in search of a little distinctiveness.
If you had any doubt about the success of the technology,
you only have to look at the colourful feet of VOR boats that
has just departed from Auckland. AkzoNobel is the ofcial paint
supplier to the boats – all of which took advantage of the same
tool for developing their unique custom-made colours. Te
mixing tool is also traveling with the feet to help shore teams
carry out repairs and maintenance at each of the stopovers.
Te tool has also proved particularly successful for boat
owners eager to extend their vision of a perfectly-coloured
world to other assets. So the chap with a shimmery-gold
Maserati, for example, will not feel complete unless his boat
matches the car’s colour precisely.BOATBRIEF
Many boat owners find anti-fouling a necessary evil – a tiresome, messy
chore you have to tackle every few years. AkzoNobel has developed an
intriguing alternative – using ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV-LED).
The pioneering solution – which incorporates technology
developed by Royal Philips – is applied to underwater surfaces to
eliminate fouling growth.
A combination of AkzoNobel’s adhesion know-how and Royal
Philips’ electronics expertise, the innovation integrates UV-LEDs into a
protective coating scheme. This sees UV light being emitted from the
coating’s surface, preventing biofouling accumulation.
Fully biocide-free, the technology ofers substantial economic and
environmental benefits. While the initial focus will be on applications
for ships, yachts and ofshore assets, the project could include other
surfaces challenged by bio-fouling issues.UV-LED ANTI-FOULINGMIXIT™ can be downloaded from the
AkzoNobel website – http://www.azkonobel.comTo fnd that colour – or more specifcally – which colours
need to be mixed, and in what ratios – AkzoNobel agents
all over the world are equipped with a handheld photo-
spectrometer. Held against the Maserati’s sleek bonnet, it
‘reads’ the colour and reveals its magical composition.
As a digital technology, MIXIT™ is also a fast solution, one
that decreases the response time to customers’ requirements. BNZ