UK-based The Pontoon and Dock Company, in collaboration with local shipbuilder ExoTechnologies, have begun manufacturing a new type of 100 per cent recyclable pontoon float that utilises ExoTechnologies' patented DANU composite material.
The partners expect to launch the first examples of the floats in 2025 by installing them across four floating home developments in Yorkshire, Scotland, Hampshire, and Norfolk. The floats will also be made available to pontoon manufacturers and suppliers across the UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Italy.
Unlike conventional materials, DANU is lightweight, durable, and endlessly recyclable. It is used on a new Police Scotland patrol vessel manufactured by Ultimate Boats, ExoTechnologies' boatbuilding division based in Glasgow.
DANU was designed to serve as a cost-equal yet more durable potential replacement for FRP and carbon fibre. The material was developed to help address the problem of FRP disposal, which ExoTechnologies said results in considerable quantities of the material being dumped in landfills throughout Europe each year.