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.