A revolutionary new surface coating removal service looks set to make things plain sailing for boat owners in Bermuda.

Bermuda Marine Services are using the Farrow System, which is the first and only one of its kind on the Island, and can remove everything from paint from boats and rust on metal to road markings and even graffiti.

And it has the advantage of being diverse in its application, mobile, low on mess, safe to use, environmentally friendly with no chemicals used and no toxic fumes released, and meeting EU safety standards.

The system is a state of the art compact unit on wheels which sprays out a natural element combination of heat integrated with water and volcanic media to blast away any unwanted matter from surfaces.

It can be used indoors or outdoors and adjustments in pressure and media mix allow it to tackle the largest of heavy industrial jobs right through to the most delicate fine antique. In fact, everything from sandstone, limestone, brick, masonry, concrete and granite to marble, ceramics, terracotta, aluminium, brass, stainless steel, glass fibre, plastic, wood and even paper can be cleaned using the system.

William Thompson, who runs Bermuda Marine Services with business partner Tim Patton, first came up with the idea when he was flicking through a yachting magazine a couple of years ago.

"I was looking into it then because I thought it was pretty cool and then recently I became a partner in Bermuda Marine Services," he said.

"As a result it seemed like a good time to get these pieces of equipment and we are just getting up and running with the service now.

"We have done a couple of small jobs already and we have a couple of other things lined up, so it is starting to get moving."

He has been using his two machines to strip the paint off the bottom of boats right back to the gelcoat and then applying a barrier coat on top to lengthen the life of the boat.

But it also has a lot of practical applications and is already being used in the UK to remove graffiti spray and clean the streets as well as stripping rust and paint from, and adding finish to, metal.

Mr. Thompson said the real beauty of the machines is their diversity of application.

"For example, you can turn it right down and take the paint of a Coke can without damaging the contents or, at the other extreme, if you have very rusty iron beams you can strip them right down to bare metal and they have four different grades for coarseness or smoothness," he said.

Another benefit of the system is that only a damp residue is left after use because the water is absorbed by the cleaning media, with the largest machines only using under a litre of water per minute and less than 25 kilogrammes of media in 30 minutes, comparing favourably to other high pressure water blasting machines which can use up to 10 or 12 litres of water per minute and high pressure sand blasting machines which can use up to 650kg in half-an-hour.

Bermuda Marine Services, which is in the marine contracting industry, working mainly on moorings and deck work, is planning to offer the service as an offshoot of their main business.

"The business has been in existence for about 24 years and we are just trying to develop some new areas," said Mr.Thompson.

"Although we have only used the system in the boating industry so far, I actually think it has a greater application to re-finish metal surfaces.

"We have two machines - one big one for removing paint and rust from large surfaces and a smaller one for stripping chairs and varnish work because it is much more manageable and suitable, so with these two we hope to cover all our bases."

And he reckons there will be a big calling for this new service in Bermuda.

"My hope is that big businesses will want to own these machines or lease them from us and if companies have big jobs I think there will be potential to do short term leases," he said.

"It is easy to use and within a morning you can be competent in using it."

For further information or to book the service emailsales@bermudamarine.bm