Boat inspections for termites

Regardless of whether it’s a speedboat, a fishing boat or a cruise ship –  if it has timber it can have termites.

In the past, boats and ships were inspected for termites by tapping on timber to listen for a hollow sound, or by close visual examination looking for termite damage. Sniffer dogs were also used but, unfortunately, they did a lot of damage by scratching polished surfaces, flooring and furniture.

That was then and this is now!

Termites are less than 3 mm long and they hide inside timber, so you need a high-end thermal imaging camera to accurately detect the thermal anomalies (or heat patterns) they create. TermiCam inspectors use non-destructive, state-of-the-art thermal imaging cameras to detect anomalies invisible to the naked eye. These anomalies indicate the presence — or  not ­— of termites on your vessel.

Over the past 25 years, we’ve conducted countless infrared imaging inspections across Australia and Asia looking for nautical termites, with technology that’s so sophisticated our people need a special camera licence just to use it!

As you can see in the images, the darker colour markings on timber can be mistaken for normal weathering, but the thermal images on the right picked up dots representing heat. These turned out to be well-fed termites.