December Company Spotlight - DeepWater Buoyancy

DeepWater Buoyancy Inc. is the world's largest producer of subsea buoyancy products for the oceanographic industry and has a vast product line of buoyancy solutions for offshore oil & gas, energy and technology companies. This product portfolio has been built over the course of 35 years serving these industries. Though they offer products for shallow water applications, the company specializes in deepwater, providing solutions to depths of 6000 meters and beyond.

DeepWater Buoyancy's headquarters and manufacturing operations are located in New England, the birthplace of syntactic foam. New England is also where David Cook formed Flotation Technologies (Flotec). Incorporated in 1979, Flotec grew into a recognized world leader in the manufacture of deepwater buoyancy products that included ADCP Buoys, distributed buoyancy modules and drilling riser buoyancy. Flotec was purchased in 2008 by a subsea equipment manufacturer.

In 2013, DeepWater Buoyancy acquired the rights and designs for the legacy Flotec material technology and products when its parent company was in the process of closing the New England facility. Since then, DeepWater Buoyancy has been producing, improving and growing the Flotec product line, which has been the industry standard for decades. DeepWater Buoyancy also stocks parts for these legacy products and provides design and application assistance.

StableMoor^® Mooring Buoy being recovered by the University of Washington while conducting a research study on turbulence for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Photo credit: Joe Talbert, University of Washington.

The founder of DeepWater Buoyancy is former Flotec President, David Capotosto. Shortly after opening the doors of DeepWater Buoyancy, Mr. Capotosto was joined by three other former members of Flotec's senior management team. This team of four now owns and manages DeepWater Buoyancy. The vision in creating DeepWater Buoyancy was to continue the Flotec commitment to designing and manufacturing the very best buoyancy solutions, and to provide the highest level of support for customers using the products. To that end, one of the first initiatives taken was to reestablish the international network of representatives and distributors operating in the oceanographic market. This network provides in-country sales, service, support, and application assistance in over 35 countries.

Members of the Tasman Tidal Dissipation Experiment Team recover a DeepWater Buoyancy ADCP buoy aboard the R/V Revelle on an exceptionally windy day in the East Tasman Sea. Photo credit: Sonya Legg, Princeton University.

At the heart of the DeepWater Buoyancy product line are the subsurface ADCP buoys. These buoys, originally developed for Teledyne RD Instruments' ADCPs, are considered the gold standard within the industry. Consisting primarily of both spherical and elliptical buoys, the product line also includes the unique StableMoor^® Mooring Buoys. These torpedo-shaped buoys are engineered to house ADCPs and other sensors for high current data collection applications. By design, the StableMoor^® reduces drag and increases mooring stability in extreme flow regimes, thereby producing superior data sets.

However, DeepWater Buoyancy's product line goes well beyond ADCP buoys. In the oceanographic market there are bottom mounts, instrument collars, and cable floats. For offshore oil & gas, there are installation blocks, modular buoys, deepwater marker floats and ROV buoyancy. In addition to DeepTec® syntactic foam products and custom-engineered components, there are also polyurethane and fabricated metal products for use subsea.

If a client can't find their ideal solution in the product line, DeepWater Buoyancy will design and produce a custom product. The company's design philosophy is, “A customer should have a product that meets the application, and not be forced to adjust their application to an off-the-shelf product.” Whether that is modifying an existing design or starting with a blank sheet of paper, the goal is to produce the finest, most cost-effective solution for any given application.

With a deep understanding of customers' subsea operations, a long history of providing solutions to complex buoyancy applications, and a state of the art manufacturing facility, DeepWater Buoyancy is well-positioned to meet the challenges of this rapidly-evolving technology.