Don’t Leave Your Bundled Bore Bumper System to Chance

 

Bundled directional drills are complex. They’re expensive. And they carry long-term consequences if something goes wrong.  So here’s a simple Public Service Announcement:

If your company does not have a thoughtfully written specification for bumpers on bundled bores, you are taking a serious risk with your pipeline.

When multiple 20" and 30" pipelines are bundled together and dragged thousands of feet through a bore, pipe-on-pipe contact isn’t a possibility — it’s a certainty. The real question is whether you’ve engineered protection into the project or left it up to chance.

Our BBS (Bundled Bumper System) was designed specifically to address these risks. It isn’t improvised. It isn’t pieced together on-site. It’s engineered for the application.

Here’s what that means:

• Two-part epoxy bonding agent applied directly to the factory-applied coating — with no abrasion required

• Bumper material backed by decades of bore experience

• Leader strip protection on the front end of the bundle

• A proven durometer rating engineered to handle the load

Most importantly:

The system is guaranteed to stay in place
The system is guaranteed to maintain the spacing you specify

Spacing isn’t cosmetic. It’s protection. Lose spacing, and you lose coating integrity. Lose coating integrity, and corrosion becomes part of your future maintenance plan.

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What Happens Without a Specification?

Let’s talk about what I’ve actually seen, including as recently as this morning.

If you don’t clearly write a bumper specification into the project, the decision doesn’t disappear. It simply shifts downstream.

And when cost pressure takes over, here’s what that “system” often becomes:

• A 1-inch rope

• Wrapped with a couple laps of cold-applied tape

• The kind with mesh backing and soft mastic

On a multi-million-dollar pipeline project.

Heavy 20" and 30" coated steel being dragged through the ground — relying on about $0.50 worth of rope and $2 worth of tape.

I’m confident even the tape manufacturer would tell you:
That is not a bundled bore solution.

Improvised bumper systems don’t usually fail immediately in a dramatic way.

They fail gradually.

• Tape shifts and/or rolls

• Rope slides or is pulled off

• Spacing disappears

• Coatings abrade

• Problems begin

And now you’re living with coating damage that will follow the asset for decades.

That’s not a small oversight. That’s a lifecycle decision.

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Write the Specification. Control the Outcome.

Bundled bores are the place to clearly define:

• Bumper material

• Durometer requirements

• Bonding method

• Spacing requirements

Because when you leave it unspecified, you’re not saving money.

You’re gambling with a buried asset that you can’t easily inspect or repair.

And that’s not going to help anyone sleep at night.

Stopaq Splash Zone Success: An Italian Case Study in Long-Term Pile Rehabilitation

Today we’re looking at a fascinating long-term case study from Italy involving the rehabilitation and recoating of marine piles. (I’ve only had the chance to visit Italy once—but it is one of my favorite places!)

This project began in 2012 and continued for years, ultimately rehabilitating hundreds upon hundreds of pilings. What makes this story especially compelling is not just the scale—but the environment.

Anyone who works around marine infrastructure knows the splash zone is one of the most punishing environments a coating system can face.

Constant wet-dry cycling.

Salt exposure.

UV radiation.

Mechanical impact.

Cathodic protection influence.

In this case, the client was experiencing coating failures within just six weeks of application. The primary culprits were:

• Impressed current interference

• Salt entrapment

• Coating cracking

That kind of rapid failure doesn’t just create maintenance headaches—it drives up lifecycle costs and undermines confidence in the entire protection system.

Before any new coating system was installed, the piles were prepared using high-pressure waterjetting.

This step is critical in marine rehabilitation. Proper surface prep removes salts and contaminants without embedding additional debris into the steel surface—an essential factor when previous failures were partially attributed to salt entrapment.

The rehabilitation utilized products from Stopaq, specifically:

• Wrappingband WSH

• Outerwrap

• Wrappingband CZH

• Outerglass Shield XT

One particularly noteworthy detail: Wrappingband WSH can be applied underwater. That capability dramatically increases installation flexibility and reduces downtime in tidal or continuously wet environments.

Because the project extended over many years, the client had the opportunity to inspect performance across multiple seasons and service cycles.

What stood out?

Flexibility.

In the splash zone, rigid coatings often fail because they cannot tolerate movement, thermal cycling, or mechanical stress. A system that maintains flexibility while continuing to seal against moisture ingress has a significant advantage.

Over time—and across hundreds of rehabilitated pilings—the system demonstrated durability in an environment where previous coatings had failed in weeks.

That kind of field validation speaks louder than any datasheet.

This wasn’t a short-term test patch. It was an ongoing rehabilitation program. The ability to observe performance over years provided meaningful confidence in the system’s durability.

Marine pile rehabilitation is expensive, disruptive, and complex. When a solution proves itself in the splash zone, that’s worth sharing.

If anyone from Stopaq Italy would like to add technical insights or additional field details, please feel free—real-world case studies like this are invaluable to the industry.

 

A Trip Back to 1975: Raychem LTPS in Corpus Christi, Texas

This week, we’re heading back in time—December 1975, to be exact—to beautiful Corpus Christi, Texas. The project? A pipeline installation featuring one of Raychem’s now-retired products: LTPS.

Based on old Raychem nomenclature (which, let’s be honest, was usually more practical than poetic), LTPS likely stood for “Large Tubular Pipe Sleeve.” I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—Raychem was incredibly creative when it came to products, backings, and sealants. When it came to naming them? Not so much!

This particular job involved 18-inch and 20-inch pipe, which meant these LTPS sleeves had to be installed before the pipe joints were welded. The process would have looked something like this:

1. Sleeve Placement (Pre-Weld)
   The shrink sleeve was slipped onto the pipe before welding took place.

2. Weld Completion
   Once the joint was welded, the crew prepared the weld area.

3. Surface Prep & Preheat
   The weld zone was cleaned thoroughly and preheated to at least 140°F—critical for proper adhesion and shrink performance.

4. Positioning the Sleeve
   The LTPS sleeve was then slid into place over the weld area.

5. Release Liner Removal
   The liner was removed to expose the adhesive.

6. Shrink It!
   Using a propane torch, the installer shrank the sleeve tightly over the joint, creating a protective, sealed coating.

LTPS has been a dead product for as long as I’ve been around. However, its smaller sibling—TPS—is still very much alive and well. Today, TPS sleeves are regularly sold for 2", 2.5", 3.5", 4.5", 6" and 8".

While product lines evolve, it’s always fascinating to see the roots of today’s solutions in these legacy installations.

What really makes this project memorable are the photos. In one shot, the installer is casually smoking a cigarette through the entire application process—while operating a propane torch.

Different times, indeed.

It’s wild to think that 1975 was 51 years ago. The industry has changed. Safety standards have changed. Product technology has changed. But there’s something timeless about looking back at these projects and appreciating the craftsmanship and ingenuity that laid the groundwork for where we are today.

Here’s to the legacy of LTPS—and to the crews who made it work in Corpus Christi, December 1975.