Waterwrap: A 50-Year Journey That Started with an Opportunity

 

It was October of 1975 when a team of Raychem pipeliners headed south to Grand Gulf, Mississippi with a simple goal: solve a real problem in the field.

At the time, the large-diameter pipe market was struggling with a familiar challenge—how to reliably coat field joints in a way that was consistent, repeatable, and practical for crews working under tough conditions. And in those days, when Raychem identified a need, the company didn’t hesitate. They saw opportunity.

In the mid-1970s, Raychem was best known for manufacturing tubular heat-shrink sleeves for oil and gas pipelines. One of the flagship products was the TSS (Tubular Shrink Sleeve). It worked well—but only when pipe sizes and logistics allowed for a sleeve that could slide over the pipe.

Large-diameter pipe created a new challenge. You couldn’t easily slip a tubular sleeve over it in the field. So Raychem’s engineers did what they did best: they invented something new.

The result was a wrap-around heat-shrink sleeve prototype designed specifically for large pipe. And what did they call it?

LTSS — Large Tubular Shrink Sleeve
(…even though it wasn’t actually supplied as a tube).

Raychem was exceptional at innovation and rapid R&D. Naming products? Maybe not their strongest suit—but the technology was what mattered.

Armed with LTSS sleeves and a team of field technicians, Raychem went to work evaluating the new design under real-world conditions. What’s fascinating—at least to those of us who live and breathe pipeline coatings—is that this LTSS prototype was the first generation of what we now know as Waterwrap.

Over the decades, that original concept evolved dramatically:

• Improved formulations

• New backing materials

• Multiple thickness options

• Enhanced performance for demanding environments

Each improvement built on the last, refining the product into something truly special.

Waterwrap Today

Fast-forward nearly 50 years, and Waterwrap stands as the premier field joint coating for water pipelines. It’s trusted around the world for its reliability, ease of installation, and long-term performance.

Even more impressive? Waterwrap has proven itself capable in weld-after-backfill applications—one of the most demanding scenarios a field joint coating can face.

Every proven product has a beginning. For Waterwrap, that beginning was a forward-thinking team in 1975, a job site in Mississippi, and a willingness to rethink how field joints could be protected.

So here’s to 1975 Raychem—seeing a problem, seizing an opportunity, and laying the groundwork for a product that’s still protecting pipelines half a century later.

Well done.