If you can't measure it,
you can't trust it in action.
SepcoTech represents Coltraco Ultrasonics — the British manufacturer whose portable ultrasonic instruments let a crew prove, not assume, the passive systems a warship's survival rests on: that compartments are watertight, that fixed fire-suppression cylinders are full, and that fluid systems are flowing. Non-invasive, single-operator, audit-ready — readiness you can put a number to.
A ship is only as ready as the things you can't see.
A watertight door that no longer seals. A CO2 or NOVEC cylinder that has quietly leaked below its charge. A cooling loop you can't confirm is flowing. None of it shows on a walk-round — and each reveals itself at the worst possible moment: during flooding, a machinery-space fire, or a loss of power under way. Coltraco's ultrasonic instruments turn those invisible risks into a number on a screen. A single operator confirms a compartment is sealed, a suppression bottle is full, or a pipe is flowing — in seconds, without flooding tests, without weighing cylinders, without cutting a pipe, and without taking the system offline. Measured, logged, repeatable readiness.
Built for anyone who takes a hull to sea and has to bring the crew home
The physics doesn't care what flag flies. A frigate, an offshore patrol vessel, a coast-guard cutter, a border or customs launch, a fleet auxiliary — every one of them lives or dies on watertight boundaries that hold, suppression systems that discharge, and fluid systems that keep running. Coltraco's instruments serve all of them: navies, coast guards, border and maritime-security forces, harbour and port-security units, and the defence yards that build and refit their hulls.
- Surface combatants, submarines, amphibious and fleet-support ships
- Offshore patrol vessels, coast-guard cutters and interceptor craft
- Border, customs and maritime-security patrol boats
- Naval shipyards, dockyards and refit / sustainment programmes
Warships & Auxiliaries
Frigates, destroyers, amphibious and support ships — where survivability, magazine and machinery-space fire readiness and structural integrity are non-negotiable.
OPVs & Coast-Guard Cutters
Long endurance, small crews, far from a dockyard — exactly where a single-operator check that needs no yard support earns its place.
Border & Security Craft
Interceptors, customs and port-security launches that must stay available on short notice — integrity and fire readiness verified between taskings, not in refit.
Shipyards & Sustainment
Prime contractors and dockyards use ultrasonic integrity testing to prove watertight closures and cable transits at build, acceptance and through-life survey.
Watertight & Structural Integrity
Watertight integrity decides whether damage stays contained or sinks a ship. Prove that doors, hatches and cable transits truly seal — and that the steel around them is still sound — without a flooding test or a dry-dock.
Prove every compartment seals — in minutes, not a dry-dock
A 40 kHz ultrasonic transmitter sits inside the closed compartment; the operator scans the seal from outside with a receiver wand. Any gap lets sound through, and the instrument reports it in decibels and as an Open Hatch Value (%OHV) — pinpointing and sizing a leak path down to a 0.06 mm ±0.02 mm aperture. No water, no chalk, no flooding the space to find out.
It supports the regimes navies and class societies already work to — IMO SOLAS Reg II-1/21.3 for watertight doors, and IACS UR Z17 / DNVGL-CP-0484 for hatch-cover weathertightness — with the PRO built to feed the IACS UR Z28 Cable Transit Seal System Register. It carries ABS Type Approval with RINA acceptance and is NATO-stock-listed. One sailor, a repeatable number, an audit-ready result.
Portascanner® WATERTIGHT PLUS
The single-operator handheld — the fast, repeatable integrity check for everyday damage-control rounds. Same 0.06 mm sensitivity as the PRO, in a 400 g unit.
- 0.06 mm aperture
- dB & %OHV
- 400 g · ~10 h
- NSN listed
Portascanner® WATERTIGHT PRO
A 7" touchscreen system that detects and maps multiple leaks, computes flow rates, photographs each site with an 8 MP camera and exports the survey — the onboard record platform for IACS Z28.
- Multi-leak mapping
- ±10% flow
- IP65/IP68
- P/N 509004-PRO
Portagauge® 6
Multi-echo ultrasonic thickness gauge — reads true metal thickness through coatings up to 20 mm, so surveyors track hull and structural corrosion without blasting back to bare steel.
- Through paint ≤20 mm
- 1.5–100 mm
- ±0.1 mm
- 2.5 & 5.0 MHz
Fixed Fire-Fighting Readiness
A gaseous suppression system is only as good as the agent left in its cylinders — and a slow leak is silent. Confirm level, weight or pressure ultrasonically, through the cylinder wall, with the system still armed.
Know the suppression bottle is full — without weighing it
Fixed fire-fighting cylinders sit charged for years, and nobody notices a slow loss of agent until the system is called on and falls short. A walk-round can't see it; a pressure gauge alone can mislead on liquefied agents. Weighing means detaching pressurised bottles — a procedure linked to accidental discharge, and gaseous agents can asphyxiate. Unintended suppressant releases caused around 72 deaths and 145 injuries, mainly in the maritime industry, between 1975 and 2000.
IMO MSC.1/Circ.1318/Rev.1 asks crews to confirm cylinders hold at least 90% of their nominal charge at least every two years — and the SOLAS FSS Code requires that check without moving the cylinder from its fixing position. Coltraco's ultrasonic instruments do exactly that, in under 30 seconds a cylinder.
Portalevel® ADVANCED
Portable ultrasonic liquid-level indicator for fixed fire cylinders. Sensor on the outside of the wall finds the gas-to-liquid line on an oscilloscope-style viewer — to ±1% of true level.
- ±1% level
- CO₂·FM-200·NOVEC
- 300 g · ~24 h
- NSN 6680-99-275-5292
Portalevel® MAX MARINE PLUS
The rugged marine flagship — ABS Type Approval, RINA and UL Listed. Reads banked cylinders up to four deep and through a siphon tube, in under 30 seconds.
- ABS·RINA·UL
- <30 s
- 4 rows deep
- NSN 680-99-192-2735
Portasteele® CALCULATOR
Converts a Portalevel® reading into agent weight in kilograms — the figure the regulations ask for — temperature- and density-corrected, with no weighing.
- Level → weight
- ±1% agent wt
- 7" tablet · IP67
Portagas®
For non-liquefied inert-gas systems, Portagas® confirms readiness by pressure instead of level — acoustically, temperature-corrected, without breaking into the system.
- Pressure, non-invasive
- Inergen·N₂·Argon
- NFPA 2001 · ISO 14520
The difference between assumed safe and proven safe.
Watertight doors and suppression cylinders are passive systems — nobody notices they have failed until they are needed. Coltraco's instruments let a crew verify them on a routine, with a number and a record, so the ship goes to sea on evidence, not assumption.
Flow & Fluid Monitoring
Fuel, coolant, seawater, HVAC and heat networks all have to keep moving — and you rarely get to take them offline to find out whether they are. Clamp-on ultrasonic meters read straight through the pipe or tank wall, with nothing drained, drilled or shut down.
Measure what's moving — without ever cutting the line
A clamp-on ultrasonic meter fires sound through the pipe wall and times how the flowing liquid speeds it up one way and slows it down the other — the difference is the flow rate. Because the sensors sit on the outside, there is nothing to install in-line: no cutting, no welding, no draining, no pressure drop and no shutdown. The same physics reads a tank's level straight through its wall.
For a warship's fluid systems — fuel transfer, chilled-water and HVAC loops, seawater cooling, bunkering and tank contents — it means a crew can verify what is moving, and how much is in a tank, without ever breaking into the system. Accuracy holds to ±0.5% across DN15–DN2500.
Permaflow®
Permanently installed clamp-on transit-time flow & heat meter — a continuous, non-invasive reading on chilled-water, HVAC and heat-network loops, with PT100 heat metering and Modbus / 4–20 mA outputs.
- Fixed clamp-on
- ±0.5%
- DN15–DN2500
- Flow & heat
Portasonic® PRO / PLUS
Portable clamp-on flow meters for rounds and surveys. PLUS adds a pipe-wall-thickness gauge; the PRO tablet also calculates internal pipe pressure non-invasively to ±5%.
- Portable clamp-on
- ±0.5% flow
- PRO: pressure ±5%
- Pipe-wall gauge
Portatank®
Handheld ultrasonic tank liquid-level indicator — non-invasive spot checks on fuel, water, coolant and bulk fire-agent tanks, straight through a single-skin metal, plastic or glass wall.
- Spot-check
- Through-wall
- Fuel·water·coolant
The check that doesn't take the ship offline
Coltraco's instruments read through steel and through coatings — so the inspection adds no risk, no downtime and no paperwork gap.
Non-Invasive
Sensors sit on the outside of a seal, cylinder, tank, hull plate or pipe. Nothing is opened, drained, weighed, cut or discharged — the system stays armed and in service throughout.
Single Operator
One sailor with a handheld unit does the job that once needed flooding tests, cylinder removal, pipe-cutting or a dockyard. Faster rounds mean checks actually get done on schedule.
Decisive Reading
A clear number — decibels, liquid level, agent weight, pressure, flow or thickness — replaces guesswork. You know whether the door seals or the bottle is full, not whether it probably does.
Audit-Ready
Readings log to the device and export for the record — the evidence a class surveyor, safety case or readiness inspection needs, traceable to date, compartment and cylinder.
This is not marketing physics. Coltraco's quantification work was independently verified by the UK's National Physical Laboratory (Measurement for Recovery scheme) and supported by a UKRI Innovate UK grant rated "outstanding"; its R&D is co-located with the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation at Durham University, and its research arm undertakes work for the Royal Navy.
Ten instruments, three disciplines, one supplier
Every Coltraco instrument SepcoTech supplies for defence — grouped by the job it does aboard ship.
Portascanner® WATERTIGHT PLUS / PRO
Watertight & weathertight integrity testing — 0.06 mm sensitivity, handheld or multi-leak touchscreen.
Portagauge® 6
Hull & structural thickness through coatings — corrosion survey without stripping paint.
Portalevel® ADVANCED / MAX
Fire-cylinder liquid-level indication; MAX is the ABS/RINA/UL marine flagship.
Portasteele® CALCULATOR
Converts liquid level to certified agent weight in kilograms — no weighing.
Portagas®
Non-invasive pressure monitoring of inert-gas suppression systems — NFPA 2001 / ISO 14520.
Permaflow®
Fixed clamp-on transit-time flow & heat meter — continuous, non-invasive.
Portasonic® PRO / PLUS
Portable clamp-on flow meters; PRO adds non-invasive pipe-pressure calculation.
Portatank®
Handheld ultrasonic tank-level spot checks — fuel, water, coolant, bulk agent.
The instruments, demonstrated
Footage published by Coltraco Ultrasonics — watertight integrity testing, fire-cylinder level checking and inert-gas monitoring.
Trusted where readiness is non-negotiable
Coltraco describes more than three decades of collaboration with allied navies, coast guards and fleet auxiliaries — and reports its instruments aboard roughly 17% of the world's fleet.
Coltraco also names, among its customers across defence and national infrastructure, NASA, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, National Grid and the UK Atomic Energy Authority.
Naval and coast-guard relationships as described by Coltraco Ultrasonics. SepcoTech is an Authorised Distributor and represents the manufacturer; we make no claim of endorsement on their behalf.
A track record navies already rely on
Verified milestones from Coltraco's naval programme — supplied and supported in Denmark by SepcoTech.
~200 units to the Indian Navy
Coltraco supplied nearly 200 Portascanner® WATERTIGHT units to the Indian Navy — the first full fleet protected for watertight integrity, and the first Indian Navy & Coastguard fleet supply won by a UK company.
10+ years with the Royal Navy
Portascanner® WATERTIGHT has equipped the RN fleet for over a decade — supplied via prime contractors including BAE, Babcock and CSD Sealing Systems — and is reported in service aboard vessels including HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark.
Independently validated science
Quantification verified by the UK's National Physical Laboratory and backed by a UKRI Innovate UK grant rated "outstanding"; R&D co-located with the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, Durham University.
Programme milestones, customer names and figures as published by Coltraco Ultrasonics. SepcoTech is an Authorised Distributor and makes no claim of endorsement on behalf of any navy, coast guard or prime contractor.
Coltraco for defence — common questions
Is Coltraco equipment in service with navies and coast guards?
Yes. Coltraco describes over 10 years working with the Royal Navy and has supplied nearly 200 Portascanner® WATERTIGHT units to the Indian Navy — the first full fleet protected for watertight integrity, and the first Indian Navy & Coastguard fleet supply won by a UK company. Navies and forces it names as customers span the Royal Navy, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, US Navy, US Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Defense, and the Canadian, Indian, Spanish, Royal Malaysian, Irish and Israeli navies. It also reports its watertight equipment in service aboard Royal Navy vessels including HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark.
Are the instruments NATO-stock listed?
Yes — for example Portascanner® WATERTIGHT PRO (NSN 6625-99-257-8336), Portalevel® ADVANCED (NSN 6680-99-275-5292) and Portalevel® MAX Marine Plus (NSN 680-99-192-2735), under CAGE code KD983.
Can crews use it at sea without taking systems offline?
Yes. Every instrument is non-invasive and single-operator — readings are taken from the outside of a seal, cylinder, hull plate or pipe, with nothing opened, drained, cut or discharged, so the system stays armed and in service.
Why ultrasonic instead of hose tests or weighing cylinders?
Hose and chalk tests are slow, need multiple crew, soak the compartment and leave no recordable number. Weighing suppression cylinders means detaching pressurised bottles — a procedure linked to accidental discharge, and gaseous agents can asphyxiate; unintended releases caused around 72 deaths and 145 injuries, mainly in the maritime industry, between 1975 and 2000. Ultrasonic testing is faster, non-invasive, recordable and clean.
What is the difference between level, weight and pressure?
Portalevel® indicates the liquid level of a liquefied agent (CO2, FM-200, NOVEC 1230, Halon, FE-13/FE-25); Portasteele® converts that level into agent weight in kilograms to within 1%; Portagas® measures the pressure of non-liquefied inert-gas systems (Inergen, nitrogen, argon). Three measurements, kept deliberately distinct.
Is the technology independently validated?
Coltraco's R&D is co-located with the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation at Durham University; its ultrasonic quantification work was independently verified by the UK's National Physical Laboratory (Measurement for Recovery scheme) and supported by a UKRI Innovate UK grant rated outstanding.
How do we procure through SepcoTech?
SepcoTech is Coltraco's authorised distributor. Contact the SepcoTech defence team for configuration advice, approvals notes and a formal quotation.
Part of a bigger mission
SepcoTech scopes and delivers this as one piece of a cross-supplier capability. See the missions it supports:
A safe pair of hands for defence at sea
Authorised Distributor
We represent Coltraco Ultrasonics directly — specification, supply and through-life support coordinated from Denmark.
Naval & Security Focus
A portfolio assembled for navies, coast guards and defence yards — survivability, fire readiness and integrity assurance.
One Point of Contact
Multi-supplier defence systems, integrated and quoted as a single package by one partner.
Backed Through Life
Calibration, training, spares and support for the full operational life of the instruments.
Coltraco instruments are also dual-use across commercial shipping and industry — a SepcoTech Tools line-up is planned. Ask us about civil applications →
Speak directly with our defence specialist
Every enquiry is handled directly and in confidence — you will normally have a reply within one business day.
For spec sheets, capability documents, pricing or to arrange a briefing or demonstration — on this system or any platform in the SepcoTech defence portfolio — contact me directly:
- Spec sheets & technical datasheets on request
- Briefings & demonstrations for units & agencies
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