Picture the scenario: Charter guests celebrating their last night aboard have spilled red wine on the cream-colored carpet in the saloon. There’s only a short window of opportunity to get an expert cleaning crew in the next day, because new guests arrive that afternoon. Plus many chemical treatments leave the carpet so wet that it might still be soaked when the new guests board.
What do you do (besides banning red wine from the interior and hoping the sun shining in through the windows can dry it faster)? Never fear, AAA Rotostatic is here. The French Riviera dealership, run by John Tomlinson, an American citizen in the South of France, uses an electrostatic system to extract dirt from carpets. It’s based on the same technology used by the Canadian company Roto-Static, founded by an uncle of Tomlinson’s about 30 years ago. In fact, because of the success Roto-Static has enjoyed as well as the relationships Tomlinson and his family cultivated in the marine industry–his grandparents, father, and uncles were all yacht owners–AAA Rotostatic is growing its business in the megayacht sector.
But what exactly does this electrostatic technology involve? First, the AAA Rotostatic staff uses a commercial vacuum to capture loose dirt. Then they spray a detergent to deodorize the carpet fibers and break dirt into smaller clusters; this detergent also has a positive charge. Next, negatively charged hot water is applied to the carpet, and the team pushes a soft-headed, rotating machine across the carpet’s surface. The machine creates an electromagnetic field, which attracts the now-positively charged dirt particles to the soft surface. The final step: grooming the carpet to fluff its appearance and additionally speed up drying time. Tomlinson says the carpet is ready to be walked on within an hour or two, which he also says is much quicker than other traditional cleaning processes.
Another advantage AAA Rotostatic claims over its competitors: the ability to service yachts at anchor. While other companies employ truck-mounted machinery, Tomlinson says his team is the only one to his knowledge to use portable equipment. This means the yacht’s crew can pick up his team at the dock in the tender–no need to pull the yacht dockside. And yet one more advantage: prices said to be 20 to 30 percent less than the competition’s. That should put smiles (like the ones of the happy clients pictured here) on the faces of crew and owners alike.
AAA Rotostatic services megayachts in the Great Lakes, the Halifax and Vancouver ends of Canada, and Antibes, France. If the technology is good enough for the White House (yes, the White House) and yachts like Rosehearty, Mutiple, and Duke Town, it should be good for you, too. For further details, dial (33) 06 17 17 70 12.
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