This European Standard describes a marine test method which provides a basis for asseasing the effectiveness of a wood preservative used to prevent attack of timber in sea-water by marine borers. The method is only suitable for testing preservatives which are intended to prevent attack by marine wood boring organisms of treated timber for use in more or less permanent contact with sea-water. It is not suitable for assessing the effectiveness of preservatives against micro-organisms. The main objective of the method described is to evaluate the relative effectiveness of a wood preservative applied by vacuum/pressure impregnation. For this reason permeable timbers are used throughout so that the protective efficacy of various retentions of the preservative can be determined. However, it is recognized that modifications of the method may be used for other purposes, e.g. to determine the relative efficacy of a preservative treatment or to determine the natural durability of the heartwood and sapwood of a selected timber species. The method is primarily intended for testing in temperate waters where Teredine and Limnoria borers dominate. However, it is also capable of being used in tropics where attack by Pholads and specific Crustacean borers may be very destructive. It has to be considered that the test has to be run for a minimum period (usually for 5 years or until the point of failure) before any interpretation of the results can be made. Variations in the test conditions can be expected from one test site to another depending on temperature, salinity, population density of the various borer species etc. This will inevitably influence the general rate of attack. However, by comparing the results obtained for samples treated with the test product with those obtained with a reference preservative and those obtained with untreated control samples, the relative protective effectiveness of the product tested can be evaluated.

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