Spiroll’s Northern Ireland premises to supply chafe guards to Europe

Spiroll LLC has completed the setup of its first European design office and warehouse to provide the full Spiroll range of chafe guards and rope protectors directly to UK and European customers.

The original Spiroll protectors have been manufactured in New England, USA for over 20 years, but this is the first physical location outside the US.

Based in Northern Ireland and supported locally by Nixon Marine Global Ltd (which bought the brand in 2024 including trademarks and equipment), the benefits of a unique customs and market accessibility status will be utilised to allow quick and easy supply of product for all existing and new customers.

The US facility in Windham, Maine remains as Spiroll HQ where it continues to manufacture products for marine, outdoors, and search/rescue markets across the US.

“While we will still retain design activity in US for US customers, the bulk of the marine design activity will be carried out in Europe, for European customers,” says Keith Nixon, president, Spiroll – Europe.

The additional design resource will allow for future product development and expansion of the range.

This has been in the plan since September 2024. “Due to the interest in Spiroll across several European countries, we were keen to be closer to the customer base and to develop closer ties with our distributors.”

Nixon says the premises in Northern Ireland (pictured) spans around 4000 sq feet, shared between design office, assembly and warehouse. “Our main building is a beautiful old stone schoolhouse. We have two designers working on range expansion and new applications, with warehouse and manufacturing activities split between another two people.”

Nixon Marine Global Ltd has been distributing products in the UK for several years, will provide on the ground support for warehousing and logistics for UK retail customers.

Spiroll believes its chafe guards (detailed online) are well known across USA, Europe and Australasia, for providing quick and simple protection for most surfaces from rubbing lines. The guards are designed to protect dock lines, mooring lines, rigging lines and other elements subjected to chafe. By giving polyurethane a natural curl, the company says Spiroll guards naturally wrap around a line several times to offer redundancy, durability, and ease of use.

“Our protectors allow a greater level of flexibility for mooring, where either damage to the boat gelcoat and deck or damage to the mooring line could occur over time. Our material choice ensures that Spiroll protectors are not affected by sunlight and will not stain,” Nixon says.

“We are delighted to be taking the next step for the Spiroll brand. We believe that the local presence will allow greater brand recognition and development of the product offering with increased customer engagement.”