Freestanding Fiberglass Staff Gauges

Freestanding staff gauges are a good solution to the need to measure level in a flume, weir, or channel. They are also useful in stream gauging or as replacements for other gauges that are damaged or no longer readable.

Fiberglass Construction

Standard construction is fiberglass construction. Black depth markings are printed onto a high-contract / high-visibility PET film, which is then coated with polyurethane for U.V. protection. Once the gauge has dried, it is then encapsulated into a fiberglass laminate to provide rigidity and impact protection.

freestanding fiberglass staff gauge for flumes, weirs, and channels

In the lamination process, clear gel coat reinforced by a surface veil is applied to the front of the gauge. The clear gel coat and veil provide combination provide abrasion and chemical resistance as well as additional U.V. protection for the printed gauge.

The back of the gauge is then reinforced with a 1/8-inch [0.3175 cm] thick (minimum) fiberglass laminate, which receives its own gel coated surface.

Once the fiberglass laminate has cured, it is trimmed and drilled for customer-supplied mounting hardware. All drilled and trimmed edges are factory sealed.

printed paper staff gauge failure

Openchannelflow fiberglass freestanding staff gauges have multiple layers of abrasion and U.V. resistance and unlike encapsulated paper gauges or stick-on type gauges they readable even if the surface protections are removed and will not peel up or pull away from their mounting surface.

adhesive backed staff gauge coming off a Trapezoidal flume