 Degrease – to remove all surface grease & oil. is usually done using rags or brushes soaked in solvent.

If a
painted surface is to be degreased without being damaged, a solvent must be chosen which will not dissolve
the paint film.
 Steel preparation - hand and power tool cleaning is used for bare steel areas. The existing coating should be
taken back to a sound edge and the edges should be “feathered” back using a combination of manual
methods:
o Hard scraping or slicing - this is carried out with various types of scraper. Scrapers are useful for
removing loose material.
o Chipping hammers or chisels-chipping can be carried out using a wide variety of hammers or chisels,
best results are obtained if chipping is followed by secondary preparation such as wire brushing.
o Wire brushing can remove loose contamination, but it is ineffective at removing scale and deep
seated corrosion.
o Power Tools - Power tools used for cleaning fall into two basic categories:
 Rotary wire brushing using “braided” wire wheels - Radial brushes are used for preparing
awkward areas or welded seams. Cup brushes are often used for preparing large areas.
 Rotary discing cleaning of a surface is achieved by coated abrasive discs attached to angle
grinders or by using abrasive flap wheels attached to straight or in-line tools.
 Clean down – the prepared area should have all residual dust, paint flakes and debris removed by
brushing or vacuuming. Paint application should begin as soon as possible after cleaning to prevent
deterioration of the prepared surface.

Stern and Bow doors: Ro-

ro vessels may be fitted with
stern doors of the hinge-
down or hinge-up type, which
if large are articulated. Bow
doors are either of the visor
type or of the side hinged
type (‘barn door’ type).
These are situated above the
freeboard deck and where
the bow doors lead to a
complete or long forward
enclosed superstructure,
Lloyd’s require an inner door
to be fitted that is part of the
collision bulkhead. This
would also
be in keeping with the
SOLAS requirements for
passenger ships, where the
collision bulkhead is to be
extended weathertight to the
deck next above the bulkhead deck, but need not be fitted directly above that bulkhead. A sloping weathertight vehicle
ramp may be fitted in some ships to form the collision bulkhead above the freeboard deck and the inner door is
omitted. This ramp may extend forward of the specified limit for the collision bulkhead above a height of more than 2.3
m above the bulkhead deck, i.e. above the height of a conventional tween deck space. Stern and bow door strengths
are equivalent to the strength of the surrounding structure and where they give access to enclosed superstructures
they are required to close weathertight. Stern doors and bow visors can be mechanically raised and lowered with wire
rope and purchase arrangements, but in general they and the side-hinged bow doors are hydraulically opened and
closed . These weathertight doors are casketed and cleated.

Ramps
Ro-ro ships fitted with ramps usually have a stern ramp, but some vessels fitted with bow doors may also have a bow
ramp that doubles as the inner weathertight door and is lowered onto a linkspan when the bow visor or side-hinged
doors have been opened. Ramps may also be fitted internally to give access from deck to deck. These can be
hydraulically or mechanically tilted to serve more than one deck and can be fixed in the horizontal position to serve as
decks themselves . In some ships they can even be raised into the hatch space and serve as weathertight covers.

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Hatch Covers – watertight integrity:
Means of water-tight integrity:

Gasket Type Sealing:

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The cleats are used to restrict the
movement of the hatch cover pontoon in a
seaway.

Double drainage, in both the side sealing

and cross joints, is important to lead minor
leakages away through the drain valves
and is an essential component in the
weathertight integrity system.
In most systems the hatch cover
weathertight seal is obtained when a
compression bar seats into the rubber
packings.
The weight of some hatch covers is taken
by the side-plate edges onto the coaming
top. Heavier hatch covers led to landing
pads being developed to take the weight.
These also had the effect of improving
weight transferral of any hatch top deck cargo into the ship’s hull.

Labyrinth Type Sealing:

Rubber Skirt Type Sealing:

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Cleating Arrangements:

Maintenance for Hatch Covers:

Hatch covers of cargo hold are generally made from light weight steel or high tensile steel. They are fitted over a steel
bar of the hold with a rubber packing inserted in between them to avoid water ingress.
A proper routine maintenance to be performed by qualified officer on ship which must include:-

 Examination of hatch cover, hatch beams for corrosion, cracks and material failure
 Keep Cleats, hauling wire, rollers, chains and wedges in operational condition at all time
 Keep clean hatch cover tops and all drainage holes to be kept clear
 Look for any broken or missing gasket and replace it immediately. The length of renewed gasket must
be minimum 1 m
 Before renewing rubber gasket, check and rectify steel to steel fault
 Gasket rubber to be of approved type by class
 Grease all the moving parts
 Check for any hydraulic system leakage if cover is oil operated
 Oil test to be performed for hydraulic system
 Call surveyor after any major repair in the cover and its concerned parts

Testing of Hatch Covers:

After maintenance procedure it is advised to test the water tight integrity of the hatch cover by different methods. The
three methods to check water tightness of hold covers are:

1 Hose water Test:

In this test a water spray from a nozzle of 12mm diameter is sprayed over the joint of hold and cover from a distance
of 1m to 1.5 m with a pressure of 0.5 m/ second water jet.

The limitation or drawbacks of this test:

 it requires at least two persons.

 The leakage if very minimal cannot be identified by naked eye.
 It should be noted that a lack of leakage into the hold is not in itself determinative of a successful test. Checks
should also be made that leakage is not passing into the drain channels and being fed through the drain
valves onto the deck.
 Cargo holds must be free of cargo(empty).
 The test is not viable in sub-zero temperatures.
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  The test cannot pinpoint leakages accuracy.
 Water pressure variance and the distance of the jet from the structure can affect results.
 Many port authorities do not allow it because excess water on deck can lead to pollution.

Hose tests are conducted in static conditions. When the ship is at sea, the ship itself and its hatch and coaming
structures are not completely rigid. They flex and “work” to cope with forces to which they are subjected by the ship’s
motion and the forces of wind and waves. If cargo damage is to be avoided, the contact between the compression
bars and the rubber packing has to be maintained during the periods when the covers and coamings are flexing. The
extent to which that contact is maintained depends upon the degree of “compression” that is being achieved by the
steel to rubber contact. The higher the degree of compression, the greater will be the watertight integrity in dynamic
conditions. A hose test can only demonstrate “contact” not “compression”. It is this shortcoming that makes it a
considerably less reliable indicator of overall watertightness than the ultrasonic test.

2. Ultrasonic Test:
The Ultrasonic testing is a more accurate method of testing water tightness of hold and its cover. In this
system an ultrasonic sound generator is kept inside a closed and intact cargo hold.
A sensor of that unit is passed all over the compression joint and any low pressure area or point detected by
the instrument can be a leakage point.
The test involves placing an electronic signal generator within the cargo hold(laden or not) and using the
receiving sensor to first take a reading at the access or booby hatch with the main hatch cover closed. This provides
the OHV (open hatch value). The sensor is then passed around the outside of all compression joints noting the
reading on the receiving equipment. It is preferable to listen to the signal using headphones to determine the
maximum reading at any single point. The readings obtained are then compared with the OHV. The closer they are to
the OHV, the greater the degree of leakage. The comparison between actual readings and OHV indicates the degree
of compression that exists within the seal, the greater the compression, the lower the reading as a percentage of the
OHV.
For the purpose of evaluation of results , the following guidelines are usually adopted:

 Readings of 50% of the OHV or more indicates significant loss of compression and an immediate lack of
watertight integrity.
 Readings of more than 10% indicate potential leakage.
 Readings of less than 10% indicate watertightness under normal conditions.

Drawbacks of this instrument is it is not normally kept onboard and qualified person is required to perform this test.

3. Chalk Test:
This is the oldest or most traditional method for testing hold cover compression, but it cannot test the water
tight integrity of the hold.
A layer of chalk powder is applied all over the steel back of the hatch and then the hatch cover is closed and
tightened to its normal values.
The impression of chalk on the rubber packing is then studied to check lack of compression point shown by
gap in the chalk marks.

Purpose & work of Classification Societies:

The purpose of a Classification Society:

 to provide classification and statutory services and assistance to the maritime industry and regulatory bodies
as regards maritime safety and pollution prevention, based on the accumulation of maritime knowledge and
technology.
 to verify the structural strength and integrity of essential parts of the ship’s hull and its appendages, and the
reliability and function of the propulsion and steering systems, power generation and those other features and
auxiliary systems which have been built into the ship in order to maintain essential services on board.

Classification Societies aim to achieve this objective through the development and application of their own Rules and
by verifying compliance with international and/or national statutory regulations on behalf of flag Administrations.

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