Cruise Ship Refurbishment

P&O Cruise Lines had already carried out a small trial using Epo-chem™ RS 500P on a similar ship in the engine (difficult access areas of wet and rusty decks under the gratings). Following the successful trials, it was proven that the system met the technical requirements and was specified for follow-up work on this passenger ship whilst on its refit docking program.

Traditional solvent-based coatings cause major problems and interruption to the refit program as many different activities by different contractors are being performed on board the vessel. Grit blasting was also considered to be too expensive, time consuming and an interruption to all activities being carried out. As an alternative, with docking time at a premium, the Chemco solvent-free, wet & rust tolerant system met all the criteria.

Epo-chem™ RS 500P was ideal for the ’Arcadia’ refit docking program. It can be applied on minimum surface preparation (WJ-4/St2), it is solvent-free and completely wet tolerant. Within two weeks, some 4,000m² was prepared and coated in voids, cofferdams and ballast tanks. Due to the additional benefits of the product, extra work could be undertaken on decks and engine room floor with no interruption to other works being carried out in the vicinity.

Areas of repair were prepared by high pressure water wash (500-800 bar) to the standard of WJ4. This was followed by one stripe coat and one full coat of Epo chem™ RS 500P @ 200µ applied by brush, roller or spray.

P&O Cruise Lines were completely satisfied as no downtime occurred due to the technology of the Chemco product and the results were outstanding. The decision by P&O Cruise Lines technical staff confirmed that Epo-chem™ RS 500P is an environmentally friendly, safe coating offering major cost savings.

• Solvent-free
• No grit blasting
• No interruption to all other contractors during refit
• All surface preparation work was carried out by high pressure water wash (500-800 bars)
• Reduced cost of plant and equipment
• No major delays to program
• Application can be carried out in very high humidity or on wet substrate
• Chemco system will protect the steel substrate in excess of 10 years