Hatch Cover Refurbishment

29 hatch covers required to be completely refurbished as they were showing signs of severe corrosion and impact damage.

The surface preparation and coating repair works were to be carried out whilst the hatch covers remained in-situ on the vessel.

There would be no encapsulation of the hatch covers due to large costs and setup times; therefore grit blasting and the spraying of the coatings were not permissible.

During the hatch cover painting works, painting/blasting of other areas and steel cutting/welding occurred simultaneously nearby.

There was also a lot of wind and rain spells during the refurbishment works.

A mixture of water jetting and mechanical preparation was used as the method of surface preparation.

One touch up coat of solvent-free, wet & rust tolerant epoxy RS 500P was then applied.

This was followed by one touch up coat and one full coat of solvent-free, wet tolerant glassflake epoxy
RA 500M.

17 of the 29 hatch covers were refurbished by the shipyard with the other 12 being treated by the ships crew.

Significant time and cost savings were achieved by completing this project with the hatch covers in-situ.

Furthermore, there was no disruption to the painting works due to weather conditions or other ongoing work nearby.

• Solvent-free
• Wet and rust tolerant
• No grit blasting requirements
• No disruption to ongoing work nearby
• No encapsulation of hatch covers required
• No humidity or dew point restrictions