Load Line & Freeboard — Most Asked Questions

9 questions asked about load line & freeboard across the General and Fn 3 papers, heaviest first.

9 questions 0 ticked
  1. 1 (Considering midship, end, side or intermediate compartment

    High priority Theory asked 7 times · across 6 examiner banks General

    Answer

    Floodable length is the longest compartment you can flood at any point without drowning the margin line — position on the ship sets it.

    • Floodable length is measured with the ship upright at each point along her length as the centre.
    • Permeability decides how much water the space can hold — empty holds near 100%, machinery far less.
    • Permissible length is floodable length times the factor of subdivision, tighter amidships where the curve is longest.
    • End compartments flood shorter safely than midship ones; side and intermediate compartments count their own permeability.

    Surveyor follow-up: midship hold versus forepeak of equal length — which floods deeper, and what curve proves it?

    Full theory: Load Line, Freeboard and Tonnage Measurement
  2. 2 Draw a typical load line displayed at the side of a ship, briefly explain the features of load line

    High priority Sketch / drawing asked 6 times · across 5 examiner banks General

    Answer

    Sketch deck line, disc and seasonal grids: the Plimsoll mark states how deep she may load in each zone and season.

    • Deck line 300 by 25 mm through the freeboard deck upper surface — the datum every mark hangs from.
    • Load-line disc 300 mm across with a horizontal bar whose upper edge is the summer salt-water line.
    • Seasonal grid: tropical, summer, winter and winter North Atlantic lines plus fresh-water allowances, punched in steel and painted for contrast.
    • Timber marks ride alongside where deck cargo buoyancy earns deeper loading except in the harshest zone.

    Surveyor follow-up: draw the mark and point at the line she loads to in fresh water in summer — then in tropical salt.

    Full theory: Load Line: Marks, Letters & Conventions
  3. 3 Load line marking

    Revise Theory asked 5 times · across 4 examiner banks General

    Answer

    Load-line marks are punched steel painted for contrast: deck line, disc and seasonal grid stating allowed depth in every zone.

    • Deck line 300 by 25 mm on the freeboard deck edge; disc 300 mm across with summer bar through its centre.
    • Seasonal lines 230 by 23 mm off a vertical 540 mm from the disc for tropical, summer, winter and winter North Atlantic.
    • Punched into the hull so fading paint never hides them, painted white or yellow on dark steel and black on light.
    • Timber marks ride alongside where deck cargo buoyancy earns deeper loading.

    Surveyor follow-up: marks legible but the disc bar rusted thin — accept, chip and paint, or re-punch?

    Full theory: Load Line: Marks, Letters & Conventions
  4. 4 Draw plimsoll marking (paper pen

    Revise Sketch / drawing asked 3 times · across 3 examiner banks · 2 wordings merged General

    Answer

    Draw the Plimsoll mark amidships: circle with deck line above, seasonal ladders beside, draft tied to freeboard.

    • Circle bisected by the summer load line with S at centre, deck line marked above at the freeboard deck.
    • Seasonal ladder beside: T above S for tropical, W below for winter, WNA further for North Atlantic winter.
    • Fresh-water allowances sit outboard — F above S, TF above T — by the density correction to summer draft.
    • Lumber and passenger marks add where assigned; every line must clear water for its zone and season.

    Surveyor follow-up: draw TF above T by FWA with S awash in dock water — legal to sail for winter North Atlantic or not?

    Full theory: Load Line: Marks, Letters & Conventions
  5. 5 Load line survey

    Revise Theory asked 3 times · across 2 examiner banks · 2 wordings merged General

    Also asked: “Load line survey gro SF f”

    Answer

    Load Line survey proves weathertight integrity for five years: initial, renewal and yearly checks on marks and appliances.

    • Initial survey before service with renewal inside five years and annual checks within three months either way of anniversary.
    • Inspect hull condition, superstructure ends, hatches with cleats and wedges, machinery openings and ventilator closures.
    • Prove deck line, load-line marks and draught marks legible with freeboard assignment matches.
    • Extension past expiry runs three months maximum to reach the survey port — never as trading grace.

    Surveyor follow-up: annual window missed by four months with marks freshly painted — valid, void or detained?

    Full theory: Load Line, Freeboard and Tonnage Measurement
  6. 6 Loadline, what will happen when ship goes to sw from fw

    Revise Theory asked 2 times · across 2 examiner banks Fn 3

    Answer

    Going from fresh water to sea water, the same weight lifts her less, so the draught falls and the freeboard rises.

    • Denser water gives more buoyancy for the same immersed volume, so the ship rises to a shallower draught.
    • The freeboard, measured to the deck line, therefore increases by roughly the fresh water allowance.
    • That is exactly what the load line marks encode: the summer line in salt water, the F and TF lines in fresh.
    • Leave a river port light, burn your own fuel and stores, and you can load that much more cargo to reach the summer line at sea.

    Surveyor follow-up: ship loaded to the F line in a dock with the summer mark nearly awash at sea — legal, and by what margin?

    Full theory: Load Line, Freeboard and Tonnage Measurement
  7. 7 Pimsol mark and load line u

    Revise Theory asked 2 times · across 2 examiner banks Fn 3

  8. 8 Structure of type a (layers), b, c and membrane tank

    Revise Theory asked 2 times · across 2 examiner banks Fn 3

    Answer

    Types A, B and C are graduated structural standards for tanks, and a membrane tank is the flexible alternative to all three.

    • Type A tanks are built to the highest standard, with full girder subdivision and testing, used where the highest reliability is required.
    • Type B tanks allow a reduced subdivision with buckling calculations used in place of the full test, and Type C is the unprotected structural tank using only analysis.
    • A membrane tank is a flexible, thin-walled compartment bonded to the hull shell, so the hull itself carries the liquid pressure.
    • Because it works on the shell, a membrane tank saves weight and allows double-banking, at the cost of restricting what may be carried in it.

    Surveyor follow-up: membrane tank with a heating coil strapped to it — which part of the arrangement is the restriction?

    Full theory: Double Bottom Structure and Bottom Framing
  9. 9 load line convention

    Revise Theory asked 2 times · across 2 examiner banks Fn 3

Source: 123 written papers and surveyor oral banks, 24,613 entries, merged into 17,210 topics. Ticks are stored on this device only.