Ship Structure - Deck & Hull Fittings — Most Asked Questions
9 questions asked about ship structure - deck & hull fittings across the General and Fn 3 papers, heaviest first.
Learn the system first
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1 Brief about chain locker – location, purpose, pumping arrangement and need, safety precautions to avoid flooding of chain locker
Answer
The chain locker lives forward of the collision bulkhead stowing both cables: spurling pipes in, eductor out, watertight always.
- Location forward of the collision bulkhead with a centreline division separating port and starboard chains.
- Hawse pipes guide cables from deck to locker; the thick lower plating and perforated bottom drain mud and water.
- Pumped by eductor or bilge suction — mud and wash-down water must leave or the locker corrodes and floods.
- Flooding guards: watertight boundaries, sealed spurling pipes, sounding, and never open the locker at sea without the master.
Surveyor follow-up: chain locker full of water after heavy weather — eductor, boundaries or spurling pipes, and what do you check first?
Full theory: Anchor Handling and the Windlass — Duties, Brake and Slipping Clutch -
2 Master's responsibility & authority
Also asked: “Master’s responsibility & authority”
Answer
The master has overriding authority for safety: the company backs it, the Code demands it, no commercial order overrules it.
- The safety system states the master’s overriding authority to stop operations, deviate and call for help.
- Responsibility covers crew, ship, cargo and environment from berth to berth.
- Authority includes refusing an unsafe order, putting into refuge and spending for safety without prior approval.
- Proved by standing orders, log entries and the DPA link — the surveyor reads all three.
Surveyor follow-up: charterer orders sailing with a known defect — obey, refuse or call, and who backs the call?
Full theory: SOLAS Chapter V — Safety of Navigation (AIS, LRIT & VDR) -
3 Mast riser regulation
Answer
Vapour openings stand tall and far from ignition: as high as practicable, never below 2 m over the tank deck and 5 m from intakes.
- Height buys dispersal — mast risers and vent outlets rise to the practicable maximum above the cargo deck.
- Minimum 2 m above the tank deck for small-flow thermal-breathing openings.
- At least 5 m horizontally from air intakes, accommodation openings and deck machinery that could spark — windlass and chain locker count as ignition hazards.
- Closing appliances, flame screens and high-velocity valves complete the rule the surveyor measures with a tape.
Surveyor follow-up: vent 1.5 m above deck beside the windlass — height, distance or both, and what moves?
Full theory: Decks, Openings and Watertight Closing Appliances -
4 In all cases seafarer can file complaint directly to MASTER, SHIP MANAGER/MASTER and COMPETENT AUTHORITY
Answer
Complaints never dead-end aboard: department head, master, manager and competent authority stand in one open line.
- Start with the head of department or superior officer with facts and remedy in writing.
- Rise to the master personally when the department cannot satisfy the seafarer.
- Beyond the ship lie ship manager, owner and the competent authority of flag and port state.
- Representation, records and no-victimisation guard every step of the climb.
Surveyor follow-up: HOD blocks the complaint from reaching the master — compliant or not, and what breaks the block?
Full theory: STCW: The Convention & Its Eight Chapters -
5 Chain locker location
Answer
Chain lockers live forward of the collision bulkhead: drained wells fed by spurling pipes from the windlass.
- Forwardmost store below the forecastle with a centreline division separating port and starboard cables.
- Chains run from gypsy wheels down spurling pipes into the locker, hawse pipes closing the weather deck above.
- Perforated bottom with drainage clears mud and water so chain never stews in its own wash.
- Bitter ends secured to structure with releasable slip, covers fitted so nothing falls in during anchoring.
Surveyor follow-up: locker draining to the forepeak with mud piled to the pipe mouths — drainage, structure or stability issue first?
Full theory: Ship Types, Hull Form and the Parts of a Ship -
6 Gunwale, bulwark, solid floors, girders
Answer
Gunwale and bulwark are the top edge and the wall; floors and girders are the transverse strength inside the hull.
- The gunwale is the upper edge of the side shell at deck level, and on a weather deck it is the main longitudinal strength member.
- A bulwark is the light vertical extension of the side above the deck, standing up the side to keep water off the deck.
- Solid floors are the transverse strength members spanning between the side and the centre girder, carrying deck load and limiting panel buckling.
- Girders are the deeper built-up members of the same strength system, and at the bottom the side girders sit on the double bottom.
Surveyor follow-up: bulwark plating with a slot at the deck edge — what is that slot for, and what follows from it?
Full theory: Double Bottom Structure and Bottom Framing -
7 Mast riser and its height
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8 What is gunwale
Answer
The gunwale is the top edge of the side shell: where a bulwark continues upward, the gunwale is the capping where it stops.
- It is the upper edge of the shell plating, stiffened and running the length of the ship on both sides.
- Where bulwarks are fitted the gunwale is the capping bar at the top of the bulwark; where not, it is simply the deck edge.
- Freeing ports are fitted in the bulwark below it, and it carries the top mooring loads and the deck-edge loads.
- A bulwark keeps the sea off deck; a gunwale is the structural edge it is built on.
Surveyor follow-up: bulwark fitted with no capping and the deck edge plating fatigued — is that a defect, a design or a repair?
Full theory: Ship Types, Hull Form and the Parts of a Ship -
9 What is mast riser how does it operate and wt is the hieght in ur ship and why it is at the top
Answer
A mast riser is the trunk carrying wiring, piping and sometimes exhaust from below deck up to the masthead and aerials.
- It rises from the deck or a trunk in the superstructure up through the mast, carrying cables, pipes and antenna feeders.
- It is a tubular trunk with a door at the top for access, and it is where the radar, GPS and radiotelephone aerials are mounted.
- It is at the top because that is the highest clear position — the aerials need height and an unbroken view for the longest range.
- Its height is set by the ship’s air draught and by what has to be carried on it; quote your own ship’s figure.
Surveyor follow-up: aerials down on the monkey island because the riser is short — mast, signal or air draught?
Full theory: Ship Types, Hull Form and the Parts of a Ship
Source: 123 written papers and surveyor oral banks, 24,613 entries, merged into 17,210 topics. Ticks are stored on this device only.