A properly maintained ship will be more reliable and will provide more service before needing to be retired. Shipowners typically invest large amounts of money in the acquisition of their vessels, so appropriate maintenance will always pay off.
Ships listed for sale at websites like www.nautisnp.com, for instance, inevitably attract more attention when they have been maintained well. Keep up with the following five maintenance-related tips, and your own ship will retain more value for longer.
Clean the Hull Regularly
Other than when it is being kept suspended in a dry dock, a ship will normally be in constant contact with salty, corrosive water. Special treatments allow modern ship hulls to stand up well to such influences, but they can only slow the pace of deterioration.
A ship’s hull should be cleaned on a regular schedule to extend its life as much as possible. Options like robotic hull cleaning services make it easier to keep up with this duty than ever before.
A properly cleaned hull will be better positioned to resist the corrosive force of marine water. Removing barnacles, mussels, and other living things from a ship’s hull will benefit it, as well.
Rinse and Dry the Interior
Even parts of an oceangoing ship that are not directly exposed to the sea will tend to exhibit the signs of corrosion. A ship’s interior should be hosed down and dried as well as possible even more often than the hull gets cleaned.
This is also true of surfaces that have been treated to resist salt and the corrosion it encourages. Chrome-plated metal will typically stand up to saltwater fairly well, but will still need to be rinsed and dried frequently.
Keep Up With Lubrication
Any time two parts move relative to one another, friction will result where they make contact. That will translate into wear in direct proportion to the magnitude of the force being exerted.
The best way to keep the equation favorable is to make sure that moving parts are always lubricated as directed. Some ships feature hundreds of lubrication points, each of which is meant to be attended to regularly.
A lack of lubrication can leave anything from an engine to a winch vulnerable to accelerated wear. That will make crucial parts of a ship less reliable and cause problems at some point.
Log Every Activity
Keeping detailed, accurate logs is the single best way to make sure a ship receives the maintenance it needs. A ship’s maintenance logbook should be considered just as important to the vessel as the activities it documents.
Having an actively maintained logbook on board will make it easier to spot problems like slow leaks. A ship that has been maintained scrupulously and consistently will always be more valuable on the secondary market, and logs will provide the required evidence.
Never Neglect Inspection
Every type of regular maintenance should be seen as an opportunity to look at how the affected parts of a ship are faring. Even the most routine of maintenance should never be mindless, and staying alert by engaging in simultaneous inspection will rule such lapses out.
Ships that are inspected thoroughly in the course of regular maintenance tend to have developing problems identified and addressed early on. That will prevent any part of a vessel from ever deteriorating to the point that it endangers the whole.
Maintenance Always Pays Off
Keeping these five tips in mind should make for more effective, productive ship maintenance in every case. A properly maintained ship will always be more valuable to both its present owner and anyone who might consider buying it later on.
