Sometimes, people do mix up the difference between Weather-tight and Watertight Doors.
I was onboard a ship for an inspection, I asked an officer about the conditions of the weather tight doors, he replied ” We do have watertight doors and they are in good conditions”
Looking into the above answer, also following my discovery, I understand that the officer does not know the difference between weathertight doors and watertight doors. On this article, I will like to explain not only for the benefit of the people on-board but also for the young professionals to understand the basic use of the terms.
Related post: – How to maintain Weathertight doors and Watertight Doors
In many occasions, young and old marine professionals do use marine terms wrongly, mostly safety terms like this can lead to miss understand of order during emergency onboard. Therefore it’s very important to understand vividly the terms you use.
Differences
Weathertight doors: These are doors which you can find above the ship water lines (poop decks, forecastle, etc. ). They are meant to seal the accommodation or compartment from ingress of water or flooding during bad weather.
If you have been on-board ship during rough weather, you will understand that these doors are really doing a greater work of defending the wind force from flooding the accommodation. Than “pirate protector” as called by a crew. In resent age, the weather tight doors are designed in such a way it saver as a means of protecting the crew and ship from pirates hijackings. But the main purpose of the doors are because of the weather.
Also, learn about: – An enclosed space in a ship?
Watertight doors: These are doors below the ship water line. They can be find in Engine room compartments, bow thruster compartments, etc. on the picture below, you can see the example of the watertight door, this is located at the accommodation below the water line. For Boat owners you might want to check on DPI Marine Access Hatch in Black (13″x24″) DPF1324BK
The purpose of these watertight door and/or weathertight doors is to stop or manage floods from entering other compartments in case of flooding or bad weather. They are very important on-board as well as the weathertight doors. See another article on marine terms and means here.
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