Watertight Door Testing

Watertight doors (WTDs) are absolutely critical pieces of a ship’s safety infrastructure; in the event of a major incident they serve to block and contain any ingress of water. Thankfully, shipping losses have continued to decline over the last decade – due in the most part to a much more robust safety environment and to increasing levels of safety regulation.

The sealing of watertight doors on ships must comply to SOLAS Reg II-1/11.1 and IACS (The International Association of Classification Societies) states that a periodic chalk test must be completed on all watertight doors.

However, chalk testing is not an exact science and the subsequent hose testing creates a mess onboard and is not environmentally friendly. In addition, many industry experts believe that a Watertight Ultrasonic Tester is a more modern, effective and reliable alternative to chalk and hose testing.

A further useful feature of the Cygnus Hatch Sure is that not only is it an effective and reliable method of testing Watertight Doors on vessels such as bulkhead and stern doors- but the same unit can also be used for watertight integrity testing on any closing appliances or compartments of any structures from offshore oil & gas platforms to transportation vehicles. And thanks to Cygnus Hatch Sure’s variable power, this ultrasonic leak detector is able to adjust power output to suit different sizes of areas under test.