Any coating system on a steel structure seldom breaks down uniformlyover the years. By adopting a well planned and executed Onboard Maintenance Program, the appearance and the performance of the coating system will do wonders on board the vessels. As a result, maintenance intervals will be longer, and the vessel will have a better cosmetic appearance throughout her lifetime. Overall paint consumption and maintenance cost on a long-term basis will be less, and the crew will spend less time on cosmetic maintenance jobs, thus saving hundreds of hours for other maintenance jobs in today's tight schedule of commercial trading. Ultimately, vessel's lifetime can be prolonged and cost during dry-docking or lay-up repairs will be reduced. However, Onboard maintenance is often carried out at short notice without a great deal of planning. This may lead to insufficient coating results due to which maintenance has to be conducted repeatedly at short intervals.