TM 55-607/NAVSEA OP 3221 Rev 2
Figure 6-11 Compartment requiring preload cleanup.
a. Sweatboards, or sweatbattens, are lengths of lumber, usually 2 by 6-inch pieces, installed in hangars or bolted
over the ship's structural stiffener beams to prevent damage to the cargo or ship caused by contact with the ship's
structure and hull (fig 6-12). Contact with condensation on the hull plate is also prevented; hence, origination of the term
"sweatboard." Prior to cargo emplacement, all missing or damaged sweatboards should be replaced from the ship's
stock, or with 2 by 6-inch lumber cut to the required length. Sweatboards bolted in position are more difficult to replace
and require drilling holes to receive bolts mounted on the stiffener beams. Sweatboards are not generally used as load-
bearing members in the block-stow technique but are used extensively as bearing surfaces for distributed loads
transmitted through strip sheathing when the sweatboard-to-sweatboard method is employed (see chap 8).
6-11
