Correctly painting a surface aboard a Navy vessel is not as easy as using a rattle can to repaint a mailbox or using a brush to touch up a fence at home. Painters throughout Shop 71, Painters, Blasters and Tilesetters, are taught how to put just the right amount of double-layer epoxy paint on a surface. Too little paint and the surface isn’t properly protected from corrosion. Too much paint and it might crack, which also leaves the surface vulnerable.

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility uses a virtual reality simulator while training new painters and blasters to help maximize training time, reduce training cost and to help protect the environment.

“We were using hands-on training before we started using the simulator,” explained Travis McGreger, who has been a training instructor with Shop 71 since 2011. “We’ve been using a simulator since around 2010, but the new simulator helps provide better training than ever before. The current simulator has better software, a better graphics card and has better motion tracking. Since it uses a full oculus headset with a much clearer view than before, the painting surface looks very realistic to the point that you can see overspray.”