(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, each Type I or II hopper barge hull must have a weathertight weather deck.

(b) If a Type I or II barge hull has an open hopper, the fully loaded barge must be shown by design calculations to have at least 2 inches (50 mm) of positive GM when the hopper space is flooded to the height of the weather deck.

(c) When doing the calculations required by this section, credit may be given for the buoyancy of the immersed portion of cargo tanks if the tank securing devices are shown by design calculations to be strong enough to hold the tanks in place when they are subjected to the buoyant forces resulting from the water in the hopper.