Ship maintenance generally represents a significant segment in ship owners’ costs, especially in modern business trends being imposed by the situation in the shipping market. Ship maintenance usually means preventing the occurrence of defects in ship’s systems, preventing possible breakdowns and keeping ship’s system components longer in operable condition. The aim of this paper is a systematic presentation of hull maintenance using protective coatings, which represents the basic protection for the system dealt with. Application of an appropriate system of protective coatings depends on ship’s age, size, price and navigation area. The efficiency and durability of protective coatings, in addition to the characteristics of the coating itself as well as to other influential factors, are determined by appropriate surface preparation. Hull protective coatings may be applied either during navigation or during ship repair works in shipyard. It should be noted that the modern way of ship operation usually does not provide the possibility for adequate protective coatings to be applied by the crew during navigation and this job is mostly carried out in repair shipyards.