We were in Kudat, far north Borneo. The boat was on the hard and it was time to antifoul. Easy job. Go to the yard manager and tell him what you want. He just looks blankly at you and says it can’t be done. “We can order in Jotun or we have some International in red.” Red? We photoshopped Tramp with a red antifoul to see if we could live with it. We both decided NO. The yard staff did get a price for Black International. It made their eyebrows disappear in their hairline, so expensive, plus it wouldn’t be delivered for a few months.
So black Jotun it was. As the paints come from different manufacturers we had some concern about compatibility. We were assured that with the correct application there would not be a problem.
The boys in the yard sanded and keyed the existing antifoul. Two barrier coats were applied and then two coats of antifoul. Their procedure proved to be good as 12 months later when we hauled in Darwin there was no sign of separation between the different antifouls.
We have continued to use Jotun as it is readily available through South East Asia and does the job. We dive on the boat and wipe it over with a doodle bug and the only sign of growth and barnacles are on the props, shafts and rudders which have not been antifouled.
