Our Catamaran’s new, new anti-foul. [SEA JAPAN EP:28]

The old adage
Never enough time to do it right.
But always enough to do it again.
Damn.

Every now and then you got to admit to a mistake, stop crying and deal with it.

And this is what this story is about. How to blow 1200 dollars, or as I like see it How to keep fit and help support a local business.

All this started a couple of years ago when I began  a big above and below waterline overhaul on Tiare, removing thru hulls,  replacing the remaining metal thru hulls with composite,  manually scraping both hulls to remove 15 years of anti-foul, repairing the dings and scratches, sanding it all smooth, twice. Repainting the topsides and then multiple coats of epoxy barrier coat below the water line.

Now early on I had researched the paint system I needed. It was to be all one company and all products working together.

A few months after launch I started noticing that bits of the epoxy undercoat were showing through the anti-foul.

And to top it all off, this year was the worst year for barnacle growth the local fishermen had seen. Ever.  Historical levels of barnacle!!

A butt clench, wallet shrinking moment as I realised what I had done,  and that I needed to haul out, and not my usual thrifty “between the tides” type of haul-out, but a proper haul out, where you actually pay someone money, 

Once out of the water, I scrape off the barnacles, water-blast the hulls, then hand scrape all while the cement the barnacles use to “concrete” themselves on with, I had some help with this, (Thanks Nagi and Tom) Then hand scrape off all the new old anti-foul, then repair all the little scratches that the scraping had created,  then sand it all again, water blast again, then apply a coat of the recommended vinyl barrier paint, wait a day, then apply the new new anti-foul.

After checking with the paint company they also recommended, along with the  anti-foul I originally planned to use, to also apply a vinyl barrier coat before antifouling, You know, just to be 100% sure that everything sticks. Actually I think they were just trying to make it idiot proof.

And this is where the problem lay, I had used different paint companies for the epoxy barrier paint and for the anti-foul. Originally it was going to be one company and all their chemistries work together, no worries, but by the time i got around to buying the anti-foul I had forgotten this rather  crucial  bit  information. Ouch.

So here we are, Tiare is about to come into the local fishing boatyard, its a bit windy but thats ok as I have Tom in the tender to push Tiare around.

The costs start when the lines get thrown

There it is, six days and 1200 Dollars

What I came away with?

Well a thinner waistline and a lighter wallet for sure, but I now have  the proper paint system applied, and the knowledge that I also have an extra protective vinyl barrier coat on Tiare. Which is a good thing.