| I would suggest that anti-fouling would not be commonly found as far back as the 60's and even when it was first introduced, being a relatively expensive paint, it would probably not have been found on many puffers.
It's very action of degrading at it's surface gives it a set life span and up to the end of the second world war anti fouling paints were only lasting 18 months, it wasn't until the 1980's that this had risen to 2-3 years.
This type of vessel were generally hard worked to make a profit and did not enjoy the luxury of much money being available for maintenance so the cheapest type of coatings would be used and as hull fouling would not be a major concern on a puffer, bearing in mind hull efficiency was never really a consideration when propelling a brick through the water!!
I would tend to think that for the vast majority of puffers good old red lead paint would be a much more appropriate colour for the hull.
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“Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack, Butting through the Channel in the mad March days" |