Anyone who does their own painting work on their boat, for example underwater painting, could previously obtain important information and tips for International products from the "Painting guide for yachts". This is now more up-to-date with the new App. It is available for iOS and Android devices.
This way, the product guide with processing instructions is always to hand. However, the app still needs to be improved to keep up with the analogue paper version. For example, the classic "painting guide" only offers a rule of thumb for calculating the area of the underwater hull, while the app does the entire calculation itself. This is simpler, but not necessarily better. This is because the app only gives you the option of choosing between a motorboat and a sailboat. For the length of the boat, you can only choose from predefined lengths, leaving a large gap between 7.50 and 9 metre boats. This is very imprecise and, in case of doubt, results in having too much or too little colour. The self-calculation formula takes into account not only the exact length and width of the yacht but also whether it is a long or short keeler.
There are even more examples of less accuracy in electronic product information. One positive aspect, however, is the option of linking videos to the application. These are more descriptive than pictograms. International needs to utilise this potential even more.
If you want to combine the advantages of the electronic and paper versions, we recommend the PDF version of the "Painting guide for yachts" recommended. It also works on mobile devices.
Michael Rinck
Redakteur Test & Technik
