Hi y'all,

 A cosmetic question:

 When we had our first plastic boat, 45 years ago, I used to clean and polish the life out of the hull and deck. I used Cif, a household cleaner, plus a variety of boat polishes.

I soon learnt that Cif was slightly abrasive and that boat polishes were merely car polishes in a fancy bottle with a fancy price. These days I use a non-abrasive kitchen spray cleaner to get rid of any dirt and a car polish to bring up a shine.

In her 22 years Pen Azen has been professionally polished three times---by that I mean by a guy with a rotary polishing machine using a lambswool bonnet and no doubt some cutting paste. Each time the hull has looked like new.  I have only done this three times as I am concerned about the thinning of the gel coat from such treatment. 

 However, a friend of mine bought a new Moody 47 about 40 years ago and had it polished every year for about 20 years with, seemingly, no damage;  also, an Amel salesman a few years back told me to have no concerns about an annual polish of that sort.

 By contrast,  we met a Nordhavn 47, a well built trawler yacht, half way through its circumnavigation. Its gelcoat looked like new and its owner only ever washed it down with soapy water.

What does anyone else do ? Am I over cautious in steering clear of rotary polishing?

 We are now ashore in Kilada, Greece. Next to us is another SM, Brigantes. She is older than Pen Azen but looks like new. Brigantes--if you happen to read this, what steps do you take to keep her is such great condition ?

Ian and Judy, Pen Azen, SM 302, Kilada, Greece