Annual Maintenance
27th March 2026
We were quite pleased that virtually all of the growth below the waterline came off with the pressure wash from the yard crew, so antifouling was just a matter of taping up, suiting up (in our fetching painting suits) and rolling on the antifoul.
Although Sea Apple is in very good condition considering she is 43 years old, the decades of UV, oxidsation and build up of old polish meant her topsides were looking quite dull. On Pipit, we had always polished the topsides ourselves, however we had an electric buffer and room to store it aboard. We never achieved brilliant results but we knew the polish we did put on was helping to protect her gelcoat.
Last year we watched Matthew from Boat Valeting Cornwall polishing another boat to a mirror finish and had a chat with him about what he uses and discovered that one of the modern processes includes a ceramic finish after the initial cutting back of oxidisation and old polish. We decided to 'treat' Sea Apple to a professional polish by Mattew this year. We're very pleased with the results!
The blue stripe had been painted over some years ago and is scuffed and scratched in places, but still came up very well. We will, though, investigate getting that redone, perhaps next year.
