Of course, a boat should be cared for and cleaned regularly – it should also look good when you dock at Nice harbour.

However, it is much more important and more efficient to spotless your boat in the autumn instead of performing a thorough cleaning in the spring at the start of the season. Why? During summer, the GRP surfaces of a boat are exposed to a great deal of stress: UV radiation, salt residues, dust, pollen, soot particles and dirt clog up the plastic externally over the summer months and are deposited on it.

In addition, there is the usual pollution from suspended particles in the air that settle on the GRP, which is often damp in late summer. Boats that are taken out of the water late are then exposed to other organic substances such as leaves, small branches or cobwebs.

In autumn, these dirt residues and particles can regularly be removed relatively effortlessly, because the outer surfaces usually become damp due to the weather and the layer of dirt never dries completely. However, once the boat is warm and dry in the boat shed, the dirt has enough time over the winter to dry out and settle on the GRP and in the corners, cracks and joints. The subsequent spring-cleaning is therefore frequently much more laborious, time-consuming and also more damaging to the material than in autumn.