The boys kicked off by covering the available dock area with gear: two trolleys full of mysterious, unbranded spray bottles; well-used, lidded tins; piles of polishing cloths; a stack of fat buffing pads; two monstrous, electric polishing machines; a five-horsepower jet blaster; a hose reel; and a couple of heavy-duty power leads.

 Step one was a power wash with the jet blaster and while it did its thing Andrew Tuckey explained the process: "It doesn't matter how much you scrub with bucket and broom; you just can't get ingrained dirt out of nooks and crannies and anti-skid surfaces without a high pressure jet of water.

 "However, you can't just blast away with any old pressure or you run the risk of damaging soft covers, clears, the gel coat or the timber."

Lee varied the pressure on the blaster, depending on what he was cleaning, while Ryan ran around ahead of him spraying different surfaces and the soft covers with various cleaning agents.

The rigging screws copped an acid spray, and suddenly were as shiny as new, rivalled only by the just-milled look of the troublesome teak. Next came a soapy hand wash of the whole area, followed by a hose rinse, to get rid of the blaster's handiwork. Then the boys hand dried the boat with chamois, examining every surface as they went about the job.

Now two hours into the operation and I was getting twitchy for the sight of a buffing machine. I needn't have worried.

With the boat now thoroughly clean and dry, the big polishers came out of the closet. The boys coated small areas of the tragic gel coat with cutting compound and systematically coaxed patches of shine out of the aged surface. The buffing job involved much slower pad speed than my little drill.

Three hours later, they downed machines and surveyed their achievement. Grins indicated they could see a revitalised boat under the patchwork quilt of flung compound and discarded matted wool fibres.

Then, you guessed it: it was time for another full, soapy hand wash of the whole boat and a hose rinse, followed by the chamois procedure once more.

Elbow grease was now the order of the day: marine wax was worked into the shiny gel coat and hand rubbed to an even more lustrous shine. I became slightly exhausted, just from looking on.

The finishing touch was a metal polish for all the stainless steel.