Re: [VAL] Washing my polished '76 Tradewind 25'

[Herb Spies <spies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Many of the truck washes use an acid wash so I agree you should avoid them.

The 1954 trailer care manual in the VAC archives says to wash the 
trailer with

"plenty of good detergent such as Tide, Vel, Fab, Cheer , etc. in a 
bucket of water to which has been added 2 cups of kerosene. The kerosene 
cuts the raod film and the detergent doesn't leave streaks when it dries 
like soap does."

The instructions go on to recommend Glass Wax to protect the bare 
aluminum.  Glaas Wax is off the market now though.
I used this formula for a year or so until I started using NuFinish car 
wax. The kerosene will strip it. So now I just just use a car wash  
detergent.  Also use microfiber cloth to wash and dry the trailer. A 
regular cotton terry towel will scratch a polished trailer.

Also if you try Nufinish car wax always use a buffer to apply and polish 
using  sweat shirt material over the buffer head. Hand polishing will 
leave swirls. NuFinish isn't as hard to use as is the aircraft polish. 
It seems to add some protection from rain oxidation.