Every summer the Vineyard ramp fills up. Pistons at the tie-downs, turboprops and light jets cycling through all season. The airplanes look great in July.
Here's the part that doesn't show up in July. Nowhere on that island is meaningfully far from salt water, and airborne salt settles on everything, continuously, the entire season. Salt is hygroscopic: it pulls moisture out of the air and holds it against your skin, your fasteners, your hinge lines. That's why the FAA's corrosion guidance, AC 43-4B, treats coastal environments as severe exposure. An aircraft based at KMVY for the season is in that environment every hour of every day, flying or not.
The mistake most seasonal owners make
They treat detailing as a spring thing. One wash when the airplane arrives, looking sharp for the season, and then nothing until it leaves. Which means the salt load builds from June to September with no reset, and then the airplane flies home carrying three months of accumulated chloride into a winter hangar. Warm hangar, salt residue, trapped moisture. That's not storage, that's incubation.
Corrosion doesn't start where you can see it. It starts in lap joints, around fastener heads, inside control surface hinges, under the belly film. The owner sees a great looking airplane in August. The A&P sees the real story at annual.
The season done right: a decontamination wash when the aircraft arrives on island, interval washes through the season with fresh protection on paint and brightwork, and a full end-of-season decon, belly, gear, wheel wells, before the aircraft goes home or into storage. Every visit documented with a photographed condition report, free.
Why interval washing is the whole game
You can't stop the island air. You can stop it from sitting on the airframe. Regular washing on a set interval removes the salt before it does its work, and sealed protection on paint and brightwork gives the next month's exposure less to grab onto. This is the entire logic of the FAA's cleaning guidance, and it's why Ready Five builds recurring corrosion prevention programs instead of one-off washes.
We're mobile, and we come to the island. Our process is rinseless with zero ramp runoff, no water hookup needed, which means tie-down aircraft at KMVY get the same service as the hangar row. Every product that touches the aircraft meets Boeing D6-17487 and Airbus AMS specifications. No exceptions on aircraft, ever.
If your airplane is on the Vineyard right now, it's been collecting the season since Memorial Day. The best time for the mid-season reset was two weeks ago. The second-best time is this week.