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On 3 Oct 2004 16:17:24 -0700, wrote:

I have long been curious as to why the polymer lights on my boat
become cloudy relatively fast, whether near the sea or not & whether
under cover or not. It polishes off fine with a bit of work, but I
never see this occur in other acrylic or lexan windows I have around
my place, and it is a minor annoyance. Is there one particular type
of clear polymer which clouds up like this? If left for months, they
will become only translucent until repolished.

Here's my guess: most plastics are degraded by the uv component of
sunlight. Acrylic and lexan hold up pretty well. If I recall,
polycarbonate holds up pretty well too.

Still looking over your query one more time: you say the cloudiness
appears when under cover too? Maybe you're downwind from some
pollution source?

Brian W