[YukonJack_AK]

Some people create skins with weathering and rust and "battle damage" and then some people don't. The boat's themselves don't generate damage as they go along though. But if you're looking for realistic skins: Wolfehunter in particular is a master of realism when it come to authentic, quality skins with nice weathering/rusting touches. Yamato9 is another individual who's done some fantastically real skins. Someone (I can't remember who but it was someone from BtS ) even did a skin that had 3 different versions - one fresh, one mildly used, and one late war. You could change it as your career progressed to make it look like you'd had her for more than a few miles...

But yes, there is definately 2 sides to skinning: the realists (Wolfehunter, Yamato9, Capzap, etc) and the fantasy skinners (Steed, SWCowboy, Koondawg, myself, etc). Just pick what you like - who cares if it looks a bit too "new"...