Perfect work for the conditions you had to work in.. Looks beautiful ! Bet the owner is glad he did not have to spend $$$ more having to get it wet sanded, to get a beautiful result ! You killed it !!! Loved the background music -- "Casate Conmigo" -Translated - "Marry Me"... :)
Lee!!!! I can’t tell you how amazing your advice and videos have been. I bought a used red moomba that has insane oxidation. I bought the dewalt, the heavy cut, the perfect it AC and the wool pads and even the quick connect. Already had the meguires wax. Did a small section of the white and the heavily oxidizing red with heavy the perfect it. GOOD GOD!!! Looks like a new boat!! Thanks again
thank you for your videos. do you have a video where you explain how to see when the cut process is finished? will it look perfectly smooth or will there be small swirls that get better in the next step. I've seen the process of starting at a slower rpm then increasing as the compound naturally breaks down, but on video it's impossible to see the difference. thank you in advance. and yes I've been an amateur videographer since the 90s. it is a continual learning process as technology changes and improves.
You see clarity if you want to or you can keep going till you just get even color with some light swirls, knowing that you'll follow up with another compound. I try for clean and shiny by the time I finish any compound out but I don't always do it so I follow up with another compound. I don't recommend going fast like I do until you get really, really good at buffing. It's risky and can leave tons of swirls if not done exactly right. You should help me with a video and I'll train you..? Thanks, Lee
@@Local_Boydidgood thank you for the reply. I love your common sense approach. Sorry, the video editing process is sometimes tedious and moving GBs of files around gets old fast. You do a great job. Just empathizing with you in regard to that 10 minute timeout issue. :-)
That sucked. I think I fixed it. Just because you feel the pain: I record on my phone, edit it after transferring it to the laptop (filmora-garb to you guys probably but it works for me) Then back to the phone to add voice overs and then uploaded to RU-vid. It's a struggle that can take me till 2-3 am just to make sure it uploaded and my phone didn't overheat in the process. Thanks for the comment. Some of my vids look ok, graphics and sound effects and everything but generally, I'm too tired to put much into it but I do try. Cheers! Lee
Why is it that you’re using a dirty foam pad does that not affect the final finish and what is the difference between a dirty from pad and a clean foam pad reaction to the gel coat.. which do you get a better finish from the dirty one or the clean one?
Hey Vim, Not so much a "dirty" pad (all that was in it was Perfect-it ex ac from a previous boat) it was however used and slightly worn down I admit. As they break down, you lose some of your control and power placement. That sounds goofy, allow me: A new pad has an equal depth from the center of the pad to the edges (with a proper sized backing plate. A plate too small for the pad and you're already fighting an uphill battle) As the pad wears, the edges get either compressed or worn down due to use or abuse. Either way, you lack a little ability to force the pad/compound to get everywhere you need it and as hard and as long as needed to get things shined up. On a boat with very few tiny details, not such a big deal. Had this been a new wake/surf/ski boat.. I'd want a brand new pad for the precision and control. As to which delivers the best results.. Boat dependant to some degree but on paper, I suppose a new pad, used on 2 boats (25' or so) is my favorite foam pad. Not too stiff, not too worn down and by the 3rd boat, I've centered this pad on my plate enough to have achieved a perfectly balanced pad/plate alignment. With aspect that alone on a foam pad, I can do just about anything with a not too worn pad. Laziness and economy would be the next reasons. "it was there". Or, I didn't see a need yet to switch. Virtually the same answer with wool pads. Day one, the fluff in my eyes and the shape of the pad from being in a box for a while.. None of that helps but by the wheel's 4th hour, perfect. Too old and the same kinds of issues with an old foam pad, loss of control near the edges and a loss of a flat surface with which to use on the boat. They stay thicker in the middles because of how we use them. Lee
Great info. Awesome work as always. I’m working on a Campion Allante this weekend. Started today. Moderate oxidation. Tried medium cut with wax to 1 step it, didn’t take out the oxy. Switched to heavy cut. Really good reflection, but leaving swirls. What CAUSES swirl marks? Cheers Lee. I appreciate your videos.
Lots of things can cause swirls. Use Perfect-it ex ac next, perhaps a foam pad will help. Tha KS. If ai was there, I could help solve the issue. From here.. Sorry. Lee
Love your videos man! I have two boats I own that I have to do your process to. I have everything but the DeWalt buffer itself. How do you think a harbor freight multi speed buffer would do? For personal use?
It'll die/melt in your hands, buy 4 to do 2 boats. Any name brand rotary buffer would be better by leaps and bounds. Look on eBay or offerup/Craigslist for a used one if you're looking to save money. Thanks for the kind words. Lee
hey brother Lee...just curious, do you know if the EX AC has any protective waxes or polymers in it ? or is it more of a compound ? I want to know if it would be "acceptable" to leave the boat like that, without another step. If the customer is not paying. Again- thanks for the help !
I'll answer in 2 parts. First, no. It is just a compound. 2nd,don't hurt your business by putting out half-assed work, the waxing is the easy part for God's sake, you're just going through the motions of what you did with the compound, without the sweat. Wash the boat and wax it. "F" if he's paying, his neighbor just might. If nothing else, spray the boat with 303 aerospace protectant or their new "graphene" version (it matters not that it says graphene, it doesn't work like a protective layer unless it's in a single molecule thich sheet anyway so it's all hype) Compound, wash and protect. Why would you want your name on some shit that fades out in 2-3 months? Be the detailer who isn't all about money and you'll make more than you can fathom. Unless he's not paying even for the compounding, in which case, toss some gelcoat stripper on it and take it back to hazy and "F" - 'em.
hey bro i detail in florida using the same style.. im charging 50$ a foot but feel like im getting WORKED! what are you charging for these details. i know its multiuple passes of compound multiple times so it calls for alot of effort.
Um, ya know some people actually detail boats that are hundreds of square feet of oxidized gel coat, myself included. Skipping wet sanding is not advised when you have some serious correction to do over a massive area. You start polishing @2:27 and even with editing wrap up about 2 square feet @21:09. If I'm only producing roughly 6 square feet an hour of correction, I'd be going out of business as a detailer. Working in the sun, the compound would be drying out and the work surface getting hot and hard to see, while the fillers are piling up over the surtface. Wet sanding pulls serious time off of jobs that require it. It's not a go-to, it's a last resort and one that should be in any professional detailer's arsenal. Your boat details always turn out great but you are trying to prove a point and now have 200 videos of heavy cut and super duty while taking jabs at those that choose to wet sand and produce similarly excellent results. What's the downside to wet sanding?
I ran the 2nd largest (boat detailing company) in the nation. I know what it takes to do an (average for 15 years) 45' boat. Wetsand if you want, I never do and my shine lasts longer than most I'll bet. Read the description or watch anything in my list. Learn to Compound correctly and you'll change your tune. Old ideas might be hard to change but you're on youtube watching so, try. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DWOGRlmnkvc.html Or ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gPQHdljdjC8.html Or ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JHUJ1WWF2ss.html Or ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YfeaP4BEy98.html Or... You might try some heavy-cut compound by 3m and a wool pad till it works down to nothing (the compound) I know you said a while back that you hated the passes. I really don't have a problem with them and if I wasn't up against a wall and dealing with crappy lights, I could have seen more and been faster. With bad lighting and showing the results in the video, I went slower so it had to be "right". Try my technique and see if you can start to see a "gloss" if so, keep going around the boat. You'll get better results if you remove any hardware on the boat's gelcoat surfaces. Cleats, snaps, chrome accent pieces, lights, horns... Use a well balanced pad (buy a few, return wobbly ones) Now that you have a gloss, repeat the process with a normal compound and another clean wool pad. You should be able to turn glossy into shiny in no time. Use a bit more mind and less body at this point. Strip the gelcoat and "wax" it, done. Thanks for helping push the old way of things though. I haven't seen (17 years) anyone be faster to achieve the results I do, sanding or buffing. The video took time because older ski centurions and Mastercraft boats have super hard gelcoat, like actual glass. In any case, I challenge anyone to show me a better/faster way. Lee
The downside is the time and money it takes to get the same results I do in twice the time. I've done 120'-130' boats for years, takes weeks even my way, with a crew of 4-5 guys and now get nothing larger than 35'. My results are the same as sanding but quicker.. Keep doing it the old way, I don't give two rips what people do. I want them to know, there's a different way that doesn't require all the crap you need for sanding and then the crap you need to buff out the sanding marks. The only thing I'd say is if you're dealing with decal ghosting, sand away but I would have lost my shirt if I had to do 150-200 boats a year, sanding them. Wrote a book on the subject, designed the buffer I use and 3M came out to learn how I do, what I do, with their products. Seems nobody else has figured this out. I'd challenge you to come learn. If you can do it better/faster, I'll pay for your trip. If not, you buy me lunch, dinner and beer every day you're here plus pay me for my time. Accept?
@@Local_Boydidgood Challenge accepted! It’s boating season here on the east coast. It’s on, December 2022, You pick the boat that’s Over 40 square feet for each of us to correct. No product or pad limits. I do need an air compressor, electric and water on your end. I’ll pay my own way, thanks.
Well, in December, we're closed due to copious amounts of snow. As late as the start of November or as early as mid February would be the last and first times available. I have air, water and electricity. Our seasons are roughly the same it would seem but I'm at elevation. Our mountain passes close all the time during Winter so getting from the airport to my side of the state gets tricky. If you can come for a weekend during the season, no charge, we'll split meal/beer bills and if nothing else, I'll do a video and we can let the tubers decide, all fair in the editing I promise. 😊 Good attitude, I'm impressed.
