Oxidized gelcoat that is shiny?

[LocalBDG]

Just a little more insight into the difference between wet sand and buffing

I hate to say it but here it goes : Buffing correctly, is as effective as wetsanding. Drake doesn't know how to use compound. In 15 years, nobody has demonstrated a faster easier to learn technique that lasts as long as what I demonstrate. I've given opportunities to people, offered to fly them out to race me or fly to them to do the same. No takers in 15 years publicly calling for the haters to show up and prove me wrong, they have not.

Titaniumboy (HI Terry) was correct that I've raced a wetsand ER twice and I'll never have to annoy myself with that again I hope (I ended up fixing the side that was sanded)

Just because a "Detailer" claims one is better or worse, is pointless when they can't do both jobs as proficiently as one.

A bad sand job is a ruined season. A bad buff job just means you can do it again later and it won't take you a month to finish and you'll retain some of your gelcoat for the future.

Here's my biggest question to the "sand" crowd ; what wax are you using that you think lasts longer than what I do? That is the only factor that's a variable here really.

If I remove all the Oxidation with a buffer and someone does the same with sanding, they look the same, get cleaned and stripped and have a wax applied.. Which one lasts longer? If it's the same wax, exactly the same amount of time. Sanding doesn't leave a cleaner surface for stuff to bond to. There's still pores even if you sand past one bubble, there's 3 more below that one you've just opened up. A microscopic view will reveal a sharper flat plane with some sanding and a smoother surface with compound. Either matter to the wax.

If you think sanding is easy to master, easier than Buffing, I'm laughing at that whole idea. What I teach/demonstrate is simple, easy and repeatable on 99% of all running gelcoat slathered boats. I've never heard wetsanding was easy or easy to learn. Mistakes with grits can be costly. With a wool pad, minimal. Safer for you and the boat, less expensive, easier to learn, easier to duplicate and lasts as long. Is there really an argument for wetsanding?

Yes, when doing a full-restoration or for your 1st boat if it has fisheye, orange peel or you want a flat mirror. At that, pay an expert!!! Don't try to figure it out in your boat after watching videos. Wetsanding is an art and most people SUCK at it, same with Buffing using compound.

Lee

[LocalBDG]

Just a little more insight into the difference between wet sand and buffing This boat could have used some sanding, I concede that. Was it necessary? No, obviously. Will it last as long? No way to know but my guess is that it still looks green and shiny today and I haven't seen it since. Even if sanding would have helped here, I always try to show the power of compound and a wool pad to demonstrate what can be done to all the doubters.

To look at the difference between sanding and Buffing, let's assume both jobs were done to "expert" levels of competency and all the Oxidation has been removed from the gelcoat.. The only difference isn't viable unless you're super close with lenses and it's this : the sanded area will look flatter than the buffed areas but the buffed areas look smoother. What seems to matter to folks is how long it'll last and that's where I can't seem to find anyone who has their work last longer. It can last as long but unless using some new science I'm unaware of, I use the best products on the market and would hope the sanding side did as well. That said, sanding is harder to learn and master than Buffing. Many more things can go wrong when sanding and you remove more gelcoat than Buffing does.

My math : faster, cheaper, easier and lasts as long or longer (because most old school sanders use old school sealants too) Or, I can bring 3 machines, 40 lbs of disks, all the intermediate cleaner waxes a few polishes and then a sealant and some sprays.. I use 4 basic products and a buffer, sometimes 2, to deal with every boat I find. I can teach it to any monkey in 3 days tops, 2 normally.

We went to the moon (don't start, you know who you are) Science happened. The need to shave your boat is gone, if we want it to be. I want it to be.

Past that, you'll see below that I'm not Drake's biggest fan for a litany of reasons but mostly because he isn't trying to get good. He's trying to present a show, to sell you stuff. Like the Sham-wow guy of the docks.

Drake doesn't know how to effectively use a buffer. I've tried for years now o help him get better and he just refuses to learn. He used to wetsand every boat. Then he'd go through 3-4 machines, a dozen products/pads/disks per side and then 2-3 products to cover all that. At least now he tries a buffer (rotary) but if you watch, his pass will be half effective. He'll stay at one angle for the entire area when "cutting" but while one direction he goes, he uses the surface of his pad but on the return of that pass, he's basically using a dry edge of his pad. This swirls up gelcoat and is not effective at cutting the gelcoat layer off. Instead, it smears heated gelcoat over itself, called marring.

A demo between 2 techniques is great if the person doing the demo is equally good at both ways of doing a thing. I might have vids with my style versus a wetsander (because I don't wetsand) and demonstrate something there that has bite. What's Drake's motivation to put his heart into the demo? He sells everything he's ever touched. He's a pitch man, nothing more. I've forgotten more in the last 30 years than he'll learn in the next 40 because YouTube is a cash printing machine for him, no motivation.

He relies on products and machines (anyone using a car buffer on a boat.. No!) to save him. Excuses like temps and age are given and sprays are applied after a "wax" is used to hide what he can't get out of gelcoat with an arsenal of equipment and chemistry. He has no patterns or repeatable rhythms, no checklist that constantly saves him time and money at the dock. He's experimenting (it seems) on every boat all while bragging, how much he made per job. Even if he was good at his job, I'd walk away at that personally.