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I broke the Cardinal Rule of Detailing...!
I agreed to do a boat detailing without inspecting it first!
A friend from work asked me to do it. I should have turned it down for a variety of reasons:
- I had never done a boat detail before and I don't have a great desire to do boats on a regular basis
- I only have a PC and just do details on the side besides my primary job
- He didn't want to pay top dollar for the detail...I was giving him the "friends" discount
- I didn't inspect the boat
My friend kept saying that it was in good shape. He stores the boat outside, but puts a cover on it, but hadn't waxed it in a couple of years.
Actually, it probably wouldn't have made a difference since I had never detailed a boat before, and not being a boater, I wouldn't have really known that the gelcoat was in such bad shape. The boat is an off-white in color and looked okay when I finally saw it on the day of the detail.
However, when I finally got around to applying the polish (PoliSeal on Green Edge Pad with PC), the surface would immediately soak up the polish and then it wouldn' spread properly. I tried going up to a Yellow Pad, but that didn't make a difference.
I told my friend the boat needed to be compounded to really do the job right. However, I don't have a rotary/wool pads to do the job. Plus I don't want to be learning using the rotary on his boat! I went ahead with the polishing just to get some protection for now. What a nightmare. It was definitely the hardest detail I've ever done! Cars are so much easier. I was really disappointed that I couldn't get the boat looking decent, but at least there's some protection on it.
I did get paid for my time, but I knocked it down a bit because the results were not to my satisfaction.
Now he's offering to buy me the rotary so that I can finish the job. I think I scared him when I told him what a "Real Professional" would charge for a full detail and he figures if he buys me the equipment he will end up paying less with his "discount."
Now I'm facing another dilemma because of his offer. I really don't have any interest in doing another boat detail especially if it involves the several steps of compounding and polishing. I see this taking a couple of days. But he is really pressing me to do it and he is sort of my superior at work. I don't work directly for him, but we do work together.
What did I get myself into? No good deed goes unpunished.
Last edited by hooked : 10-12-08 at 08:10.
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