Wax Job

[dale farley]

I just did my annual wax job on the bus. I know some don't like the thought of getting on top of the bus, but I like the smooth finish the wax gives my paint, and I am convinced that it helps protect it from the weather. I use the foam exercise mats to walk on, so I never get any popping of the metal while I am up there. The mats do a good job of distributing my weight.

I used microfiber towels to dry the water after I washed it and they gave me the smoothest finish I have ever had on the sides of the bus. They also absorb the water better than the chamois cloths I normally use. I use Meguiars wax because it is easy to apply and buff off.

Now if I just had someone to polish all my stainless!

[Ray Davis]

If you are really bored, mine could use a good wax job! :)

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

That's real nice Dale, I'm just down the road in Tallahassee, when do you have time for mine?

JIM

[Denny]

Looks good Dale. I used a 6inch air orbital polisher/buffer with a foam polish pad and it did a great job. I then wiped it with the microfiber towel. This water spots and blemishes were gone. A lot easier than by hand. The next time I washed it the stainless cleaned up quickly using the microfiber to dry it. I now have to do the roof.

[truk4u]

Nice job Dale, but I thought I saw a bug you missed!:p:o:rolleyes:

[rfoster]

Truk: I agree with you - great job - shiniest roof in the South, but there might be a fly in the molasses.

[dale farley]

I didn't have a lot of spare time to polish the bus, so I may have missed a few bugs. Denny, I agree with you that an orbital polisher would make it much easier. I've been looking for one since I watched the crew at Kerrville using them to wax the buses. I did want to make everyone aware that you can move around on the roof without buckling the metal if you use something like the foam pads to distribute the weight. Of course, if I had Rogers resources, I could just have one of my guys do it for me.

[JIM KELLER]

Good Job Dale. Where can I find the foam pads you refer to ?

[dale farley]

Jim,

You can get the black ones at Sears. I bought the colored ones from Sam's. They also help the old knees when you need to get down low while working on something. They will interlock so you can connect them together to make a cushioned area to stand on, such as in front of a workbench.

[JIM KELLER]

Just a thought. After doing the job how much do you think it is worth. I usually do mine myself, for therapy and the feeling of accomplishment. Takes several days. When my Detail Guy does it for me he charges 450 to 550 and it takes him two days.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Does that include the slack adjusters? If not he is obviously cutting corners.

[JIM KELLER]

Does not include Slack Adjusters.

[Alek&Lucia]

Wow !
Your MPG should jump right now to about 15MPG :)

Alek

[dale farley]

Jon, I certainly wouldn't want to cheat you, so I'll include the slack adjusters.

[hobobimmer]

Dale,
I'm impressed! I told you it was on my list of things to do. It is still on my list. It looks so good I might be motivated to get mine done now! Thanks for the inspiration. Deb

[dale farley]

Deb, My roof looked good when I bought the bus, but this is the 4th time I've waxed it, and it does look better than before. Use the Meguiars, let Eric apply it and you remove it. You'll come out ahead. On second thought, if you really want to get it done, you will need to apply and remove it for obvious reasons. Or you can wait until we come up that way, and I'll help you do the job.

[Ray Davis]

Dale, do you use a single layer of these pads, or double them up for extra padding and reinforcement?

[dale farley]

Ray, I use 2-4 at a time. If I want to go from one end of the bus to the other in a hurry, I'll use 2 or 3 and make sure I am stepping lightly and on the support member underneath. If I am in one spot such as while waxing, I use 3 or 4 at a time. You really need at least 12 pads to be safe in what you are doing. I think I bought two packs of 8. I got the black ones on sale at Sears for about $10 and the others from Sam's for about $18. I use them quite often around the bus and other jobs around the farm. I try to use my black ones on the ground and my colored ones on the surface of the bus. That way, I don't transfer sand and grit to the paint. These are similar to what I have, but there are different thicknesses and qualities available. http://www.greatmats.com/products/foamspecial.php

[Jeff Bayley]

I got curious about using a floor buffing machine for the roof job you describe Dale. I did cursory search for "light weight floor buffer" but got impatient after 30 seconds of searching the results. I don't plan on waxing my roof so I didn't spend much time on it. But then I used the search string "terry cloth floor buffer" and again only did a brief search so there is probably a less expensive / better choice but here's one http://www.floorbuffers.com/Qstore/p001676.htm It's $400. I think you could find a cheap unit that would work once a year for $200 or less with 3 minutes of searching. That one I found has terry cloth bonnets that fit it.

The other useless 2 cents I have is recalling a stupid trend from more than a decade ago that I never understood but might work for the roof deal. There used to be a stupid fad of kids waxing their cars and leaving the wax on instead of buffing it off. Obvious juvenile senseless-ness along with pants down to the knees but for the roof it could work. You'd give up the shine in place of extra protection. When I was a kid my first business was mobile detailing in Texas. South East Texas. Real hot of course. No matter what product you put on metal, it is going to evaporate in no time at all from the heat. Particularly the top of a car or a bus where it get's most hot. You'll get the benefit of cleaning it if you use a "cleaner wax" that contains some grit with a bit of abrasive in it without question. Naturally the hotter the climate the faster it will burn off. If you were to wax a car up north in the winter it will last a lot longer. I can't imagine any product lasting more than several months at the most is a hot climate. If anyone knows of one please share. The test of course is by touch (smooth to the touch) but better maybe is observing how the water is beading. Good water beading you got product left. No beading, no product left; or only a trace of it. I agree that doing this once a year is good maintainence to "clean up" the surface from the elements that have collected.

Which brings me back around to this knuckle headed fad of leaving the wax on the cars years ago. If you left the wax on the roof and didn't polish it off, you'd leave a considerable addition amount of protection to the roof, forefeighting the shine. I don't get up there and wash my roof very often anyway so if I were to follow this theory I propose then the wax I left behind would be covered up with tree fall and gunk anyway. All that extra wax I left would not be apparent and ruin the appearance in my case because I'm lucky to pressure wash it twice a year anyhow. BUT the protection WOULD be increased with that extra non buffed off barrier that would be sandwiched between the gunk that falls. I don't hanger my coach. So this idea will depend on your style of storage and how often you want to shine the roof and also how often your on a second story looking down at the roof of the bus anyway. The haze that would be left would be more or less noticeable depending on the color of the roof. My roof is silver so I can imagine that the left over haze from leaving the extra product on without buffing off the excess would be less apparent.

I wish I could contribute more meaneingful help more often but I'm just not as knowledgeable as most of you. So on the rare occasion I think (operative word THINK) I might have something to add I just try to put my 2 cents in in an attempt to pull my weight since I am very appreciative of what I gain from the group when I need help.

[dale farley]

Jeff,

Polishing the roof on mine is not a bad job at all. When I am at home, I usually get on a ladder and spray the top off when I wash the rest of the bus, so it never gets really dirty like the lower sides do. I would be very skeptical of a machine built for buffing floors. Although I walk on my roof, I do use the mats strategically positioned, and I step as lightly as possible.

I would think leaving the wax on without wiping it off would be counter-productive. I think the smooth finish that I get when I polish the roof causes dirt and water to move off the entire surface easier and faster than if it were dirty or if it had un-polished wax on it. Like the maintenance on the rest of the bus, I think the main thing with the roof is keeping it clean and waxed on a routine basis. It took me less than 3 hours to do the entire top. Thanks for the suggestions.

[garyde]

A fellow Pogger suggested it wasn't necessary to wax since we had many layers of clear coat on the paint. i feel better doing it anyway. bluevost coated the top of his coach with a sealer and heat repeller coating. It beats me why you would wax and not wipe off the dry residue. it would just collect dirt and look worse.
I like the idea of Jeff using a floor waxer ontop of his roof. That would be a picture! You know , they have quite a kick when starting them.

[Jeff Bayley]

Yeah I see what you mean about the unpolished wax making more build up. More "stick". No good. Regarding the floor polisher I'm remembering seeing really dinky low end "home owner" ones for Mom to use in the kitchen. One like this would be really light and easy to handle and get up an down the roof. It would never hold up like a commercial unit but I was thinking that for the amount of times you might use it it would do the job and last at least .......I don't know......a dozen times or so. Pretty small area anyway. I know I remember seeing cheapo light weight models with two smaller counter rotating brushes but you would need bonnets on them and not brushes. I grew up with my Dad managing Holiday Inn's. I'd work the heavy commercial models from time to time on the lobby floor and Gary is right about the kick. It takes some practice and finesse to be able to "steer" those. They didn't have the idea around back then but now they have Red Neck races with floor scrubbers with the yahoo's sitting on the center of the lower unit and holding the rod to guide themselves down a short track (limited by the length of the extension cord). Thank God I didn't see that when I was a kid because I would have been like a bull in a china store and wrecked the lobby.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Jeff,

Have you considered writing a book or at least an article for the FMCA magazine outlining your thoughts on topics ranging from remote generators, to a vegetable oil external fuel tank to a floor polisher for the roof?

There is nobody here on this forum that has the creativity you possess and (not kidding here) while some ideas may be wild and off the charts such as camping in Manhattan, you are going to hit upon the next hula hoop or pet rock and will be able to add to your current fleet of coaches.

You aren't into the squeezings again are you?

[dale farley]

Jeff,

You may be on to something. If we could take a Swiffer and modify it to shoot out a heavy liquid wax (such as Meguiars) and then use another one with a microfiber towel attached (for removing the wax) , we could get 90% of the roof without bending over.

[Jeff Bayley]

Jon- Thanks for getting my day off to a good start and laugh at myself. True that I write enough and actually enjoy it enough that I have often thought that writing would be a FUN profession for me. Something that I would enjoy. I need to find a topic to break into that could pay. Lloyd and Pam are writers. I should ask them for advice. The articles for FMCA could be practice I guess but, as you say, the topics are a bit hair brained. The problem is I suffer from an over active brain and this makes relaxing difficult for me. When I'm writing it does relax me. Evidenced from my lengthy and mostly wearisome to read postings.

Funny you mention about Pet Rocks. I sold those in the lobby of the Holiday Inn my dad managed for a period until I got bored with it. There was this rock garden outside the hotel. I threw some of this rocks down on the pavement and they bused open and were like crystalized inside. I put a card table, displayed the Pet Rocks and I'm sure people mostly bought them to encourage me. I never did the lemonade stand. I already knew that idea worked. I always was asking the question "Will MY new idea work ?" Once I proved it would work which meant having wound up with $20 in my pocket as a 10 year old with the rocks, I moved on to the next hair brained thing. I like manufacturing.

For me, the portable generator is a home run but there's no profit to made there. The coil went out on my transfer switch and waiting for the part. Someone posted "Total Generator Failure" not long ago and spent top dollar getting themselves a back up. Your not going to believe this but right now as I'm writing from the bus, I have a 4,000 watt contractor Generac, a 6600 watt quiet Yamaha, a 3000 watt quiet Honda and a 2000 watt quiet Honda. I'll resist the urge to go into where I store them all and why I THINK I need them all but the short answer is I have a generator compulsion. When I was young I was always getting spanked for playing with matches. I guess energy is my fixation (ie, the veg oil powered bus). I just uploaded one of many videos I took in NYC on this last trip over the summer on my Facebook page if anyone wants to see it. Shows parking right next to The Four Seasons across from Central Park. One of the more entertaining ones.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Start out with a How-To on inner city camping and go from there. I'm telling you there isn't anyone here that can match your ideas. The folks at the FMCA magazine may be a little uptight about publishing an article however that encourages risking parking tickets as a cheap alternative to spending big bucks on nearby campgrounds.

I think on some things you could write about you would have to put some disclaimers at the front of the story. I can just picture somebody taking a header off the roof of a coach while hanging onto a floor polisher.

[merle&louise]

I think that Bayley writting for FMCA magazine would be great! What better test could there be than his posting on POG about camping in NYC!

He had us all in stitches for days on end! I know some of the older members of POG recall getting on line every night just to see what Bayley was going to come out with next! The FMCA readers will not be any different than the POG readers; we were all sitting on our computers hitting the new post button waiting to see what Bayley would say next. It was better than watching 90210 or Everybody Loves Raymond.

I'll bet we had 25 new members join POG because they heard about Bayley's antics online.

I really miss those days when everyone would tease Lew about his computer savy, Jon about being anal, and so many others - those were the days!

[Jeff Bayley]

Tuga- Are you serious? I've always thought members would be glad to see me booted off here. I'm sitting on my NYC videos I made specific for POG and never posted them thinking no one really was interested. Now you saying that topic is worthy. That there Was this buzz and interest in my post? Laughing with me or at me? For every story I've told ther are 10 others I omit. Like the time I wiggled my way to back stage parking at the George Straight show,parked right next to their bus and partied with the band after thebshow all night long on my bus until the generator failed. ( pre back up gen days) Well then other 2 buses had packed and gone leaving a 50'amp service calling my name in this undeground garage. I figured the casino would just see my bus there in the morning (which was coming up fast) and assume we were with Ricky Martin who was the next act that day. Didn't work out like I hoped. I woke to them beating on the coach and about a dozen security asking me who then hell I was ? The normally well functioning bull shit machine was not prepared and I got booted out of there and mean HARD. They said the police were on the way. So I'm outside in my underwear disconnected the power and in drive out in my underwear. Followed the head of security up to ground level parking where he pleaded with me to tell him how i didi it? How did I do it ? I came to pafor normal for the show and your parking attendants waived me to the underground parking where they raised the gate. I smiled and drove in and parked. Made a cocktail and walked by the last security guard who looked thirst so I went back to the bus and made him a drink. Then I watched the show and invited the band to the bus. They were thirst too. When I told the band what happened theynfell all mover laughing. Especially the part where i spilled a full drink on Straights wife. White blouse and cranberry. That was ugly.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Boot you out of POG??????? You got to be kidding! Stories like the one above are unmatched. The rest of us post mamby-pamby stuff about our boring everyday lives and then you come along and blow us out of the water with your wild ideas and wilder stories.

If FMCA would be able to lighten up and see the humor in letting you regale its readers with "Tales from Jeff" you could end up with a monthly column.

BTW it is not so far fetched about getting to park with the band. We parked next to Wayne Newton's crew at Melody Fair up in Tonawanda NY.
we didn't party with them, but we spent time talking to them and hanging with them before the show. The security people challenged us but we said we were with the band and they never bothered us again.

[merle&louise]

Jeff,

We love you man! Keep telling those tales - we love reading them.

Start a new thread for your stories so we don't get yelled at by the thread police.

AND COME TO A RALLY - WE ALL WANT TO MEET YOU!

[garyde]

We all can live a vicarious moment with Jeff and wonder 'how did he do that'? There are only a few people who have the ability to write their musing and adventures as well. Jeff definately has that talent. So many of us are conditioned to color within the lines, Jeff is not that sort. I wouldn't limit his writings to FMCA. A book is in him I'm sure.

[Jeff Bayley]

Man you guys are all really putting a smile on my face at a time in life when I really don't have much to smile about. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I wish now I had made the effort to go to Texas. I had this idea that I would be frowned upon. I remember several threads just coming to a complete hault after I put my posting and I thought to myself "Jeez, I'm a real buzz killer I guess"

So I make decisions pretty swiftly at times and am pretty sure I'll be in Central America in Panama by the end of this week. I've got a local connection with a guy that has built an empire exporting cars outside the US and have emailed him and he said he could use a contact down there he could trust. When I bought my bus, one of the reasons for it besides living my dream was to also use it as a status symbol for business. I sell used cosmetic lasers. So you've got this automatic "Am I going to get what I paid for" thoughts whirling around the heads of the prospects. When I called on doctors offices in person, I'd usually figure out a way to invite them to the bus to discuss business on the laser. I'm fairly certain that the bus had the desired effect in helping with many sales. It was hard to keep the doctor focused on the laser sale. The wanted to know all about the bus and were fascinated.

So here I am debating about how hair brained it is to ship the bus to Panama (leaving the other two with that dealer I trust to both store them and help with the sale). I just now got the idea that the same "Status Symbol" thing using the bus might play out in my favor there also. We could use it for status for the existing business calling on doctors for used medical equipment and also I could show up at the used car lots introducing myself as the new kid in town that wants to supply them with their used car inventory from the US. I think the bus just sends the message "this person has already achieved some success". And I think that smart business people prefer to business with other successful people. I don't have to tell them that besides the bus I'm pretty broke. I'll try to keep that under wraps. Course if I ditch the other two buses I'll have some working capital. I may not even need any working capital since my export friend here trusts me. You know why he trusts me ? He saw that I had 3 freaking Prevosts in my front yard. Asset rich and cash poor. But he knows my finances all the way because I don't lie. I just show up to the prospects with the bus and if they want to assume I've got millions that's their business. he,he.

I really want to hang on to one of the buses. I'm told I suffer from ADD but I managed to keep focused on this laser business and nothing else for over a decade so maybe I'm a recovering ADD'er. But what ever trace of ADD is left is not letting me want to let go of the bus. I'm not tired of that and wanting to move on. I feel more at home inside the bus than I ever did inside that stupid big house we bought that we're about ready to decide to give back to the bank. Especially with this transition to Panama no doubt.

So what would be really cool and something I could sink my teeth into would be doing not only the wholesale import of the cars with my contact here but I'm trying to size up the market for RV's there which so far appears to be pretty dang small. I did a search on Craigslist for RV's and Motorhomes and Motor homes in Costa Rica, Panama and portions of Mexico. I found one 20' bumper pull Gulfstream for $5,000 which I think is a deal. Does anyone have a better suggestions how to research the demand or quantify the numbers of RV's Mexico and Central America ? Must be some data somewhere.