Rugger

If it's a finished project in the Completed Projects section, then it should be by category. If it's a general work in progress post, then it belongs in shop talk and either way works fine. Thanks!

wow that's impressive congratulations. Don't ever apologize for not spending 4K.... no boat snobs here. It looks great!! To resize pics, just hit edit, then double click on them and can reset to 800 x 600 or whatever works.. I forget

Great pull! That's gonna be helpful to many. SKIDIM is a great company to deal with as well. I've bought many parts over the years and they are always cool and helpful

Definitely gonna be helpful to others. Thanks for the great write up. Love the magnet idea too. You're gonna be stoked with that setup! Hit the button and fill!

Awesome! Nice work @Catman Totally agree on mandrels --- I bought premade when I did mine as well! Larry at FAE will do them custom, but his challenges are relying on customers for perfect measurements and requires some pretty tight turns, etc. And I think it's easier for him not to deal with it. Man those blended welds and polish turned out great. You'll be glad you took the time... looks amazing.

That looks amazing. Thanks for sharing!!! Mine is plastic.... would love it to be hot rod red too (match my boat) but won't look as cool as yours.

oh, that's right... bad day.

Nicely done. I'm in store for new bunks soon I think. I'm the guy lucky enough to have my wife back the boat into water... so I never see the bunks with the boat off. I forget to check them. But ...2007 trailer... probably should do that! Thanks for the great write-up!

Nice job. So much cleaner inside without that muffler. Curious what you think of the noise, if any different w/out muffler, etc. once you get it on the water. It is definitely gonna be more quiet if you have't had FAE before. So nice.

Thanks. They'll never happen unless you jump in and give it a try. I documented my mistakes... made plenty until I got it right.

As I get older I start buying the right tool the first time, knowing I'll use it over and over. Bought a lot of dumb stuff over the years haha.... that being said, I've overspent over the years too.

I love the one I have, but I'm sure many brands will work great. But I would make sure it has a change of speed. Don't skimp on that feature. I first tried a one-speed Milwaukee rotary but took it back for a refund. Below is the one I've used over 10 years. Bought it on recommendation through the forums from a professional detailer. Love it. Get a wool pad too for gel coat.... that, + speed control = throw anything at it. If you use for your cars, you need to drop that speed down and lighten the pad or you'll get swirls / paint burns. Gel coat can take much more. And you'll need to throw something heavy to remove some of the wet sanding marks. I used this for the projects above, and also polished up my old excursion and the paint looks amazing for a 2001. If you want to save bucks for a single project, a Harbor Freight rotary will be a lot cheaper. But I can vouch for this one which has been bullet proof for a decade for me. I polished my cars, boats and even metal. https://amzn.to/32niY80 Hope that helps.

"Total cost ~100 + roughly 2 hours of my time. " <--- Hey no bragging! haha Not surprised you whipped up a surf exhaust quicker than watching a movie. Nice. Looks clean. I made mine last summer? Or one before? I forget. But I used an oval exhaust shape for the drop to the water portion... so I didn't vice it. But then wondered if I should have squeezed it thinner... so weeks later I squeezed it into more of a teardrop shape after I'd already been using it. Didn't notice a difference but it really didn't spray anyway.