From the left 10", 12" Fliq and my hardy beaten but very useable prototype and a 14"
Having waited with increasing impatience for a 12" Fliq to be produced I bit the bullet and performed surgery on a spare 14" I had. After using it almost exclusively for about 3 days now let me say that I find the size almost perfect for both pole work and in hand. I’ve got the pad quite tightly stretched between clips so when I have it mounted under for in hand work the Fliq “snaps” back and stays out of the way on close out.
The other small work mod I’ll mention is that I now apply my “mixture” directly to the pads and charge my bucket with plain clean water as required. Dunk the pad in clean water, knock excess off on side of bucket and add soap directly to pad. I’ve found it’s much more economical because there is generally enough soap on the pad for 4 or 5 dunks in the bucket. I never launder my pads, just lay them out and high pressure hose down. I’ve found by doing this there is always a soap residue left in the pad which I find no bad thing.
My current mix is eCover/IPA 50/50 with a splash of eCover’s own Rinse Aid. Slip is very very good.
RUBBER: Just discovered this the other day. I had become increasingly disillusioned with the apparent lack of slip with my Razer Red Rubber in comparison to the Black Diamond Hard which had become my default rubber for the Liquidators. Discovered to my amazement that when I put a Liquidator Channel in my fixed 35-40 degree handles that it was gliding perfectly…huh…Put the channel back in the Excelerator handle (at 25) …dragging at the ends and catching on dry glass…penny dropped “dial in the angle” and sure enough when I raised the handle a few degrees I was off as if the rubber was on ball bearings.
BUT WHY? I think what happened is that the dreaded ‘muscle memory’ had settled in with me optimising the BD rubber for the Liquidator. Because it’s shorter, bulb to edge you tend to blade at a shallower angle so that the clips don’t foul (the tip is almost flush with the rubber edge). So when I then would go back to Razer Red I was using that same shallow angle and it simply wasn’t correct for that rubber…and result were less than stellar.
The problem that has to be overcome with this gear is getting your head around the fact that precision technique is rewarded. I know some can’t be bothered or see the point but for those that do it is very rewarding to leisurely chew through even the most difficult of jobs without breaking a sweat.
Well done. I’ve got a couple of litres of GG4 in the shed from pre Wag days. Used to use it with my 0 degree Ungers. Not enough slip for Wags on it’s own. Might try and see if GG Glide is available here in NZ. Sounds like it could be worth experimenting with.
