Byron,

Just curious why you did not like the single speed Porter Cable ROS? I love mine for many kinds of fine woodworking. It fits in the Palm of my hand well and always has left a professional finish but I have never tried a variable speed ROS. For boat sanding, adding a vacuum hookup to the sander has made it more efficient since the paper does not get gummed up as fast and it makes for a healthier environment.

Thanks, Randy

> For sanding on this type of project, I have found a random orbital sander
> to be an absolutely essential tool. I have a 5" hook and loop,
> variable speed Porter Cable and a 6" hook and loop variable speed
> DeWalt. The DeWalt is heavier and you can get more "aggressive"
> if necessary, but it's easy to overdo things if you're not careful.

> If you're just starting out, the smaller Porter Cable is a great tool for
> this and lots of other projects. (I tried Porter Cable's cheaper,
> single-speed RO sander and ended up returning it and buying the variable
> speed. The Borg, er, Home Depot :-) in my area didn't stock the variable
> speed, but did order it for me...)

> Good luck.