: Hi Jim,

: Excuse my lack of knowledge. What is a fairing board ?

: rb

What Paul said, great explanation. They're pretty easy to make. Some builders like to use them with handles at the ends, some like the handles in a few inches from the ends. I made mine pretty much the way Paul described it, just put the handles in about 6". I made mine about 20" long x 4.5" wide. I picked up a roll of Porter Cable Adhesive Back Sanding Roll, 4.5" wide by 10 yds. long, 80 grit, Catalog #: 74 000 08 01. It was $16 at Woodcraft. I just roll out a length, stick it to my fairing board and I'm ready to go. Some builders don't use them, I won't build a boat WITHOUT using it. One way to tell if you've lots of high spots on your hull is to turn out the overhead lights then shine a light along the length of the hull, the high and low spots should show up as shadows.
What boat are you building? Vaclav's Manual from OneOceanKayak has a great explanation on fairing boards. BTW, you can spend serious money, like $75 for a 3M board from your local marine store, but that's NOT necessary. Fairing boards are used all the time on boats when fiberglass repair, epoxy layup, etc. is being done. They come in handy for getting these cedar beauties smooth and even.