: I use belt sander belts cut and contact cement, Super 77 spray
: adhesive, whatever, on 1/4" plywood.

: The least expensive sandpaper I've found is at Harbor Freight. They
: have inexpensive belts of many different sizes.

: The way I understand it, is that a fairing board is for knocking
: down bumps and edges, etc... smoothing the hull. A short drywall
: sander isn't going to do it. For cedar I use 80 grit on my
: fairing board and it seems to hold up forever. I don't use a
: fairing board for fine sanding, (not saying that maybe I
: should). By the time I get to fine sanding, I'm not removing
: much material so I switch to smaller methods, Random Orbital,
: sanding block, folded paper in my hand....

The long board (fairing board) is primarily so the boat has long "fair" curves, no bumps or hollows in it's overall shape. Need to be able to stand back and look at the hull at an acute angle to see if there is a need to use the board and to check it's progress while it's being used.

Finish sanding really should be done wet or it's very easy to remove too much material and create a further need for the long board.

Bill H.