: Kyle,

: You seem to have most all you need save for the fairing boards.

: The drawer knobs sound like a great idea for the fairing boards. I hot-glued
: pieces of firring strips to the backs of mine and I have to say they're
: not very elegant. My fairing boards are made of half-inch OSB, which has
: what seems to be the right amount of flex, and are covered with 3" x
: 21" sanding belts that I snipped at the seams. One is 60-grit, the
: other is 120-grit.

: I haven't found the spokeshave to be a necessity. I use a radiused sanding
: block in the convex areas that I can't work with the small block plane. To
: make the sanding block, I used a dinner plate to trace an arc (5-inch
: radius) onto the ends of the 11" x 2.25" x 1" block. I
: planed down to the arc lines and then ran the block across a sheet of
: 120-grit to smooth it, etc. I slit a sheet of 60-grit lengthwise and glued
: its edges the block. If you use something like this, get longer-lasting
: sandpaper so you don't have to replace it too much.

: I am building my boat in my apartment so no orbital sander for me. I don't
: miss it though. The block plane, fairing boards and sanding blocks are
: plenty enough for the job. It's also relaxing and enjoyable to sand the
: nicely shaped boat by hand. If you think you'd be happy without the
: electric sander, maybe you could use it to trade for some of the other
: tools you want.

Quiet too. You can listen to music and work at the same time. Which seems to pass comfortably with the right music.

Mike Savage
South West Cork