: Hi everyone,

: I am nearly done with the kayak (last coat of Varnish next week) and I am
: debating to get a random orbit sander now. I would like it for two
: purposes: Paint stuff around the house and polishing the kayak. I decided
: that I will sand the final coat up to 2000 grid and than use #2 and #9
: polishing compounds.

: I don't expect a ROS wiht 1/8 orbit does a good job for polishing. The soft
: pad will deflect too much and I'll get very little action on the surface.
: Makita makes a ROS (BO6040 which has a 7/32 orbit with a max of 5800 OPM.
: This ROS has also a mode which allows you to run it in a non ROS mode up
: to 670 RPM. This is the bottom end for polishing. Typically ~1700 rpm
: would be a good speed for polishing.

: What do you guys think: Will this be a lousy ROS and a poor polisher? The
: BO6040 is expensive, but it seems that I can get a reasonable deal on it.

: Andreas

If you're going to polish your varnish, I'd suggest practicing on a test panel first.

Most of the people I've seen try this have quickly polished right throught the varnish and
into the resin before they realized it. This is visually detectable when you see faint halos
appear on the surface where the varnish has been removed.

IF you're going to polish you'd be advised to have six coats or more of varnish to work with AND
they need to be totally cured to harden to a surface that will polish well.

Why do you wish to polish in the first place? Are having problems getting a good surface on your varnish?

Unless you're hanging your boat on the wall or selling it for $20,000, polishing will be a big waste of time
for a working boat. AND it is quite time consuming even, if you know what you're doing

It's much easier to have a great surface just by letting the varnish do it's thing. For tips on applying a good
varnish finish check the archives on my varnishing tips.

All the best,

Rob Macks
Laughing Loon CC&K
www.LaughingLoon.com