I think this whole issue has to do with comfort level as well. I have a lot of experience with hand planes and I like them a lot. I feel like I have a lot more control with a plane than I do with sandpaper and a sander because I can see exactly how much material I'm removing and exactly where I'm removing it from, and I don't seem to have that feel with a sander. Some guys are artists with sanders-I know someone who uses a belt sander to cope cut crown molding-I'm just not one of them. I don't need coarse paper and can start with the finer grits because I can get the hull pretty close with a plane.

Rob sounds like he has a lot more experience with sandpaper than I do-so I just want to add one more thing- about paper loading up. I don't have a problem with it, but I use the "expensive" stearate-coated papers (3M Gold sheets and Mirka RO pads) and they get dull before they load up. I also use really powerful dust extraction with my RO sander, and that may help. When I use sanding blocks by hand it does tend to load more easily if I'm not careful about dumping the dust trapped between the work and the paper often enough.

Also- don't use the commercial shop where I worked as an example- I don't work there any more. I sand to 220 and do the last pass by hand with a flexible backer. If it were furniture I'd sand to 320, but I'm uncomfortable with the epoxy not having a sufficient mechanical bond with that fine a grit, whether or not it's actually an issue. I just wanted to say that 120 would probably be fine. I like sanding, but I know a lot of people don't, so I wanted to let you know that really nice work is produced when you only sand that far. You don't have to feel guilty about pooping out!

On your next boat you can experiment and find what's comfortable for you. Now forget it all and go paddle!

m