My old long board was falling apart and was not stiff enough so I made a new one today. Another problem was the sandpaper strips were peeling off of the ends from flex in the board. Initial test today was good. I used a 3 ply sheet of 1/8” plywood and covered it with one layer of 200 gram carbon uni on one face. This made a stiff board but it had enough flex in it to conform to the shape and spring back straight after I was done. I made it wide enough for three strips of standard air file paper, tacky backed it comes in a roll.
This is what you use to fair a hull. Power sanders are nice for getting it into the ballpark - but you can't beat a good long board and a little elbow grease.
Correct stiffness is key and that can change depending on what kind of hull you are working on. You can make a long board out of anything - I managed to find some 4" wide plastic extrusion in a "C" shape (used for conveyor rails) and I placed a piece of 1/8" aluminum inside with some tubing bolted in place (through the aluminum - not the plastic). The UHMW plastic takes sticky back sandpaper well and releases it very well too. You can get rolls of sticky back sandpaper at Lowe's and it's a very economical method...$9 to $12 per roll and they last forever.
