Jake,
what happened to the preferred vertglass?

Ditto on the NuFinish. Works like a champ.

A couple other questions:

1. Do you guys stick to the same routine (grades of sanding, buffing, polishing) when preparing daggerboards and rudders?

2. On my new boat, I've hand buffed and polished it - but have not done any sanding/heavy duty buffing. The finish seems to be nice. When should one consider a complete makeover? Depends on the wear and tear, I'd assume.

I dunno - I guess I haven't gone that route with the cat simply because I plan on redoing some gelcoat and removing the vertglas can be involved.

When one does wet-sanding do you always perform this task by hand sanding? Or use an electric sander until you get to a certain (fine) grade paper?

I wouldnt wet sand with electricity - water plus electricity is bad mojo. I dont know of any waterproof sanders and wouldnt trust them if they did exist. Wet sanding requires you dunking the sandpaper into fresh water to keep the paper fresh, or by running water over the surface you are sanding. Either way, you need more water than would be safe around electricity.

If you asking - Can I dry sand up to a certain grit and then wet sand? Then the answer is yes, that works fine. Keep in mind that wet sanding keeps the paper free from clogging and keeps the paper fresh, so in my experience it actually works quite fast and "feels" like you are removing more material than a comparable grit dry sand.

But whatever you do, dont try to wet sand with an electric sander.

Bill

Hmmmm, sounds like some one is getting ready for Tradewinds. No pulling any of these fancy tricks.....

Actually, my question was more geared around the thread of SportMax boxes and got me thinking about building a 'glass box (as descibed on that thread.)

As for Tradewinds, I do have some repair to my daggerboards from sailing last week in shallow waters. Seems like I'm building up my daggerboards about every other month.

...but no Tom ... no tricks from me. I'll be busy keeping my mainsail and spi' dry <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> and watching your sailing tactics from far behind.

Actually pneumatic sanders are often employed for wet sanding. However, it really goes so quickly that you don't need the power and you'll find that you need the extra personal control with a simple foam block.