Fairing Boards

[oceansky]

Con Write's

Hello all,

Iv'e been using some new fairing boards lately, and I have to say that they are terrific tool to use.

Not only are they easy to use, they produce a great finish in half the time spent using the 3M boards.

They are called Flexi-cat tools, here's a picture of them.

[kleptonite]

Two questions:

1 - As these are quite expensive (~£100), is there one size that would best suit boats between 12 and 23 feet?

2 - Are the filling boards of much value? And if so, what size would be best?

[oceansky]

G'day kleptonite,

Fairing boards between 2- 3ft work best when working on your own. If you've got someone to give a hand, go for a 4 ft'er.

I personally use the straight line sanders. Hook it up to your compresser and away you go. Make's fairing real quick and does a great job. I rang up my nephew who's a panel beater and he said it's one of the tools they also use.

It does a great job of fairing and it's quick. It's also what Graham used to fair his SportzMaster 19 !

It's costs AUS $90

http://messing-about...portzmaster-19/

[PAR]

I've used a number of "boogie" boards over the years, including a few of the articulated ones, shown above. I've found most of them overly complex and heavy and most importantly of all, lacking "feel".

The one thing I find necessary when fairing, is the ability to sense the surface I've working on, through my fingers and hands. I too use an inline sander, but final fairing is usually done with home made long boards of various lengths. The articulated ones, like the Flexicat are great for knocking down large areas, but they have limitations as to how much convex or concave you can get them into. I've noticed this is less the case with home made boards. I can also twist my home made boards, which is imposable with the Fexicat.

I can see a large production shop buying a whole set of Flexicat products, but the average guy needs little more then a couple of handles, on a length of thin plywood or acrylic sheet.

[oceansky]

G'day Par,

Hope all is well your way. Glda to see your on here

Kleptonite,

I totally agree with Par in regards to his comments. Our final fairing boards are just made from plywood with a couple of handles. Simple. We use our inline sander for all the major sanding and the "torture boards" for the final "touch-ups".

[PAR]

Hope all is well with you too Mark, congrats on the forum addition.