Bottom sanding made easier

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Aug 4, 2009
204
Oday 25 Olympia
Reading posts about bottom sanding brought to mind a tip that has worked for us. My wife and I hand sanded the bottom of a 30 foot keel boat in preparation for barrier coating in about 5 hours. We used a 3 foot stick with a square end (to grip a rubber sanding pad) along with forked sticks of varying lengths. Holding the square end on the sanding pad and putting the fork at about midway, pushing down on the end of the stick puts an upward pressure on the sanding pad with easy muscle-friendly effort. Rocking the setup back and forth is intuitive with amazingly fast results. And the dust falls at the length of your arm and not on your head.
FWIW, Geohan
 
Dec 8, 2006
1,085
Oday 26 Starr, SC
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Reading posts about bottom sanding brought to mind a tip that has worked for us. My wife and I hand sanded the bottom of a 30 foot keel boat in preparation for barrier coating in about 5 hours. We used a 3 foot stick with a square end (to grip a rubber sanding pad) along with forked sticks of varying lengths. Holding the square end on the sanding pad and putting the fork at about midway, pushing down on the end of the stick puts an upward pressure on the sanding pad with easy muscle-friendly effort. Rocking the setup back and forth is intuitive with amazingly fast results. And the dust falls at the length of your arm and not on your head.
FWIW, Geohan
Geohan,

In case you have not noticed when posting such as above, pictures and diagrams are required.

Ed K
O26
 

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Jun 2, 2004
1,923
Oday Day Sailer Wareham, MA
I use a similar setup (I think?) I bought a drywall sanding pad that uses a broom stick. I attached a drywall sanding screen and it works pretty good. The upside is that the screen doesn't clog like sandpaper and the handle means that I sand from beside the boat not under the boat. In the Fall I switch the sanding screen for a green scotchbrite type pad to clean off the bottom after haul out.

Sorry ED K, no pictures to show.
 
Aug 4, 2009
204
Oday 25 Olympia
I use a similar setup (I think?) I bought a drywall sanding pad that uses a broom stick. I attached a drywall sanding screen and it works pretty good. The upside is that the screen doesn't clog like sandpaper and the handle means that I sand from beside the boat not under the boat. In the Fall I switch the sanding screen for a green scotchbrite type pad to clean off the bottom after haul out.

Sorry ED K, no pictures to show.
The primary advantage of using a forked stick as a fulcrum is that it allows a downward force to apply an upward pressure to the sanding pad, a tetertoter effect.

I'm sorry also for lack of pictures and will fix that when I learn how.
Geohan
 
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