Tutorial - Building Fairing Boards

[flyfishingmonk]

I build some fairing boards in one evening out of scrap and though others may find this helpful. See pictures below.

They are pretty straight forward. I simply selected some lengths, based off of other builders input, that would be desirable. I blogged about it here.



Cut your boards. I built three fairing boards, each with a different length and thickness. The first board was ½ inch thick by 24 inches long. The second, ½ inch thick by 30 inches long, and the third was ¼ inch by 32 long. The thinner ¼ inch board flexes well for the curved areas of the hull, and the ½ inch is more rigid for the flatter areas. All three fairing boards are 4 inches wide.



Make comfortable handles. I used some scrap pieces of 2×6 pine that I had left over from my boat stand. I found that handles cut to 5 ¼ inches in length, 2 inches in height and 1 ½ inches wide to be comfortable in your hand – especially when the edges are finished with a ½ inch round over bit. I made these cuts with my table saw. But you can use a miter saw as well.



Glue on your handles. I glued three handles to each of the longer fairing boards and two handles to the shorter one. Both outside handles on each board were glued at an angle that was comfortable for my hands. I glued the center handles in the middle (length wise) of the stiffer ½ inch boards to make them even stiffer. For the ¼ inch board I glued in the handle perpendicular to the board to maintain the boards flex. Don’t worry if the handles hang over the edges of the boards, just glue them where it’s comfortable for you hands to grip the handles.



Attach the sandpaper with spray adhesive.
After cutting your sandpaper to the right length, lay it upside down on a drop cloth or a large piece of paper. Set the fairing board, with the bottom facing up, next to the sand paper. Apply spray adhesive to both surfaces and press the paper onto the fairing board. Trim any excess paper and your done.



Complete!

[Dean Smith]

thats ok but you need foam under the paper and staple the paper on

[michael pierzga]

In a pinch I use cardboard as pad.

[flyfishingmonk]

Yeah, depending on how aggressive you want the board to be. For the reverse chine I'm working on now I like the harder back surface. Have you found the card board to break down or does it hold up?

Have any of you used the 3M Hookit Marine Fairing Board System? You can convert your DIY boards by attaching their stuff to your board and then utilize their sandpaper. This is prob what I will use on top of the padding when I need it. Thoughts?

[michael pierzga]

Sure...the cardboard breaks down very fast. But Its reall handy for delicate stuff...fine paper. glue the paper to the cardboard then glue or staple the cardboard to the board.

The hookit 3m work good.

Your ply sheets with a bit of padding and paper stapled on works. Ive use 3m scotch brite as soft backing pads for board sanding with wet and dry paper ...does the job.

A standard stick drywall sander with a swivle head is a dydnamite tool for decks or working on the bottom of a boat...overhead work.

Normally when I visit a big yacht paint companies workshop, I see dozens of different sanding boards hung. Odd shapes, Jumbos, or for inside radius..or for chines. Use your imagination when you get to a difficult spot.

[flyfishingmonk]

Good input fellows. I'm gonna add these thoughts to my blog post.

[viking north]

In addition to sanding boards I also make use of other sanding shape forms, keep an eye out for closed cell med. to high density packaging foams. They can be shaped into custom diameter curves or radius corners. Those foam swimming noodles used by the kids make excellent sanding forms. I simply wrap the sandpaper partly around them and by gripping the edges of the paper on each side your hands effectively act as a clamp stretching it tightly over the form due to the foams compression. Another little trick is to wear those thin rubber based work gloves while hand sanding for a better grip on all manual sanding devices. The other important factor here is the Brand of sandpaper, It's still a toss up between Norton and 3M for me but I think Norton has the edge .--Geo

A yacht is not defined by the vessel but by the care and love of her owner

[Charly]

Hey flyfishingmonk, Thanks for posting that. Where do you get the sandpaper? I've never seen sheets that lomg in stores.

[CatBuilder]

Charly: You can stick on multiple sheets, or get sheets like flyfishingmonk has from higher end tool places like Northern Tool, (maybe Harborfreight) or Grainger.

Also, while this is a great tutorial, the end result is misery. Can't we have a tutorial on what drinks to make up instead of doing your fairing work?

[flyfishingmonk]

Originally Posted by CatBuilder

... while this is a great tutorial, the end result is misery. Can't we have a tutorial on what drinks to make up instead of doing your fairing work?

That was funny! I am obviously writing about the wrong stuff here.

[flyfishingmonk]

Originally Posted by Charly

Hey flyfishingmonk, Thanks for posting that. Where do you get the sandpaper? I've never seen sheets that long in stores.

I took sandpaper designed for belt sander and cut them to lenght. You can find 24 and 36 inch belts at Home Depot but the grit selection is very limited.

I suggest looking here for your 24 inch belts.

and here for your 36 inch belts. There are a lot more grits to choose from.

I used 3M's General Purpose 45 spray adhesive and it works pretty well. Just don't use to much of it. You want to be able to easily pull the belt back off to put on a new one. Sometimes a little water will help it peel off too.

I've had success with the paper coming off all in one piece to where I could use it again, but by the time I peel it off its pretty used up. If I still have any grit left I cut it up and use it with a small sanding block.

[CatBuilder]

Great advice, Monk. I forgot about those belts at all the box stores. Saw some just last week and was thinking about them as longboard candidates.

Thanks for this tutorial. It's great to see, since I have quite a bit of fairing coming up in a few months.

[flyfishingmonk]

Excellent! I'm glad you found it helpful. What are you building? I assume some kind of cat.

[CatBuilder]

Originally Posted by flyfishingmonk

Excellent! I'm glad you found it helpful. What are you building? I assume some kind of cat.

Yep. I'm building this one:

[flyfishingmonk]

That is going to be AWESOME! Do you have a blog about your build or a thread on this forum?

Here is my blog about the flats boat I'm building. Phantom 196

It's a Phantom 18 I modified. I picked up the plans from Bateau.