Sanding trim and old bulkheads

Sanding - lots of sanding!

... not!

This weekend I sanded the remaining bulkheads and all of the solid mahogany trim pieces. Very tedious work. The bulkheads are now ready for paint and the trim is ready for varnishing.

I'm going to refurbish the old bulkheads and trim to keep the cost down. If only marine plywood wasn't so ridiculously expensive here in Denmark I would love to redo the bulkheads. Simply put 340 USD per sheet is too steep for me - read my previous post. On all of the bulkheads, except one, there were spots where the outer veneer was worn thru. This is not an issue as I'm going to paint the bulkheads. But it meant sanding - lots of sanding. Luckily I purchased a BOSCH excenter grinder to help make the task more manageable.

Before and after

Using the PEX300AE and 60 grit sandpaper removed the old varnish easily. Even using 60 grit the sander left no scuffs or sanding marks.

On the right: old bulkhead ready for sanding. On the left: another bulkhead after sanding.

Bosch PEX300AE

Bosch PEX 300 AE

After having spent a total of 10 hours using the Bosch PEX300AE I must say I'm very pleased.

Cheap - at 59 USD it's definitely a good deal.

Light (weigth) - easy to handle even while holding it vertically. This will definitely be an advantage if I choose to wet sand the hull (gelcoat).

Low vibrations - even after 10 hours I had no numbness in my hands.

The only drawback is the dust filter. It doesn't seem to function very well. I have still need to sand the large bulkhead (the one that is too large to get out of the boat). Coating the entire boat in dust will result in me having to clean the entire boat. My plan is to take a closer look at the dust filter to see if I can figure out why it is performing so poorly. If need be I will attatch my wacume insted of the filter. Stay tuned for a closer examination of the only noticeable drawback of the Bosh PEX300AE.

Bosh has all the specs here.