get out the 40

With the stripping done, it's time to fare the hull and start sanding. I used a small hand plane to smooth down the edges - very zen-like process with aromatic cedar shavings flying. It gets a bit touchy when I hit two strips that have opposite grain. In a few places, especially with the eastern white, the wood gets gouged.

I start sanding with a orbital palm sander that' noisy and has no dust bag. Eventually the noise gets louder and less orbital until the sanding pad flies off the end of the sander. After a few unsuccessful attempts at fixing it, I buy a new bigger, quieter sander with a dustbag and a good dust mask. The CanoeCraft book recommends using an 80 grit for rough sanding the hull. I read somewhere that a 50 or 60 grit is okay. It's slow going in some areas, so I try a 40 grit which leaves the hull kinda rough but goes more quickly. I can pass over again later with a 120 and wet/dry.