Favorite Boat Building Tools

[nicogold]

Until now I finished two boats, HC16 and OT16, and I used quite a lot of power tools like a cordless drill, jigsaw, circular saw, orbital rectangular sander, multitool, router. All of those tools were useful, but theres just one of the tools I've used, that I would consider essential: the Festool Rotex 150.

https://amzn.to/2yEBxrw

This is a very expensive tool, but it's worth every penny. Because of its unique disc motion, it will remove almost as much material as a belt sander when used with 40-grit or 60-grit-discs, but without any ugly marks in the surface. As long as the sanding disc is not clogged, it will always produce a smooth surface. And it will also sand the paint with 400grit perfectly or polish the final layer of paint.

I don't want to miss it for any future projects.

[Fred in Wisc]

Another vote for the Festools. I use an ETS150/5 sander with a CT series dust extractor vacuum. Freaking awesome. Low vibration, nice ergonomic grip, sandpaper lasts a long time with the dust extraction, and the dust extractor eliminates probably 95%+ of the floor and airborne dust from sanding. It ain't a cheap date, but it'll last a LONG time.