Hutchins Dustfree Flexible Longboard 2-3/4 inches wide x 16 inches long

I've been using the Hutchins Longboard for about 2 weeks, fairing a 15' wooden boat sheathed in fiberglass. It hooked up to a Festool dust extractor easily (tightened with blue tape) and both do the job, mostly with rolls of 3M sandpaper. Maybe 6 to 8 hours of fairly hard use so far. Like with the Festool and its hand sander, there is a light film of surface dust left with this longboard that quickly can be removed a good towel & alcohol. The air seems surprisingly clean although 3 other ceiling extractors are running. I have 2 concerns that haven't prevented me from using it as essential equipment. 1. There is some separation of the pads at one corner that I am watching and I'd like advice hopefully from Jamestown or Hutchins about what adhesive to use for its repair. 2. This concern applies more to the perforating plate which for me was a hard to find add on; I think it is essential if dust hazard is a problem. I tried the Longboard without making sandpaper perforations as per one review, with my hopes up, and with a dust cloud stopped sanding immediately. Maybe if you narrowed the sandpaper it would pick up holes along each side of the longboard and work. There'd be a lot of sandpaper and time waste due to this flaw. Here's the problem—the expensive metal perforator sold as an extra has 2 - 4 misplaced holes. I was surprised with this, especially given its price. The sandpaper needs 2 holes enlarged to capture the apertures, and 2 holes have to be made, maybe 3/16 from the pins, for each use. A routine for this, usually need a rest at this time, and it takes a minute or so. With the scissors closed, the scissor end clears out holes quickly with slight pressure. It needs to be done because the pins prevent other holes for being made—they are marked after pressure but need to be opened. I'd like to see this problem addressed and some restitution for buyers. This piercer should be thrown in with the current price of the longboard.

The longboard seems to be well made. I'll be putting it to work on a strip-built canoe. The hose mates very well to my dust collector via a shop-vac hose. The shipping was great, as well as the price. Thanks!

I own every kind of sander imaginable that doesn't require a huge compressor. I used this unit to dry sand/fair the bottom of my 30 ft. racing boat after applying bottom paint. With 220 paper, it took out all the orange peel and roller marks and made subsequent wet sanding with 400 a snap. It was pretty effective at sucking up dust and did help the paper last longer. It's a good idea to blow it out afterwards.

Works great, vacuum attachment REALLY helps. You almost don't even need any type of respirator.