Given the amount of hand-sanding that I'm going to be doing - having lent my ROS to a mate and can't get hold of it immediately - I'll keep a sharp eye on it all. I agree about the dust extraction. Having had the vacuum hooked up to the sander I didn't get much clogging sanding from the large amount of paint from the clear oregon I'm going to be using for various spars - and there was a lot of paint! I'll run the vacuum while using the paper, and see if I can suck at least 50 % of the dust away. Or move the nozzle as I sand ;).
I'm currrently trying out the Wurt "Sahara" sandpaper that BoatCraft sells - 120 grit in this instance, which is the coarsest that I got from them. Maybe I should be using a coarser grit? I had a go with some 60 grit Norton yellow "Master Painter's" brand paper off the roll (like the Sahara) last night - it chewed through the resin quite well, but I stopped because I felt that the grit was too coarse and I would be hitting the wood if I didn't watch out! Not sure whether it has relase agents or not - I assume not, though, given its nominal use.
The ROS that I have is the bottom-of-the range Bosch Green PEX - model 11A, I think. It has dust extraction but not quite the weight/mass that would make it a bit more useful. I might have a look in the local Rabbit Warren or Mitre 10 to see what they have, e.g., a 12A or better (whatever the current model-number-of-the-month is). At the right price, of course...
The hardener ratio may have been off in a couple of batches - the resin pump took so long to come up I may have lost count (hardener pump pops up fine). Which is one excellent reason for warming up the resin (and hardener), apart from allowing it to go off quicker, spread more easily, etc.
The second side panel should be good and hard - and not sticky - by now, and will have a go at it some time after I get back from the doctor's (unless she bans me from any boat work, eeeeeek!!!!!).