I've sprucing up some brightwork at the dock this weekend.

I refuse to buy sandpaper at West Marine. There ain't no such thing as "marine"
sandpaper, and I won't pay over a buck a sheet for plain old sandpaper.

I bought some sandpaper put out by 3M at the hardware store. It's a premium
grade paper that comes three to a pack, and it's got a different mineral on it
that the regular sandpaper. I didn't realize until I got to the checkstand that
the stuff is
about $4 for three sheets, and I almost put it back. That would have been a
mistake.

This stuff lasts about three times as long as regular sandpaper. It doesn't
tear easily, and even after you've been sanding for ten or fifteen minutes with
the same sheet (hand sanding), it still works just as well as when fresh from
the package.
I used less sandpaper, and the work went substantially faster than I would have
expected.

The product is sold under the label "Sandblaster". Good stuff. :-)