Bought my first boat to cut, gut and rebuild from bow to stern, including engine. Killed my back and suffered the wrath of the fiberglass demons

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
Going on maybe a month since anything productive was accomplished. Boat is no longer in my yard so that makes things slightly harder to work on it....Not to mention the fact that all my toys and tools are still at my house so nothing much can be done until everything is at the storage unit. With that being said, I did purchase a second hand generator for power at the unit, and aside from that, I have turned the majority of my focus onto a separate project. I am rebuilding an old utility trailer. The front half of it is going to be enclosed and the back half is going to be an open flat bed. There will be access doors on the sides that open up to small compartments where I can store tools or whatever else. I want to get this trailer finished before it starts snowing, so at bare minimum, I can load all my tools onto it and get them all over to the storage unit in one shot. Not to mention, given current circumstances with the boat, I now am looking harder at moving elsewhere and will need a good working trailer for that job. I may not be posting and progress may be slowed, but I am still here, hovering around and reading other's threads.
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
Going to be warm this weekend in Wisconsin.
Of course.......It's going to be warm when I am stuck working all weekendđŸ˜‚. I get done here in 40 min...Going to use what little light is left today to slap a layer of paint on the trailer. This t5rialer should give me good practice for when it comes time to redo my boat trailer!

On a side not, I last left off glassing stringers in.....Do I need heat or warm weather to glass effectively?
 

Pmt133

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 6, 2022
Messages
574
In my experience, once you start creeping below 60F, poly can be a SOB. Epoxy can depending on the type used but even then also won't work too well. I'd probably make a enclosure from plastic tarp or something and use a big kero/propane heater to get it warm for the work.
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
In my experience, once you start creeping below 60F, poly can be a SOB. Epoxy can depending on the type used but even then also won't work too well. I'd probably make a enclosure from plastic tarp or something and use a big kero/propane heater to get it warm for the work.
Won't that cause propane fumes to linger inside of an enclosure?
 

Pmt133

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 6, 2022
Messages
574
Won't that cause propane fumes to linger inside of an enclosure?
It could but a good heater would generate very little for the amount it would heat. And it wouldn't be sealed perfectly but that is a valid point. I usually have a 4 gas running if I do that though... just in case I'd rather not kill myself. At least a CO monitor.
 

TripleJGraffis

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 18, 2024
Messages
415
It could but a good heater would generate very little for the amount it would heat. And it wouldn't be sealed perfectly but that is a valid point. I usually have a 4 gas running if I do that though... just in case I'd rather not kill myself. At least a CO monitor.
The only propane heater I have is the one in my pics from way back when I started trains the boat apart.....the harbor freight tank that creates a little fire pit inside... grays amazingly well... but I had to vent the tent
 

JASinIL2006

Vice Admiral
Joined
Feb 10, 2012
Messages
5,674
I heated my garage with propane heaters when I was glassing my boat. Unless you’re running a chopper gun and are putting extreme amounts of vapors in the air, you’re not going to have a problem with a propane heater. The MEKP is the really flammable stuff, so I just make sure that I opened it and poured it into my measuring cup outsideand awsy from the heater.
 
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