Best Way to Work With Hazmat in High Temperatures?

[Chotu]

The time is soon coming to get back to work on the catamaran.

I'm trying my best not to use epoxy at all on the boat anymore, but it's inevitable I'll be drilling into some, sanding some and even needing to lay some new stuff down outdoors.

My entire hull is made from epoxy.

Epoxy is a life threatening hazmat for me that will land me in the hospital (during covid no less).

I need to come up with some ways not only to work on my boat in extreme heat in general, but also to do actual hazmat work in 100 degrees temperatures.

I have the following so far.

1) Install the final air conditioning system and run generators all day long to keep it cool enough to work. I could step outside to make cuts on the table saw, etc. But need to keep inside dust free while building the interior out. I also can't breathe in anything. No fumes from polyester, no sawdust, nothing. Not easy when closed up for air conditioning. I do, however, have a forced air respirator.

2) Get a true encapsulated hazmat suit (looks like an actual space suit and functions in a similar way) and wear cooling vest and shorts inside it. Ice I'm direct contact with the body does keep you cool in the harshest environments. Probably would get too swampy inside promoting skin infections I'm thinking. I absolutely have to do this if working anywhere near epoxy though.

3) Move the boat North to Georgia or something.. The rates are outrageous and I need to park an RV at the boat to be able to work at it. I also have the following list to complete to even move it- motor mounts, steering/auto helm upgrade, rig up bridle/anchor tackle, rent car and stuff to move RV.


Basically, I'm back to struggling on how I can get this boat done in extreme heat when it's made out of material that can kill me.

Any ideas?

[Bill O]

Not trying to be funny here, but if you are that sensitive to it possibly have someone else do the work. Otherwise the fully contained suit is the good way to go.


Moving the boat N will only get you out of the heat but will still expose yourself to contaminants while you do the work.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Not trying to be funny here, but if you are that sensitive to it possibly have someone else do the work. Otherwise the fully contained suit is the good way to go.


Moving the boat N will only get you out of the heat but will still expose yourself to contaminants while you do the work.

Not funny at all. I think you may be right. We just arrived at that same conclusion for the bits of epoxy work still left.

Getting out of the heat would be nice too, but it's a fool's errand for me to keep playing with fire with the epoxy work.

[tkeithlu]

Bill O speaks with wisdom. Your health is a whole bunch more valuable than what you will have to pay. Maybe consider shifting to another yard if yours does not have a good epoxy person or charges rates you cannot swallow. I've had to do a couple of small bits of work in a bunny suit, and getting the temperature right is hell. Doing it in summer Florida just does not compute.

[Bill O]

While you've saved $$ by buying a fixer upper, you'll probably still save some money by farming out/supervising the jobs and still have your health.

A fully contained hazmat suit w/ventilation and its own A/C unit (think astronaut type suit) wouldn't be cheap. The money not spent on the suit could be put towards outside labor

Also get off the boat while the boat is getting work on and stay in a hotel. Then have a cleaning crew come in, vacuum and wipe down the whole interior.

Other than that, possibly get an aluminum boat.

[Chotu]

I'm tending to agree completely with everyone here.

Ruining my health even more is the most expensive option of all.

[Cheechako]

small home AC window units are $150+. Get one.
Tyvek suits aren't too bad. it's the breathing that's an issue.
It all depends on how sensitive you are really.
You might consider trading for a useable boat to someone who wants a cat.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

small home AC window units are $150+. Get one.
Tyvek suits aren't too bad.

Already have two. The largest that will run on a 20 amp circuit and a 5,000 BTU as well.

I need about 30,000 BTU+ to cool the boat. And there is no shore power available. I have to run a generator non stop to run the air conditioning.

I'm going to get the final solar and inverter in ASAP to be able to run the table saw without a generator.

Tyvek suits where? In Washington state? Or In South Florida? When it's 90+ and near 100% humidity? Not bad? People downright die wearing hazmat in these conditions.

This is my full time job for the next couple years. It's costing a fortune and there needs to be maximum productivity.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Not trying to be funny here, but if you are that sensitive to it possibly have someone else do the work. Otherwise the fully contained suit is the good way to go.


Moving the boat N will only get you out of the heat but will still expose yourself to contaminants while you do the work.

Spot on! Hire the epoxy work! Glad I’m immune but I still wear gloves and avoid contact. US composites 635 THIN epoxy is water and soap clean up. Stay away from acetone too.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by Bill O

While you've saved $$ by buying a fixer upper

I stand corrected, it wasn't a fixer upper, he built the boat.

Now it makes perfect sense why he has such a life threatening hypersensitivity to epoxy.

Done the tyvek suit in the heat and it's great if you want to lose weight.

With your sensitivity wouldn't chance the exposure. I'm sure you'd like to be around and healthy to sail it.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Already have two. The largest that will run on a 20 amp circuit and a 5,000 BTU as well.

I need about 30,000 BTU+ to cool the boat. And there is no shore power available. I have to run a generator non stop to run the air conditioning.

I'm going to get the final solar and inverter in ASAP to be able to run the table saw without a generator.

Tyvek suits where? In Washington state? Or In South Florida? When it's 90+ and near 100% humidity? Not bad? People downright die wearing hazmat in these conditions.

This is my full time job for the next couple years. It's costing a fortune and there needs to be maximum productivity.

Yeah, a Tshirt and shorts outside in Fl is bad. I was thinking in an air conditioned boat with the Tyvek. Which is just a dust suit really. how big is this Cat?! I have a 6500 btu in my 1140 sq ft house and it keeps things reasonable, albeit not great.
A home window unit in Trinidad in the summer was too cold on a 38 ft boat.

[gamayun]

Chotu, was it over exposure to epoxy that has caused you to be so sensitive? I'm just curious, if you don't want to answer that. As to a full hazmat suit, you're talking about the most extreme level of PPE, which has its own risks. The advice above to farm out this work would be extremely wise. Or at least have a buddy who can do most of the work while you stay out of the mix, so to speak.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by gamayun

Chotu, was it over exposure to epoxy that has caused you to be so sensitive? I'm just curious, if you don't want to answer that. As to a full hazmat suit, you're talking about the most extreme level of PPE, which has its own risks. The advice above to farm out this work would be extremely wise. Or at least have a buddy who can do most of the work while you stay out of the mix, so to speak.

Absolutely. The boat was built by a team of pro builders and myself working side by side.

I suffered severe allergic sensitization manifesting as allergic asthma and setting off several other strong allergies back then. Prior to that, I had never had an allergy.

Now, the smallest amount of free amine hardener gives me an anaphylactic reaction. This can come from the hardener out of the bottle, or even from the breaking of the polymer bonds when sanding cured epoxy or machining it in any way.

I don't have any friend who can do epoxy work, unfortunately.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Yeah, a Tshirt and shorts outside in Fl is bad. I was thinking in an air conditioned boat with the Tyvek. Which is just a dust suit really. how big is this Cat?! I have a 6500 btu in my 1140 sq ft house and it keeps things reasonable, albeit not great.
A home window unit in Trinidad in the summer was too cold on a 38 ft boat.

50' x 25' with lots of glass on the bridgedeck.

Thermal loading due to windows is enormous in Florida. Looking forward to removing it from there asap.

I have 20,000 BTUs of window ACs in it right now and it doesn't keep up. Going with 30,000 BTUs of permanent ACs.

[rslifkin]

For big stuff, have someone do the work. For small stuff, forced air for you, shield yourself from dust, debris, etc. as well as possible. And have a really well filtered shop vac running (discharging outside) set up to draw as much of the dust, etc. produced directly into the shop vac.



A/C wise, cover as much glass as you can. Any parts of the hull / deck that aren't well insulated, do anything you can to keep the sun off it. That'll go a long way to keeping it cool with a manageable amount of A/C.