 Here
I am at the week 10 into the project. As you can see the Cabin Skiff
is being prepared for the fiberglass covering on the exterior of the hull.
I had two friends stop by and with their help was able to roll it over.
This didn't go to bad considering we had a somewhat limited space to accomplish
the flip. Basically we stood it up on edge and then slid it sideways
and then laid it over. We then picked it up (took all three of us)
and my trusting wife slid a pair of saw horses underneath to hold it off
the floor.
I then proceeded to tape the seams as per plans and used epoxy putty to blend the edges. Everything was then sanded to feather the edges to hopefully insure a nice finish. BUT I now have run into a serious problem that is going to bring the project to a halt! My problem with an allergic reaction to the epoxy is worsening. I have places between my fingers that are so inflamed that they are cracking open and bleeding. My neck is broke out and the skin is drying out and flaking. I stopped working on it for a week hoping to see some improvement but it is not getting better. This puzzled me as before after a day or two it would go away. But I think I have found the cause. While leaving the CS alone I was working on another project in the shop. I had built a small four wheel cart and used two cans of enamel spray paint in finishing it. As I mentioned before my office is in the front of the same building. The next day when my wife came in (we work together everyday) she mentioned how strong the paint odor was in the office. The light bulb in my head immediately went on! If the fumes from the paint are managing to enter the office then SO ARE THE FUMES FROM THE EPOXY!! I am spending 9 or 10 hours a day with no respirator breathing in the gas that causing me the problems. No wonder it is not going away.
OK, now what. I am sure not ready to give up on the project. After a little thought I decided the best course of action was to put it on hold and wait for warmer weather. The shop has a large exhaust fan in the rear wall and by using it I should be able to dump the fumes. But running it when it is 25 degrees outside is not feasible. I need 70 degree days. Well, I am somewhat disappointed. I had taken the Cabin Skiff on as a "Winter" project and really planed to have it done in the Spring. Once the weather gets warm I would rather be on the water than in the shop. Maybe I will ge lucky. The winter has been very mild so far, so maybe we will have an early spring - I can only hope. In the mean time I have decided to take on a related project. I had planned to buy a trailer for the CS but now I am going to build it myself. I have the Glen-L plans and have ordered the steel. I have wanted a nice welder for years so this is the perfect time to make the investment and buy one. I purchased a wire feed MIG Lincoln 175+. It is a nice unit and should handle anything I want to weld now are in the future - but it didn't come cheap. By the time I left the dealer with the welder and other stuff I would need I was about $900 lighter than I went in. But I had priced trailers and was going to have to pay about $1400 for the one I wanted. I figure it will run me about $700 to $800 for the material to build it myself. So the bottom line is at the end of the project I will have spent a couple of hundred dollars more but the welder will be mine. Not to bad. |
This
is not good news. I don't mind wearing the respirator while working on
the CS but somehow I think it would make my customers a little nervous
if I wore it in the office. To me the logical answer was just to take off
work for a month or two to finish the project. Makes total sense
- won't have to be there all day breathing in the pollution. But
for some reason my wife didn't seem to think to much of the idea.
She mentioned something about maybe talking to our friend that is a divorce
lawyer.........................
