When it's time to do some work on your boat, putting some thought into your work space can make the difference between a satisfying experience and a miserable one.
I'm probably more fortunate than many paddlers, because my woodworking shop converts fairly easily to a boatworking shop. My workshop is an amenity that I, in the grand American tradition, married into. Martha's house had a three-car garage out back that she wasn't doing much with other than storing the sort of old junk that every homeowner accumulates. When I moved in with Martha, I cleaned the place out, did some renovation work, and set up shop.
I screwed some eye-bolts into the ceiling joists and tied ropes to them. Most of the time I keep the ropes tied up out of the way, but when it's boatworkin' time, down they come. I've got the ropes rigged so I can easily adjust the height of the boat: sometimes I want the boat at shoulder height so I can turn it upside-down and work up inside the cockpits; sometimes I want it at waist-height so I can work on the outside of it; sometimes I want the bow higher than the stern, or vice-versa, so I can use gravity to make the resin flow where I want it to.
If you don't have a good workshop space for working on your boat, look for other places where you can suspend ropes: a porch, an arbor, the eaves right next to a house, even a tree branch. Because rain, wind, and windblown dust are not your friends, a sheltered place is desirable; an indoor space is even better, especially in the wintertime. The general rule of thumb, as I've always understood it, is that the temperature must be warmer than 60 degrees Fahrenheit for resin to cure properly. (A chemist would know how to formulate the resin to cure over a larger range of temperatures and pressures, but since I last studied chemistry 26 years ago as a high school senior, I lack such expertise.) The only heat source in my shop is the wood stove that's visible in the lower-left of the photo, so if it's cold outside I'll fire it up and get the place good and toasty, and the building's insulation keeps the place adequately warm for at least 24 hours or so. This year we had a mild winter and it's been an exceptionally warm March, so the temperature hasn't been an issue for this project so far.
Now... on to tools. Different people seem to prefer different implements for applying the resin: brushes, spatulas, foam pads... browse your local hardware store and you'll see all kinds of things that could work.
Sweet Composites has a selection of applicators for sale as well.
I like to use a piece of minicell, using it like a squeegee. In three decades of paddling and outfitting boats, I've accumulated a near-endless supply of scraps. The beer box pictured at left holds merely the smallest of my scraps; I've got several big boxes of larger scraps up on a high shelf in the shop. For best results, I try to cut a nice clean piece without little shreds of foam hanging off it that can come off into the resin. A bandsaw is the best tool for doing this (see below), but hack saws and mat knives work pretty well.
An electric drill is often useful for work on a boat. You can bore holes with it (obviously) and you can attach a sanding disc and do some aggressive sanding. Another electric tool I'll be using in this project is a jigsaw.
Some sort of wastebasket is a good thing to have. These fabrics, especially fiberglass, have loose fibers that stick all over everything once they're wetted out with resin. Wherever I'm working, I try to have the wastebasket within reach so I can scrape these sticky fibers off my hands onto the inside of the bag.
Get yourself some latex gloves. Resin is not pleasant stuff to get all over your hands. It's been linked to all kinds of dermatitis-like ailments. Some people are more sensitive to it than others, but since resin is also a real pain to wash off, it just makes sense to wear gloves.
A respirator or dust mask is an important piece of equipment whenever you're sanding any part of a boat. A respirator is not really that expensive and is worth getting if you plan to do a lot of this kind of work (you replace the cartridges once in a while). If you opt for the less expensive dust mask, be sure to get a better-quality one with an exhale valve like the one in the picture has.
A syringe is a useful tool for getting resin into tight, hard-to-reach spaces. I think I bought the one with the long pointy tip from Sweet Composites many years ago (I've still got a little packet of them). I've accumulated many others over years of taking sick pets to the vet and coming home with medicines to be administered by syringe. If you're starting to think I'm some kind of packrat, you're catching on fast.
Resin is messy, messy stuff, and it has a way of getting on just about everything. Acetone is the best solvent for cleaning up wet resin. You can buy it in any hardware or auto parts store. An eco-friendly alternative is white vinegar, available in any grocery store. I've used acetone for years because for a long time I thought it was the only solvent that would clean up wet resin, but I'm starting to use white vinegar more and more, especially for cleaning resin off my skin.
Because I am a woodworker by profession, I own a bandsaw, and occasionally it is quite handy when you're working on a boat, too. But it is a
luxury item--please do not go out and buy one because you think you can't work on your boat without one. You can. In fact, the other day I spoke on the phone with Doug Bushnell, the man who built the boat I'm getting ready to work on, and he told me the only power-driven tools he owns are a jigsaw and a drill. And he's a full-time, professional boatbuilder.
Having said that, I have to admit that my bandsaw makes quick work of jobs that can otherwise be a little tedious. And it has no equal when it comes to cutting minicell.
Finally, if you're doing work inside a boat like I'll be doing here, a headlamp is a
very nice thing to have. Thank you, miners and cavers, for giving the world this simple but incredibly useful piece of equipment.
And here I am getting started on the bulkhead phase of this project. The boat is at a comfortable work height. The gloves are on. The wastebasket is at my feet. And I'm probably wearing the headlamp.
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