: Ian, if you're reading this, you can have my Outer Island when I become a
: drooling invalid after applying AwlBrite Plus to it;-) (Ian has thrown up
: red flags at the subject of 2-part polys before. I do respect these
: chemicals and thank Ian for the warnings.) I have talked to a number of
: people, including someone at Noah's and the owner of a local kayak shop,
: and they say that when rolling/brushing on 2-part polys, all you need is
: good ventilation and a respirator. The woman I talked to at Noah's said
: that she had done this many times with no problems, and she didn't even
: use a respirator. I'll be going with my respirator anyway, since it
: filters isocyanates. And I'm not doing this in my apartment's living room
: -- a friend offered me his detached garage with nice rafters to hang the
: kayak from.

: If you read the labels and Material Safety Data Sheets for 2-part polys,
: there are no extremely harsh warnings on them to warrant a full
: pressurized fresh-air suit for the one-time user. The MSDS's have many
: phrases such as 'prolonged exposure' and especially 'prolonged
: occupational exposure', not a
: better-suit-up-before-you-even-think-of-opening-a-can type of warning. I
: once painted a '73 VW Bug with 2-part poly while wearing a respirator in a
: make-shift garage/spray booth and had no problems. And in that case the
: paint was atomized, which is much more hazardous than the roll-on
: clearcoat I'll be putting on the kayak.

: Noah's has a 1-part poly (a moisture-cure urethane) that behaves chemically
: like a 2-part, but uses exposure to moisture to react it, rather than a
: separate chemical catylist. I would have gone with this since no mixing is
: required, but they were out of stock for a few weeks and I wanted to get
: this thing done before a Memorial-weekend symposium. Instead I went with
: AwlBright, which is a clear variation of AwlGrip. Betsie Bay Kayaks uses
: white AwlGrip on the hulls of their production stitch-n-glue kayaks, and
: I've seen many of them at symposiums and they continue to look like new!

: BTW -- cost of the AwlBrite was $108 for a quart kit -- a quart of the base
: plus 1/2 quart of activator and a little reducer, so it's really a 3-part.
: The Sikkens moisture-cure stuff was $45/500ml, if I remember correctly.
: The costs might seem high, but if I only have to do this once, it'll pay
: off over re-coats of varnish.

: Dean

Well Folks, there you have it. He's used it once and he's going in again, without a helmet. Is he hooked to what?? I'll send him a bib.

Actually Dean, I think Ian's thing is "TOTAL AWARENESS", 'cause there are those who always have to push the envelope as far as they can, and will take the unnessary(?) risks just to show they can do it, and there are those that don't read labels at all, just open, pour and spray.

The local Harley shop that does our bikes and clear-coats them has a ventilation system, and they wear good respirators and, as much as can be expected of Bikers, they are all doing fine. But, they aren't stupid. They are AWARE and they DO take the precautions.

I really like the idea of the clear-coat 2 part Poly's as they are absolutely gorgeous. Make sure you don't have even the smallest flaw on your boat, cause the clear-coat WILL make it stick out like a sore thumb.

Good Luck and hope to see it when You're done. Hey, why does Ian get your boat??

Rehd :)