: the epoxy is probably less smelly than latex paint. if you can paint a wall
: without bothering the family, you can do a boat.

: But, keeping a window open a crack will help the ventilation a lot.

: Close off the room where you are working -- as best you can. I've just read
: of one person using plastic sheeting. That sounds like a good idea if you
: can't just close a door to the room.

: Since it is cold outside, consider opening the window a crack jsut as soon as
: you put the last drops of resin on the boat. This will not only suck the
: heated, resin-smelling air out of your house, but it will cause the room
: temperature to drop a bit, which should be considered a benefit, as it
: should reduce outgassing from the wood.

: If you are working with the windows closed, though, then you definately need
: a respirator mask, as you'll be breathing nothing but those fumes for a
: few hours -- and you don't want to do that.

: Once you start glassing plan to procede at a rapid pace so you finish the
: entire job before anyone gets fed up with you. Once the resin has started
: to harden and the boat can be taken off the forms and moved, get it out of
: the house. It will smell of plastic (that "new car" umm boat
: smell) for a while If you can move the whole thing while it is still on
: the forms, that is even better. By the time you get around to varnishing
: it the weather should be better.

: PGJ

In the model dept. I worked in we had two people that became allergic to epoxy and had to transfer into strickly wood pattern making because of very bad reactions that developed over time. The simptoms were like poison ivy and they broke out in their fingers first and finally in one case in his mouth hair etc. The company sent him to a specialist for months and they finally told him he just had to never again be exposed to epoxy. Some people took the precausions of using gloves and washing in alcohol and then water and soap when they finished epoxying. I did this and I still would break out on my fingers once in a while. One particular laminating epoxy ( Ren RP-1710 ) seemed to cause most of the trouble. But I didn's trust any epoxy and tried to take every precaution. Our model work was set on a grated table and the fumes were pulled down away from our faces by a 20 horsepower motor. Years ago at General Motors Fisher Body Division they had a big room for taking fiberglass laminates from wood models. In it they had a wall that was nothing but a water fall that the fumes were sucked into and taken away, while we worked on a greated floor that drips of epoxy and fiberglass dust and fibers dropped through and moved off on conveyor belts. So this should give you an idea of how serious some companies took the exposure of its people to epoxy.

John