: I have been working on this boat for 3 months now and no problem at first but
: in the last 5 weeks have had a head cold that would not completely go away
: but kept flaring up every couple of days so I suspected the epoxy but who
: knows?
: After the Christmas I installed the decks so ever since I have been mixing up
: batches regularly glassing the decks,intalling skeg box,hatch,fairing etc.
: Two weeks ago a rash developed on my hands ,wrists like poison ivy.I had the
: boat upside down and spreading epoxy inside the cockpit,banged the back of
: my head on the coaming and got poxy in my hair.Then I went and had a
: shower and now have a rash on the back of my neck so I quite working on
: the boat as I was feeling weak and lethagic with sinuses plugged up.After
: a week off I feel good now and have done a lot of hand sanding with
: respirator and no problem.
: I did borrow a nice fan to move the air and will open a window in order to
: increase ventilation when I mix up a batch of epoxy tonight.
: I think the trouble was that I did too much in a short time bombarding my
: body with more than it could handle plus I cheated by taking the
: respirator off sometimes so I could put on my glasses for delicate
: work.And yes there were several times when I got it on my bare hands by
: mistake so I accept some of the blame myself.I'm almost done and figure I
: need to mix about 2 or 3 more batches
: so with the increased ventilation ,longer times between exposure and no damn
: way I'm taking the respirator off I should be okay.Wish me luck tonight as
: I'm going to go back at it again.Too bad about this as I have enjoyed the
: boat building process a lot and would like to build another or other wood
: working projects involving epoxy,once you learn how to use it you realize
: what a wonderful product it is for building all kinds of things.Maybe in
: the future I would only work with it in the summer,outdoors but lets see
: how I make out tonight.
: Thanks for your concern.
: Bert

Bert, I would be very cautious and perhaps epoxy outside, wear protective clothes, gloves, protective hand cream and shower afterwards. You are sensitized to the epoxy like some people are to bee stings and as I am to certain sea foods. What is bad about this is you can have a swelling reaction where the windpipe cuts off your air and the remedy is an adrenaline injection quickly. You might want to talk to your doctor. Some people that have bad reactions from being sensitized I believe keep the medicine at home so they can inject themselves. One of the first signs would be wheezing. No, I am not in the medical field but I have had a couple of swelling reactions from sea food and starting to wheeze. I understood what was happening and was ready to race to the hospital which was close by.

Just be safe,
John