: Any advice for setting up shop outside in a low cost temporary tent? Can't
: spend more than about $200 on this, or else won't be able to afford a kit!
: I bought the plastic tonight, 100' roll of 10' wide 6mil. $26.00.

: Thanks!

If you are building on dirt or grass, then the rest is cheap. Buy some 10' lengths of 3/4 PVC and some rebar. Follow the west side gardener plans (easy to modify to fit your building site). Some boards to hold the plastic down, and you're all set. Mine is on the concrete patio, so I used some 2.5 gal buckets filled with concrete to hold the ribs in place. There's 600 lbs of crete holding things in line so I hope that it will hold in the Delta breezes this winter. We usually don't get gusts over 40 or so here and I think I will be ok. The boat will have it's own tarp inside the hoop so even if the outside fails, all should be well.

As for heating, I have left 60 watt lightbulbs on all winter long for an old dog without any problems. Most of the time the filament burns out before anything bad happens. I'm planning on using 75 watt bulbs (2 or 3) to warm the boat and help curing of epoxy. As long as the circuit is in good shape and there is some kind of breaker in line it should be ok. I use a circuit protected strip to plug the lights into and that is plugged into a circuit that feeds my garden shed. Even if the outlet strip doesn't do it's job, the main should go before anything terrible happens. If the structure implodes durring the night, the lights should be kept in a place where they protected from any plastic materials. I figure if the wind is blowing enough to rock this thing down to the ground, I'll be up anyway checking to see if things are still standing.

Only time will tell if this works. Even if the thing collapses into a pile of plastic, the yak should still be protected.

As for curing temps. It may take a little longer to cure when cold, but it will eventually cure. This can be a good thing if you are not in a hurry. Assuming epoxy blush isn't an issue, it buys you a day or so extra to get coats of goo on. I always figure blush is an issue so take steps to minimize the rework involved in finding out after the fact. Work fast, work clean and when in doubt, sand lightly and wash the surfaces after.

I sincerely hope this woks

Larry