: So, if the tent heats up during the day, I get home from work and apply
: epoxy, and the temp falls that night, possibly below curing temp, and
: heats up again the next day, outgassing will occur? How do you deal with
: fluctuations in temp during what may be long cure times? Does outgassing
: significantly weaken joins or is it mainly a cosmetic problem.

Worry about applying the epoxy and glass when that time comes. There are too many variables to juggle at this point. When you get close to glassing you'll have a much better idea of the daily temperature fluctuations, and you will have already experimented with several ways of heating your workplace.

Outgassing is mainly a cosmetic problem, and it can be greatly reduced by coating the wood with a sealing coat of resin a few days before applying the glass. Any bubbles which form in this sealing coat are removed with a light sanding. The epoxy then forms a barrier. Should any gasses form in the wood after that, they will have to migrate through the wood and exit the unsealed side which is the interior of the hull or deck. They won't penetrate the seal coat, so they won't get caught in the weave of the fabric.

One other advantage of doing the seal coat is that it gives you a very accurate idea of how long it is going to take for your resin to harden under the existing temperature conditions. If it takes too long you can heat up the resin a bit (place your mixing bucket in a larger bucket ontaining some warm water), or you can buy a bottle of a faster setting hardener(or a old weather hardener) for many brands of epoxies.

Who says you have to go to work on the day you put on your epoxy? Plan to do this on a day off. You do have weekends, don't you? Work on this as early in the morning as you like. You can easily cool off the hoophouse by leaving the door open, so it is no problem to let the temperature drop. After all the hard part is getting the temperature to rise in the first place! If you get the resin on around noon, you should have 4 to 5 hours for it to start to set up. or gel, before sundown, and then another hour or more before the temperature drops -- and of ourse you can use radiant heat from lightbulbs to increase your worktime.

PGJ