Winter Workshop Heat - Suggestions

[jwv630]

Hi Everyone:

I'm going to try and work thru the Baltimore winter on my Pocketship. John Harris/CLC strongly recommends that my unheated garage workshop, be at 'shirtsleeve temps' and ensure that both the wood and epoxy are at a minimum of 60 degrees.

I'm considering buying one of those torpedo-type heaters. Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Would you use propane or kerosene....?

Good Luck
Jimmy Vitale

[truenorth]

Jimmy, I have a small garage so I was limited in what I can do. Unfortunately, there will come a point here in Minnesota that I'll need to shut down no matter what I have blowing in there.

I picked up a "HeatDish" from Costco yesterday for $70. I have it sitting on a couple 2x4's across the watertight compartment between bulkhead 8 and the transom. It keeps the garage about 20 degrees above the outside temperature, which means I can work on those 30 degree days. If I keep the door open to the garage, and therefore open to the house, I can get another 10-15 degrees, but at the expense of my heating bill. Other solutions such as big ceramic heaters or propane things were just plain unsafe given the fumes, dust, and wood.

I'm working hard to finish painting the interior so I can lay the floorboards down for good. Having a few extra working days has been great.

[jwv630]

Thanks True.

I went ahead and bought a small tube heater with propane gas. Heats great but nasty smell; can't be healthy - but damn the torpedos, full speed ahead. I'll rationalize it with the ole 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'.

Good luck
Jimmy V

[kilderkin]

I recommend putting a carbon monoxide detector somewhere near - CO can silently kill you! Many propane heaters are expected to be used on building sites, where there is plenty of airflow. I used a "Mr Heater" from Northern Tool - gave me heat, but always with a yellow flame (i.e. incomplete combustion). My CO detector never went off however.

SteveW
Kilderkin II

[jwv630]

Good call Steve. Thanks.

Jimmy V

[tattoo]

Jimmy,
Stick to electric heaters. The combustion products of propane, kerosene, etc interfear with proper curing of epoxy. So I've been told by techies at MAS and Goughen Brothers. Of course if you're just sanding, then ... I've used heat lamps to direct heat at a small area. Also, a small electric heater under a tent or other enclosure works for a lot of curing. For less than $20 I purchased at Home Depot a battery powered hand-held IR temperature sensor. Just aim it, pull trigger, and you get a digital read out of the temp where the red dot hit.
Pete McCrary

[DanaDCole]

There have been several suggestions about this in the past--most recommend against anything besides electric heat. A good idea I think would be to search the forum with heat or heating keywords.

What I remember reading from John is a plastic tent over the area with some 100 watt lamps will do the trick. I have a small electric heater that got me through my Skerry construction--but we have some fairly warm spells here in the winter (Oklahoma)--I expect you do in Maryland also.

For the PocketShip build, though, I am going to have to heat a larger area. One thing I am looking into is insulation for the garage door. The door is metal, but seems to seal pretty well. (E.g., we actually went down to almost 30 below here a couple years back and water stored in the garage did not freeze.) About the best you can get with garage-door insulation is R-4, but every little bit helps.

[JonLee]

I used regular incandescant lamps to provide heat on small projects. For large scale stuff, after the hull was stitched up, I found that I could stretch a large piece of plastic over the whole hull and keep the inside of the boat warm enough for epoxy or paint to dry with just a small ceramic heater.

Check out the picture at the end of the post, right before hte gratuitous San Juan Islands picture: http://leeboatworkspocketship.blogspot.com/2011/12/road-to-painting.html

If you are going the tent/heater/laser (incandescant lamp) route to keep things warm when curing, it is also important to remember to bring your epoxy up to temperature before using it. You can either keep it inside the house, or do what I did...fill a 5 gallon bucket with hot water, and place the place the epoxy containers in it for at least 15-30 minutes. This'll bring the epoxy up to a very workable temperature.

[jwv630]

Hi Jon:

Many thanks; good thought. I did purchase a torpedo propane heater, used it a few times. Heats grrrreat - but seems to give me a headache after an hour or so in the workshop garage. Concerned about carbon monoxide. The carbon monoxide alarm in the garage did not go off but I'm still raising kids around here so I don't think they want me to poison myself (wife maybe...). Next trial: my office is immediately next to my workshop garage so I'm gonna get the propane heater going when I go into the office in the morning; get it up to about 70 degrees which should take about an hour; shut off propane heat but continue to maintain temp with an oil filled electric heater; work on the boat in the late afternoon. We'll see....thanks again.

Jimmy Vitale