TOPIC: Polyester Resin In Cold Weather

Hey guys so i have been doing a bit of work on my bellboy and i am about to attack re-laminating the deck....but here is my issue, I live in utah and it is cold here. I have a good size shop that i always park my boat in and it is also where i am doing all the work. It is a big shop and no way to heat it....I don't want my resin and hardener to go bad, and to be honest i am impatient an want to have this thing ready the first day possible. any suggestions or tricks of the trade for this project... Thanks guys.

To glass in the cold the resin AND the substrate must both be around 55 - 60° To get this to happen in a large unheated shop can be done by tenting the boat with a large poly tarp and using PVC pipe to support it. You can then use 5-6 heat lamps to heat the area to be glassed. As long as you can keep the temps under the tent up to snuff for a couple of hours after the glass is layed it will cure without any issues.

As always, good advise from MyFlamingo, but I would throw in a couple words of caution. The "heat tent" will concentrate all the fumes from the resin in a small area, make SURE you are wearing a quality respirator! (Should be anyway, but hopefully you follow my train of thought here.) Also, the cans say it's flammable, so extra precaution should be taken to ensure no open flames or sparks under the tent. A kerosene or portable electric heater could be used to pre-heat the area, but shouldn't be used when (or right after) actually applying the product. (Ergo the suggestion of heat lamps.)

I sincerely understand the urgency you feel to keep working on the project, but I don't think a month or two is going to be an issue on the shelf life of your supplies. Winter sux when you're trying to get a project done, I feel your pain!