Winter Painting in Uninsulated Garage

[Fishon72]

Hello:

Hope everybody had a great holiday season and is enjoying the new year!

Looking for ideas for keeping a boat project warm for curing in an uninsulated garage ( gluvit, paint, possibly marine vinyl). I figured heat lamps but then worried they could present a fire hazard if left unattended while paint or epoxy is drying. I also considered placing space heaters under the boat to keep the aluminum warm while I’m working and the paint/epoxy is curing. Will this work? If anybody has any good tips or has done something similar I’m all ears!

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!

-Jay

[BAY BEAGLE]

Jay:
I am right there with You. Without constant stable temperature of 70°, we are down for the count.
I'm finding little jobs to do, that will need attention down the road. Sanding front deck, finishing up the transome, small jobs on the the boat; like J.B. Weld or G Flex, seat tops, anywhere a small heat lamp will do the job.
But as far as big jobs ...... I'm going to wait it out. Too much to lose .... and prep is one of the most important step in painting, or applying marine tex, or similar components., that are large scale. My 2 cents -

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[MN Fisher]

My issue is similar - I'm going to be doing some pour-foam and the garage is too cold even with the basement door open to let in heat.

Neighbor has a propane fired heater I can borrow - says it'll get his 2.5 car garage to 80+ - should have no problem with my 1 car garage. Just have to route some duct to send the exhaust from the heater outside.

[Weldorthemagnificent]

Sounds like the first project should be insulate the garage! Lol. I have done this. I had the boat on horses and masked the gunwale and taped plastic to hang down to the floor. Slipped a 1500watt electric heater underneath and just left it on. Aluminum was actually warm to the touch and my rolled on rustoleum cured fine. This was on a budget project with no interior paint or sealant. Anything else I would have waited.

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[gogittum]

I talked about this on an earlier thread. When I built the 13 ft Duck boat in the winter in Port Angeles, WA in 1995, it was in an uninsulated truck shop that was 25 ft x 25 ft with 14 ft open rafter ceiling.....and it were cold in there.

I butt joined 2 - 8 ft 2 x 4's and attached ropes to each end. Ran the ropes up to pulleys on the rafters and down the wall to where I could reach them. Then I mounted 6 heat lamps evenly spaced, starting from 2 ft in from either end and wired them up. I also added 2 extra sockets for 100W standard bulbs to give proper color lighting to work with.

When working on the boat, I'd raise the heat lamps to a comfortable height to keep me and the work warm. Then, when done for the day, I'd lower them to about 3 ft or so to keep it good and warm thru the night. It took a bit of experimenting with height to get it the right temperature, but after that it was easy. It worked great and the epoxy cured just fine.

I don't see heat lamps as being dangerous at all, as long as you keep them clear of other objects, esp. flammable ones.

[wmk0002]

Could you make a paint booth style structure around the boat from scrap lumber or cabling and some plastic? Something as basic as that can trap a lot of heat. Could use some relatively safe space heaters like the oil radiator types.

[Makaw]

I have kicked around ideas for the same reason of being able to work through Michigan winters. My first thought would be similar to what Weldorthemagnificant and wmk0002 already suggested - use plastic sheeting to form an inter-garage working space and an electric space heater so I could run it for prolonged periods (safely) if needed.