Struggling With Future of Boat

[Richard5]

The man said he wants to keep the cat. So there is the starting place.

Instead of moving the boat, bring the labor to the boat. Why not fly a guy and his gear in from elsewhere? It sounds like a job of two days or so. Add one half day for travel.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by captlloyd

Yes it is the worst idea you have ever heard on so many levels. Your going to move the boat up North where the weather is turning hot to leave Florida which is already hot to do a few days glassing ? And you are telling me that you can’t find anyone to do a glassing side job in Florida ? The beer joints around boatyards are full of them, working with fiberglass is not rocket science, especially if you are able to oversee the project. Seems your biggest impediment is your very limited paradigm.

If you have people in Florida who are looking for work, by all means give me the info. Do you? Or is that all bluster?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Richard5

The man said he wants to keep the cat. So there is the starting place.

Instead of moving the boat, bring the labor to the boat. Why not fly a guy and his gear in from elsewhere? It sounds like a job of two days or so. Add one half day for travel.

It's a good 6 month project really. Would be more than happy to fly someone in. Anyone know of anyone professional enough to complete this job?

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Secondshift

I suggest being a bit more specific on location if your intent is the acquisition of a reference. I have a good glass finisher here in FL. ... you never stated the actual location of the boat. He is located in Pt St Lucie.

Best Regards

Thank you for the thought. It's out in the Fort Myers area on the Okeechobee/Caloosahatche River. Around the Lehigh Acres part. More than willing to get anyone decent inro the area for the project. I'd pay their slip fees too if they were coming by boat and were doing a good job.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by ohdrinkboy

Actually, you have one boat and a project. The market is pretty brisk for catamarans these days. I'd seriously evaluate the value "as is", and the value if professionally finished. Is it worth to pay to get it completed, or should you sell it now?

Certainly the cat is worth something as is. A bit more than the Gulfstar and I've had a lot of unsolicited offers. However, that's the boat I want to keep. It's a great boat ..

[Benz]

Originally Posted by Chotu

I was trying to do just as you said. Full hazmat. Doesn't work in Florida. It's not possible to live and survive in the suit. I do have the whole setup though. Maybe the answer is to move the cat to where it's cold and use the hazmat though. That's not the worst idea I've heard.

What are your typical yard rates on the hard in the summer for a 50' cat? Spring, fall and some winter may work up there actually for forced air hazmat.

Funny about the Gulfstar vs cat. I'd rather have the cat. Lol.

Around here, I know guys who do high-end epoxy/glass/carbon for $60/hr and up. Marina fees are steep, though--prob'ly lots higher than lehigh. I feel you about the heat and hazmat--I did a glass-intensive boat refit down there and its no joke.
But you said it's a six-month job--really? There has to be more than just chainplates involved. Do you need ring frames and other structure built? That's gonna get complicated. Or am I missing something?

[Sand crab]

The OP also started this thread.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...st-211316.html
I guess his cat will always be a mystery.

[Richard5]

Originally Posted by Chotu

It's a good 6 month project really. Would be more than happy to fly someone in. Anyone know of anyone professional enough to complete this job?

Chotu, I am fair minded. Often I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt to another even long after everyone else has bailed out. But even to me this seems squirrely. In Post #1 you said a 'small bit' but now you say six months.

I am quite good working with esters, epoxies and wood and making moulds and jigs. For all my years in the stuff I suffer zero reactions or sensitivities. But I would not hold myself out as a rigger. That said I wonder just how few professionals there are who are both glassman and rigger. More so, how very few of those would be willing to take on what you ask?

Chotu, whether it is unintentional on your part you are testing the patience of those few who can and are willing to help you out. Your postings have been scant of necessary details which leaves at least me to wonder is there a personal situation which you are trying to duck out of? Maybe a divorce, a clouded title to the vessel, etc.

You are asking for professional help. You need to be square with them to who you appeal for help. Just my friendly advice.

Anyone with the experience required has already been led by the nose to some unrealized promised venture. Once bit, twice shy.

Perhaps what you need is a working manager to come up with a work schedule then hire additional labor as needed.

[Mike Banks]

Try using water-based epoxy resins. They are more expensive but less toxic. Also, wear a hazard suit. Fix it so all of your job is ready, mix and use, then discard suit and filters. Better still is the sort that pumps clean air to you.

In another life I worked in telecommunications equipment and we used a lot of epoxy--we always used to treat it as extremely hazardous because it was. Plastic hazard suits were not expensive, I think in those days $5.and were disposable. The neck one had to be careful with in taping it to the helmet--but once inside and the front taped over, you were good to go with air suppoly on, fogging the integral window was the only 'other problem. You had to remember to use anti-fog.

I know it is a bastard--but it will see your project finished eventually.

[blubaju]

I wonder about your epoxy allergy, maybe visit an allergy specialist, we work here in the Philippines, not much cooler than Florida, west system and local epoxy (hardener smells like urin), nobody has problems, work with bare hands clean with vinegar. Allergy specialist to find out on wich particular epoxy component you react, maybe you can change the brand. Epoxy, once cured, is mostly food grade. Our water tanks are made of epoxy, since 30 years we drink from them

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Chotu

It's a good 6 month project really. Would be more than happy to fly someone in. Anyone know of anyone professional enough to complete this job?

Not likely to get a top quality guy to walk away from a good existing job for a 6 month offer. In a good economy, the quality guys have good jobs.

Also finish work is where the real artistry comes in. Internal structural stuff that doesn't have to look good is easier to do. Getting a smooth perfect color matched finish is much harder.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Not likely to get a top quality guy to walk away from a good existing job for a 6 month offer. In a good economy, the quality guys have good jobs.

Also finish work is where the real artistry comes in. Internal structural stuff that doesn't have to look good is easier to do. Getting a smooth perfect color matched finish is much harder.

Exactly. That's the problem. It's not forever.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Richard5

Chotu, I am fair minded. Often I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt to another even long after everyone else has bailed out. But even to me this seems squirrely. In Post #1 you said a 'small bit' but now you say six months.

I am quite good working with esters, epoxies and wood and making moulds and jigs. For all my years in the stuff I suffer zero reactions or sensitivities. But I would not hold myself out as a rigger. That said I wonder just how few professionals there are who are both glassman and rigger. More so, how very few of those would be willing to take on what you ask?

Chotu, whether it is unintentional on your part you are testing the patience of those few who can and are willing to help you out. Your postings have been scant of necessary details which leaves at least me to wonder is there a personal situation which you are trying to duck out of? Maybe a divorce, a clouded title to the vessel, etc.

You are asking for professional help. You need to be square with them to who you appeal for help. Just my friendly advice.

Anyone with the experience required has already been led by the nose to some unrealized promised venture. Once bit, twice shy.

Perhaps what you need is a working manager to come up with a work schedule then hire additional labor as needed.

This is a public forum. Enough information is here. Are you of the Facebook generation or something? The next Zuckerberg?

Where I come from we value our privacy.

A working manager and crew would be ideal.

Six months of full time work is a tiny bit of work compared to all the years that went into building this boat. A drop in the bucket.

Yes. It's a go fast drug running boat I'm trying to build extra compartments into. I'm smuggling immigrants into the USA as well. Smh. You watch too many Lifetime movies.

There is an enormous amount of documentation regarding the project on a Google Drive available to real people who are considering it.

The rigging is being done by Mack Sails.

Your post is way, way off.

[Chotu]

Note:. I'd pay someone's slip fees at the same marina as a bonus if they are interested, qualified and can do nice work at a reasonable price. Ideal for a liveaboard.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by blubaju

I wonder about your epoxy allergy, maybe visit an allergy specialist, we work here in the Philippines, not much cooler than Florida, west system and local epoxy (hardener smells like urin), nobody has problems, work with bare hands clean with vinegar. Allergy specialist to find out on wich particular epoxy component you react, maybe you can change the brand. Epoxy, once cured, is mostly food grade. Our water tanks are made of epoxy, since 30 years we drink from them

I've been to the doctor. The advice was, "don't ever go near that stuff again or you quite possibly will die" It's the amines in the hardener that are the culprit. I ended up in the hospital from a spill in west Marine. I smelled it. It smelled familiar. Next thing I knew I couldn't breathe and my stomach went South. Eyes started watering and I had to go to the ER. Picture one of those kids these days that's allergic to peanuts. That's me with epoxy. Death is a possibility.

And yes, I've been eating peanuts for about 50 years and still do with no effects. But smelling them can kill some people. My experience with peanuts is irrelevant to theirs.

What really surprised me this winter as I tried to do some work on the boat was that epoxy cured for 3-4 years in hot Florida weather could affect me. I did some grinding to cut something. The cutting must have left dangling amines from the polymer on the edges of the dust. These, once again put me in the hospital even after having used a suit and facemask respirator. The dust got me when I took the suit off. I had someone scrub the boat out and get rid of all the dust. Then I was moving something they missed a month later. I didn't see any dust but enough went in the air to almost send me to the ER again. I managed that reaction at home with over the counter antihistamines.

Being around completely cured epoxy with no amines outside the polymer is not a problem. Any trace of amines is a real risk to my life and I can't even convey how truly awful a reaction feels, not to mention losing a day or to of your life to it every time.

I'm not retired. I don't have enough free time to get sick like that. Nor do I particularly want to die over a boat. I have a family to consider.