Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

Baby powder & fiberglass

I was watching a show recently about some car audio guys who were building custom fiberglass speaker enclosures. Before they began the rubbed themselves down with baby powder saying that the talc created kind of a barrier for the glass getting in your skin. Since I was getting ready to glass a boat bottom I thought I would give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised, I had much less itch and as an added bonus for a short time my shop smelled like a strip club :).

Mike

http://www.bakerwooddriftboats.com/

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Permalink Reply by chris towles on December 7, 2014 at 12:11am

Yep, the talc works. So does rubbing Vaseline on exposed areas. I don't really get much itch from cutting fabric or doing glass work. It's the cutting and grinding and all the dust that makes it unbearably itchy. I've been cutting preglassed panels for months now and my shop is a horribly dusty itchy place despite my nonstop vacuuming. I have two spaces and try to cut as little as possible in the actual boat shop, doing most cutting and grinding in the wood shop to contain the dust. I generally wear a full Tyvek suit, goggles, and respirator but there is no respite for the dust. All my boat building clothes are itchy. Pants, shirts, socks, shoes, and underwear. There is not getting away from it. I am almost done with the cutting, and I plan to burn all my clothes when the build is finished. They say it adds character, but all it does is convince me that I should chill on the fiberglass next time. It's light strong stuff, but it's itchy and the dust is toxic.