Deb just asked today if it would be alright with me if she brought her boat into the living room (we have no large outbuildings) to work on her kayak’s gelcoat repairs. Am I a very lucky man, or what?! She’s one in a million! LOL!

You married a paddler! And of course you’ll help her bring it in.

Can I bring my boat too?

@tjalmy said:
Deb just asked today if it would be alright with me if she brought her boat into the living room (we have no large outbuildings) to work on her kayak’s gelcoat repairs. Am I a very lucky man, or what?! She’s one in a million! LOL!

Just make sure she does it correct Tom, or you could end up with new pink carpets!

Jack L

You might not like the fumes from that curing gelcoat. The sanding dust and wet sanding might be messy too.

I thought the living room is where you store your kayaks after making them nice and shiny.

I’ve built 2 boats in the living room. Isn’t that what they’re for?

I can’t imagine doing gelcoat in the house. I did it in the shed and that was bad enough, including wearing the proper respirator.at all times. Dry sanding by hand isn’t so bad but forget any kind of power grinding or sanding in the house if you value your health and cleanliness. Wet sanding should be ok, as long as you have something underneath to catch the slurry. Consider some additional ventilation and plastic sheet to create a negative pressure environment in which to work.

But yeah, I have to agree that’s quite the partner you have there!

I did all of the noxious chemical stuff in the garage. But if you have adequate cross ventilation, you should be OK.

Wow I am not even allowed in my living room

Magooch has a good point, The fumes can be dealt with by opening lots of windows that cross-ventilate.

The sanding dust is a nightmare, though, depending on how much is involved. Depends what kind of flooring and furniture you have.

I built one in a side room above the garage that had linoleum floors. That wasn’t bad except that I killed two household vacuum cleaners in one night. The next day I bought a shop vac and finished the cleanup. Still have that inexpensive shop vac and love it!

Wet sand

Get the big shop vac bags like the ones used for drywall dust.

Use a sander with vacuum attachment to shop vac. My DeWalt random orbit sander has that, and no dust escapes. I still restrict its use to the shop though.

That’s the 2nd hottest thing a woman can say to me. #1 is “You should leave work early to do a downwind with me”.

You’re a lucky man!

When is it scheduled?

String, I have no idea. She may actually do it or not. As the weather cools off, it’s more likely she’ll work outside.
But that’s not the point. I just enjoy that she is who she is, and I’m blessed.
As far as dealing with the mess in the house, we’ve got a lot of experience. We renovate the house we’re living in before moving on. Perhaps not the best plan!

@Steve_in_Idaho said:
Use a sander with vacuum attachment to shop vac. My DeWalt random orbit sander has that, and no dust escapes. I still restrict its use to the shop though.

At some point I did buy a nice Festool ROS with bag attachment.

BUT I actually preferred sanding the old way–by hand.