Dave basically has it right on the sensitization issue. I have a couple of thoughts for Kevin to consider. First MAS has a website that has MSDSs, Material Safety Data Sheets for their products. The first rule is to do what the manufacturer recommends, if you cannot understand what they are recommending call and ask for clarification. MAS gives inconsistent advice on personal protection use with their products. One of the MSDSs recommends supplied air respirators. when working with their products. The salesman at the presentation I attended in Minnesota suggested a half mask with chemical filters and particulate filters. The MAS salesman also claims his materials are not as sensitizing as other epoxies. That does not fit with anything I have ever found in the literature, so I consider the source. The 1 square foot fan will not hurt but it won't help much either. A tent around the appliation area and lots of air exhaust will help improve the protection provided by ventilation. The MAS epoxies have components with very low vapor pressure. As a result the airborne exposure to vapors is not likely to get very high. When I have worked with epoxies and boat building I wore a full face respirator, nitrile gloves and a Tyvek suit. The full face respirator was to provide eye protection as well as respiratory protection. Gloves and Tyvek keep the glue off of your clothes and skin. A half mask with a multipurpose cartridge and a particulate filter along with goggles will serve instead of the full face respirator. I am more concerned with exposure to the partially cured epoxy that with airborne exposure to vapors. The epoxy is hard to the touch long before it is fully cured. Some of the parts of the chemical molecules that react in the hardner/resin reaction are still present in the hard but not fully cured resin and can react with people. The routes of exposure will be skin contact and respiratory. The personal protective gear I mention above will help limit exposure to the sanding particles. Keeping the sanding dust confined will help prevent contamination in the rest of the house. I'm curious; how do WE get pregnant? Not that I want to go too far off topic but, last I heard men made a contribution and women did the rest of the pregnancy. It has been a while since I looked at the MAS epoxy MSDSs but I don't think there was anything there that would be particularily toxic for pregnant women or their embryos or fetuses. As a bit of trivia on this the stage of pregnancy when there is the greatest risk of causing birth defects is very early, before even the woman knows she is pregnant. So if you are really concerned abstain for months before building the boat. Overall building a stitch and glue boat should not present an unreasonable risk to you or your wife, pregnant or otherwise. Just take some reasonable precautions to control personal exposure and you should be fine. Dana > Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 17:25:08 -0800 > From: Dave Kruger <dkruger_at_pacifier.com> > Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Hazards of indoor kayak building? <snip> > Let me put this caveat up front: I'm a mere organic chemist, > and yield to > Paddlewiser Dana Dickson, who is a genuine industrial hygienist with > professional training pertinent to this discussion. I hope > Dana picks up on > this thread. What you read below stands to be improved > on/corrected by Dana. > (Thank you, Dana!) > > A couple things are skewed here: > > 1. The System Three resins (all epoxy-based) I have used are > "low" in odor, > except for a distinct ammonia-like smell. Unless the > polyamine hardener in > West materials is chemically very different (or, impure), it > should also be > relatively low-odor. OTOH, so-called "five-minute" epoxy > hardeners **do** > have a very pungent "dog-urine" odor to them. I find them > very obnoxious. > > The hazards with epoxy are primarily related to contact > dermatitis (or, if you > do not wear a mask while sanding, inhalation reaction), > leading in some > individuals to **sensitization** and subsequent severe > allergic reaction on > re-exposure. For *some* of those sensitized folks, even > walking into an open > boat-building shop causes an immediate reaction. The > original poster would be > well-advised to separate his sleeping/eating area from the > place where he does > his epoxy work, for this reason: no one can predict who the > "sensitive" > individuals are, and who the "insensitive" (less-sensitive?) > folks are. BTW, > I have committed every epoxy error possible, and I am not > sensitized (yet?). > YMMV!!! > > 2. Sidney has confused "epoxy" with "polyester" in his > original posting (see > my [sic] notations above). AFAIK, there are no "polyester > epoxy" resins. I > believe his "polyester epoxy" is really polyester/styrene > resin or possibly > vinylester resin. This is a very understandable error, if > for no other reason > that some retailers do not distinguish the two. > > Finally, any polyester/vinyl ester resin should stink up the > place big time, > and IIRC, the vapors are an acute health hazard in a high enough > concentration. Some folks find the odor from > polyester/styrene or vinylester > materials attractive (??!!). Others are repulsed. > > Dana, bail me out! > > Thanks. > > - -- > Dave Kruger > Astoria, OR > >Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 13:38:02 -0500 (EST) From: Kevin Zembower <kevinz_at_charm.net> Subject: [Paddlewise] Hazards of indoor kayak building? I'm interested in building a plywood stitch-n-glue CLC Chesapeake 17 kayak in my basement this winter. CLC supplies MAS epoxy with their kits. Any ideas on whether this will be hazardous to my health or my wife's? What if we were pregnant? I was just going to blow a 1 sq. ft. fan out the window, but I could build a plastic sheeting enclosed booth, if recommended. I'm interested in everyone's opinion, but I know that we have some professionals in PW, industrial hygienists, physicians and such. Please don't worry that, if something goes wrong, I would come back and sue you for your casual advice. I understand that free advice is worth every penny you pay for it. Thank you in advance for your considered opinions. - -Kevin Zembower - -- kevinz_at_charm.net Kevin Zembower *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:05 PDT