Bad decision, fumes, more bad deccisions

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 7:07 pm

I wanted to lay down a couple of sections of foam insulation that I have been wanting to get done for awhile. The adhesive is a contact cement with what smells like MEK in the mix. The instructions say only use in well ventilated area. The instructions also say not to use the cement below 40 degrees.

Bad decision = I could have ventilation or I could have heat but I couldn't get both so I decided if I worked quickly then I would be okay with the lack of ventilation.

Ten minutes later my work is getting a little sloppy and I keep stumbling over stuff. It finally dawns on me that maybe I need some fresh air. I come out on deck and start down the ladder almost killing myself since I can't seem to balance on the shrinking ladder that keeps moving around (in reality it is rock solid and plenty big). A ten minute walk around the boatyard helps but this evening I am nursing a beautiful headache.

Moral of the story = the warnings about proper ventilation appear to have some merit.

-Britton

CharlieJ · Post by **CharlieJ** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 12:21 am

Yes they do. Very glad all you got out of it was a head ache. But I'd certainly watch myself the next weeks to see if I had any further problems.

MEK isn't a terribly nasty solvent, but without ventilation it sure can become one.

Post by **Tim** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:07 am

Geez, Britton. No fair expiring just yet. Some of us want to see you in your completed project out on the water and sailing.

Wear your respirator, at least, any time you use something containing concentrated solvent in a confined space. Contact cement is always a nasty fume-producer.

I'm glad you were cognizant of your impending doom, though, and managed to get out to fresh air. Between almost lighting your boat on fire with the tipped-over heater, and now this, I'm starting to worry about you.

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:19 am

I worry too :-)

If I expire will you take care of my boat for me? Maybe give it a nice spot in your boat pasture?

I briefly thought about a respirator (which was at home and not at the boat) but I didn't think the filters would catch anything as fine as MEK fumes. In any case I think I am done with fumes/no ventilation issues.

I think I noticed because it was a concern and I was thinking about the possibility. Having done some deep water diving and experienced narcosis as well as having a few beers/ rum and tonics, I have some experience with diminishing mental abilities. Usually the effects only result in midnight stealth runs around grounded boats but other effects do occur...

-Britton

Post by **Tim** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:29 am

bcooke wrote:Usually the effects only result in midnight stealth runs around grounded boats...

hehe...

(Images stolen from Dasein's cruise logs)

Robert The Gray · Post by **Robert The Gray** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 2:00 pm

For the entertainment of all,

The dialoge bubbles for this picture are interesting

"would you fellas like some tasty ladies?"

"Have you guys seen an almost full rum bottle float by? I dropped it up river an hour ago......Hey that's MINE."

While crossing the Atlantic in their minds our intrepid cruisers had their automatic "WACKO CAM" shoot this stunning evidence of the ancient mariner adrift on the high seas. As this photo clearly shows, the smile of madness and the eyes of crimsom are a sight that chills the blood. No doubt that this would have been enough to put the primitive superstitious sailor-of-old off his toddy for quite a while, or to at least have him sleep with an albatros feather between his hind cheeks as a talisman of protection against the cold fingers of the deep. Of course the briny heroes of our story faced the demon with their own split fingers and epoxy stiff hair, calling out the traditional curse on all apparitions aquatic,

BEGONE HELL-BEING.
LEAVE US BE.
MAY YOU TAKE UP GOLF AND NEVER BREAK 100!!

With a howl and the hissing of a thousand snakes the ancient mariner slipped back into the darkness of night to haunt another vessel somewhere across the great global sea.

r

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:45 pm

I have been called many things but never a Hell-Being. Now I have :-)

Post by **dasein668** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:48 pm

Ah, those are some fine cruising memories! See what you folks are missing out on by not cruising with us crazy New Englanders?