Glen-L.com

I have set up a 24' x 12' x 8' high temporary garage shelter around my framed boat. Does anyone have any ideas for the best way to heat the area so I can place epoxy during the winter months?

thanks, Gregg from Billerica, MA

IR heaters hung from the rafters will warm up the hull enough for the epoxy to cure but it doesn't warm up the air in the shelter.
I've used diesel forced air heaters to warm up big tents and stuff, but the ones I've used would keep sanding dust from settling in a space that size. There are smaller units than the ones shown in that link.
Wood stoves made from 45 gallon drums are pretty popular for cabin tents. There are plans online or you can buy them already made.

I can see I am a little late on this, but I believe that you need to deal with one very important aspect of your heating issue. It is critical that you apply the epoxy at the warmest time . The problem you are trying to avoid is that a warming temperature causes the wood to exude gases that create bubbles in your epoxy. So, hear your tent to 50 degrees or whatevery you are shooting for, then apply epoxy and let the room lose some temperature.

How about a little creative plumbing?

If you can: (if your hot water heater is close enough. If it aint, get one of the little 6 or 10 gallon jobs from the box store.)
Plumb a 3/4" line to a Radiator system inside your tent. Seal the tent pretty good.

For a Radiator you could use an old car Radiator with a Fan behind it.
Run some hot water through the Radiator, back to your Hot water heater using an electric Water pump and a Thermostat on the Water pump.

Use an old Car water pump attached to some scrap Electric motor if you don't want to buy one of the expensive real water pumps. You dont have to circulate that water at a hi rate of speed.

Put the T-stat on the other end of the Tent, down near the floor.
Wire the fan to be running all the time to keep your fumes down and the air circulating to the T-Stat so the T-stat always has the latest in Thermal Data to work with.

Be sure to turn the Thermostat inside the heater down as low as 40 or 50 degrees. You'll be surprised at how warm and humid it gets in there if you don't have the fan going.
If you run 100 Degree water through that Radiator you wont be able to work in there.
How you lak's dat Yankee injinooty?

I built through the winter in my garage in MA. I tried heating the garage with multiple methods. They helped some, but it was a waste of time in my opinion. I found it best to maintain the epoxy at normal room temps (around 70 degrees). If I did that, nothing else really mattered. Curing time would then vary by the ambient temps. With slow hardner and the coolest temps, the epoxy would always cure within no more than 5 days. This worked fine for my building schedule. I could plan around that and continue working part-time all winter. If I needed to speed up the cure, I would put a small electric space heater under the hull.

FWIW, I'm not so sure I would use my house hot water tank and an old rad (one that previously had anti-freeze in it) I'd be concerned that you might contaminate the hot water tank due to any residue that might be in the used rad.

Just my 2 cents.

True enough NOVA. It would take some purging. Some guys might clean the Rad out before they used it too.

Another way might work well is to lay out a series of zig zags (loops) on the garage floor. Lay the wood floor, the one your going to work on, on top the hot water loops and just run the hot water through those loops of clean new plastic piping and on into the house. That will keep you pretty warm while everbody is up using the hot water.

Or get a smaller heater and just keep recirculating it.
Either way its clean dry heat and lots of it.

Little safety tidbit: do not mix the water from the water heater you are using for that space heating for your potable water...can you say: Legionaires disease?

Steve

Good news though: if it doesn't kill you it wil make you wish you were dead~

I too thought about sectioning off my garage with some heavy clear plastic I have. I'm running two electric heaters now, but don't think they can keep up the temperature even in a sectioned off area. Then it hit me tonight, why not just tent my work with the plastic. Didn't have time to set it up tonight. Will try to tomorrow. Hopefully one heater will do the job. Also, I can store my epoxy under the tent. I imagine I'm not the first to think of this.

Chip

Good on ya leak check.
Just tonight while looking for a mixing valve I ran across that word in the "Bell and Gossett" site.
Whoa up here, I remember the Legionaries disease debacle that killed so many guys in the Hotel Convention.
I don't want that. So out in this Shed we have a faucet but nobody ever does anything beyond gardening out there. I'll make up a sign. sort of a "Darwin Filter" so the ones who don't read or don't pay attention wont be a problem later on.

In the house I built in AK, the two systems were separate.

Bill I tented inside my open Garage in AK during the winter. I had a Reddy heater blasting inside the tent which made it uncomfortable if you stood up, and still very chilly as I lay on the floor.
But it was better than changing a Transmission out in the driveway in -10 weather.