Fruits Of My Labor (A-113)

[ebb]

this is your gallery spot - I have no quams and would not be angry in the slightest if you wanted this ebb stuff, any of it, removed, which I can do from here, OK? Really.]
You want to see what temp your glue/epoxy will set up at.
Could do tests by gluing two small pieces of plywood together at right angles and see what happens with them in various cold locations in your shop. and boat.
I'd try setting up something on the workbench with elcheapo aluminum/clamp worklights (100W incandescent.)
While epoxy can be gummy for awhile (and you think you've screwed up) at low temp it will eventually set up.
I have always assumed that 'all' 2-part bisphenol epoxies will eventually cure - whether the work was done at 50 degrees or 100 degrees.
However that may be just the experience I have with my stuff in the non extreme temps of mid-coastal Calif.
Most material data sheets will give the maker's safe application temp range - which could probably be stretched a little. Experiment.

With inside/outside heat & cold you could have moisture (dew) settling on your work. That could mess with your bond.

Guess that actual jobs you do on the boat will be locallized.
Not overall priming/paint jobs. They might be safer to schedule when it's warmer, and the doors can be open.
Setting up lamps close, but not too close, to a glue-up on the boat can easily be done.
I use cheap lite polyester quilted pads - that have found a number of non-furniture-moving uses on the boat.* Casually drape/tuck one of these over the lamps but not touching the lamps and when you come back in the AM the epoxy will be hard.

Could drape an electric blanket on the outside of the hull where the work is inside.
Cover that with a quilted pad and prop them close to the hull. No problema, senor.

Halogen worklights produce a tremendous amount of heat.**
Not so sure they can safely be tented over with cloth and left alone.
Sears/OSH halogens I've used are too hi-temp aggresive imco. A few of the old-fashioned worklights (purchased new so their wire connections won't become an issue) will be safer to tent over an epoxy job.
After burning myself a bunch of times I've 86ed halogens from the boat and now use flourescent work lights. Which tend to be bigger and even more clumsy then I am. !*%^@$*?.. cords!
In fact when dropping the halogen worklights had the stupid poisonous bulbs break making it too big a frickin deal to change the bulb out - so trashed them.

I don't think it's too big a deal to get the epoxy to cure.
If you are not already: use only 100% solids epoxy in your shop. 100% solids means no solvents. Less chance of blushing with slow hardeners.
Cold conditions will cause epoxy to blush. I never use West Systems. Non blushing epoxies can be purchased
- but attention to your tenting procedure, getting the right amount of heat for setting the epoxy up, is probably easier than you think.
A large-dial outdoor thermometer can be propped close to the glue-up. Santa maybe will drop a little digital one in your stocking over the fireplace.
[I always cleanup with denatured alcohol (and may be paying an ugly price for doing that). I tend to clean up the job before leaving so that there is minimum sanding/scraping prep when I come back for my reward. It is imco the least lethal of available solvents. Maybe there's a non-explosive cleaner to use by now. I wouldn't use water/vinegar, since epoxy is alkali, vinegar acid, and water soaks. There may be a citrus product, but needs research.]

But you scare me when you talk of buttoning up your workspace, you want 'fresh air' to work in. There is probably enough in the shop - BUT
I would especially be wary of solvents that can flash (obviously alcohol as well) - and fumes that can kill.
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*Quilted Protective Pads. (McMasterCarr, Cat Pg 1272) The ones I have are the lite weight cheaper ones, about 6'X6' and 8'X8'. Stuffed with something polyester-wool, they don't attract moisture and dry quick. Originally got a bunch, cut them in half and drapped them from the toerail around the whole boat when the awlgrip topsides were new.
But now I fold them to make a soft seat, to kneel on, to lay on (zzzz z z ), to put non-scratchable work on like the cabin windows, and to tent a localized glue-up with lamps under. Certainly can consider these as 'insulating' also. Always a couple floating around in the back of the truck.
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**If you tent the boat wanting to come back to a warmer boat interior, halogen worklights (smaller ones with clamps) left on all night as space heaters might be cheaper to use than an allnight heater. Safer???