Is It Okay To Work On Your Boat Parts In The Kitchen? Asking For A Friend.

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It’ll wipe off the counter

This “friend” recently was working on Name plates and other small stuff the other day. I know what a coincidence? Anyway,  It was cold at his house, and in the Garage. So it seemed okay to work on small parts while his wife was out. I mean it all cleans up.. right? Whats a little paint on the Granet Countertops? And its a stainless steel sink after all.. Just like in the garage.

Such a nice work surface

I did restore Lil Stinky in the old Kitchen.. Just sayn

The smell of oil based paint? Carb cleaner and GoJo, eventually just goes away with a good pan of Bacon frying. I mean when “my friend ” got yelled at, was he wrong? Its warm in the kitchen. And has warm running water.. So dinner has a slight varnishy taste. So? Its a better smell than that Tuna Casserole we had the other night.

mmmm needs a little 5200? DEAR?

Well, according to his”wife” he is no longer allowed to use the forks for stirring stuff or knives for opening cans. UGH, I guess he will just have to do the work in the bathroom now.

Ya! I went there.

31 replies
  1. Troy in ANE
    Troy in ANE says:

    Spare bed rooms work well for varnishing. (You can also have your fantasy friends help you) (just make sure your ceiling light fixture is strong enough to support your “Stern Pole”.)

  2. Frank@Falmouth
    Frank@Falmouth says:

    Yeah they don’t appreciate the smell of carb cleaner varnish or paint as it circulates thru the house! Kitchen fan that exhausts outside key.. but that’s why I have a seperate apt attached to my boat barn. And stainless countertops! Or build a “Zelmann Boat Barn”. 😀

    • Nemo
      Nemo says:

      Throwing 6 Strombergs into the new Bosch dishwasher for final cleaning after they’ve been soaking in the carb cleaner….all while the Boss is outta the house….isn’t too socially acceptable.

      That big ole pan of bacon helped, but it only took a couple of weeks and all the heat-intensified carb cleaner stink disappeared. Motto: Don’t repeat that mistake even if she is outta town.

  3. Gary in Central PA
    Gary in Central PA says:

    Matt,
    I can relate. I have a “friend” who put ‘57 Chevy plastic speedometer parts in the dishwasher. That didn’t go over so well either😀

  4. m-fine
    m-fine says:

    They key to using the kitchen for projects is to not get caught. Your “friend” got caught so he was clearly wrong and his wife was right.

  5. Jon
    Jon says:

    This might be a bit grizzly for some, but my first year of marriage we lived in an apartment. With no other option, the deer that year got butchered on the kitchen counter. Since then, inanimate objects like boat and car parts in the kitchen haven’t been seen as any big deal. I think I lucked out all the way around.

  6. Kelly Wittenauer
    Kelly Wittenauer says:

    Don’t get in the way of what needs to happen in a particular space. Don’t abuse the kitchen utensils. Don’t bitch about the impact on the cooking aromas, created by the non-food smells you added to the house. Or about having to repair/refinish anything your work damaged.

    Follow those rules & all space is fair game.

    As a kid, I do remember a freshly painted quarter midget frame drying in the family room. It was too cold to dry properly in the garage.

  7. John
    John says:

    The Chesapeake light craft kayak plans i purchased provided the size window you need to get the finished boat out of your kitchen, living room etc. so there ya go, boat building in your home is OK

  8. WoodyGal
    WoodyGal says:

    Hey guys, it’s all ok as long as you put down a large canvas drop cloth! And clean up after you’re done!

  9. Tim Robinson
    Tim Robinson says:

    Put the distributor cap and spark plug wires in the dish washer while the little woman was out shopping. The dish washer did a fantastic job of cleaning but next time I will use the short cycle. She came home before the full cycle had finished and I was busted.

  10. floyd r turbo
    floyd r turbo says:

    That kitchen/family room combo with all the sliders is to die for. Love natural light. Toss out all that furniture, cram the kitchen parts back to an “L” shaped corner, add a boat door and viola…dream workshop. Lots of heat loss thru that glass so install radiant floor heat for cold temps, open up the ceiling to a clerestory to vent heat gain in the summer, and boom, that’s all you need. That, and a winning lottery ticket and a very accommodating woman probably from a foreign country who would just be happy to live here. Otherwise, you’ll probably be alone with your sawdust covered mac and cheese.

  11. Dave Juergens
    Dave Juergens says:

    WARNING!!! A word to the wise. Most of these cleaning agents, paints and/or solvents are VOC’s. Thus very dangerous to breath or handle w/o gloves and respirator. Benzine, Toluene plus other hydrocarbons are accumulative in animals and humans. Use of them in a kitchen or other enclosed spaces is asking for health issues like cancer.
    I am not a chemist nor a scientist by vocation. So do your own due diligence!!!!

  12. Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U P )
    Mark in Ohio (sometimes da U P ) says:

    Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. My son and his grandpa rebuilt a lower unit off a 55 Johnson in the kitchen one day. My son had just taken it down there to ask about a shift seal location. Dad who was in his early 80s at the time did not want to go out to the cold garage. They put down plastic a drop cloth, and proceeded to rebuild the lower unit on the kitchen table. When he got home Ben said. “I can’t believe Grandma let us do that.” I think she was just glad to have her grandson there for an afternoon.

  13. Darthtrader
    Darthtrader says:

    The kitchen is a wonderfully equipped shop for special tasks. The welding preheating oven used for preheating aluminum intake castings prior to welding can also be used to cook pizza and ribs. The piston washer can also be used to wash dishes. The overhead hooded fan takes away most of the burnt oil smell when you are testing for water in the oil. The granite surface plate can also be used to prepare set out food for friends. Cabinets hold all sorts of funnels and measuring devices. The drawers have some wonderful gloves for handling hot parts when the come out of the preheat oven. The electric foam cutter can also be used to carve a turkey. The gram scale for weighing parts to be balanced can also be used to weigh food if you are into counting calories-just sayin.
    It is truly amazing how you can adapt the shop equipment to domestic usage.

  14. Dick Dow
    Dick Dow says:

    … There is a reason my wife agreed to my building a 1500 sq ft heated shop/garage extension many years ago… She’s still hoping to park a car in it someday. 🙂

  15. Johnny V./John Vyverberg
    Johnny V./John Vyverberg says:

    Not the kitchen, but I’ve taken many pics of boat parts for sale on the coffee table…………..

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