[bigeasy1]

Yup they are nothing to fool with.Having said that however,when I was young and stupid,I sprayed my 18' aluminum boat with a linear urethane by the name of Sunfire.It's a two part urethane similar to the others like Imron.It's made by Sherwin Williams and sold only through their automotive supply and industrial supply houses.It was used a lot in the airplane business.
I was told by the clerk at the auto body supply house that a standard cartridge respirator would be fine to use,so that's what I wore.
I sprayed the boat in one of our large warehouses that was about 70,000 square feet,and it had a few big exhaust fans,that I ran while I was doing the spraying.

Now skip ahead twenty years to my Seacraft Tsunami restoration.I decided to paint it,so again,I sprayed the Tsunami with another two part urethane,this one made by Epifanes. It's chemical make up is very similar to Imron.
I again wore a dual cartridge respirator,but I sprayed it outdoors.

Did I read on the respirators "not for use with isocyanates"???,Yup I did but all the backyard amature painters told me not to worry,its only necessary if your in a confined area with no ventilation.

Now a few years later I hear some horror stories about the damage that these paints can do to the human body.To this day I worry if I did any damage to my system.Maybe I was lucky as I did these jobs with a lot of fresh air,and both times I was completely covered by wearing tyvek suits and hoods,and also wore gloves.There was only a tiny bit of unprotected skin .
I know that I wouldnt spray any of them again without using an air supplied respirator.I don't fool with any kind of chemicals anymore without wearing protection.

One thing I find odd, is when I watch those auto restoration TV shows like Overhaulin etc,these guys are in a professional spray booth,with a pro doing the spraying,and he's laying on the primer and finish coats and doing it with NO! respirator of any kind.
I know they are shooting mostly acrylic and even water based automotive paints,but one would think it would be wise to wear at least some kind of respirator.