Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
On Wed, 17 Oct 2007 07:38:21 -0700, Jay Chan
wrote:

I am about to cut out the whole fiberglass deck from my boat. I
remember that was a very dusty job when I cut an area of the floor
using a circuit saw and a grinder (with a cut off wheel) even with a
shop vac pointing at the cutting area. I would like to find a less
dusty way of cutting the floor using a power tool.

Having done some _major_ surgery on my boat (cutting many many feet of
fiberglass/foam core deck and hull) I have a bit of experience in this.

A jigsaw or reciprocating saw with a carbide grit blade will be your
least dusty option. A angle grinder with cutoff wheel will be your
worst; a circular saw with a carbide blade will be in between. A
chainsaw is fast, but you'll go through lots of expensive chains. I
tried them all.

You will use many blades. I figured a carbide grit blade on my jigsaw
was good for about 10' before it was scrapped. Glass is hard to cut.

There is also a pro boat building air tool that uses a housing around
a cut off wheel and grinder, and hooks to a vacuum, but for a single
project it would probably be too costly.

Get yourself a good white bunny suit and tape up well. Use lots of
talcum powder on exposed skin. Have a cold shower afterward. Try to
do it all on one day so you don't have to repeat the exercise of being
itchy again.

Evan Gatehouse