Finally got the hang of the banjo while rocking some non-standard gear

I remember trying to run my old Homax banjo while wearing a bulky heavy-duty parka during a cold snap in a basement remodel last winter. It wasn't an alien suit, but that extra padding around the midsection makes it a nightmare to keep the tape centered. I found that if I didn't keep my thumb right on the tensioner, the tape whould bunch up inside the box the second I hit a corner.

Regarding the mix, I ussually go with the USG Green Lid and add about a cup of water per gallon to get that yogurt consistency. If it's too thick, my forearms are screaming by lunch, especially on those 10-foot ceilings. I'm surprised you didn't tip over in that suit; I once clipped a doorway on my 24-inch Dura-Stilts just wearing a standard tool vest and nearly took out a stack of 5/8-inch firecode. Cleaning mud out of a fan intake sounds like a total pain—I usually spend twenty minutes just getting the dried crust off my Marshalltown trowels at the end of the day.

I’ve had a different experience with thinning the mix for my Delko Zünder. While everyone says to go thin for ceiling runs, I’ve found that if the mud gets too soupy, it starts leaking out the back seal the moment I tilt the nose up for 10-foot flats. I keep my mud a bit stiffer—more like a heavy pancake batter—and rely on a sharp serrated blade to get those clean cuts. It prevents that messy spray you mentioned and keeps the tape from sliding around when I’m trying to bed it in with the knife. As for the gear, I can't imagine balancing a fan unit on 24-inch Dura-Stilts. I once tried wearing a weighted tool vest for some overhead patches and almost ate the subfloor beacuse the shifting weight threw my center of gravity off during a pivot. These days, I’m strictly a high-vis moisture-wicking shirt kind of guy. I’ve caught my shoulder on enough door headers to know that adding any extra width or height with a costume is just asking for a trip to the clinic. Keeping the workspace clear is hard enough without worrying about an intake fan sucking up sanding dust.

Spot on with thinning that mix for the overhead runs. It definitly saves the shoulders, but one thing to watch out for when you're moving slower in a suit like that is the mud skinning over in the banjo hopper. A thinner mix dries out at the gate faster if you aren't pulling tape constantly.

Also, since you're rocking the alien legs on stilts, keep an eye on your floor scraps. Even a tiny bit of dried mud "popcorn" can send you sliding when you've got that much extra wind resistance from the fan unit. It’s a trip that the extra bulk actualy helped your balance once you got moving.

While the focus on mud viscosity is pertinent, I must emphasize that the mechanical tension on a banjo's internal spool often dictates the quality of the bond more than the slurry's hydration level, as any slight slack during a vertical-to-ceiling transition will inevitably result in a catastrophic air pocket. Furthermore, I would be remiss if I did not point out that the filtration rating on an inflatable costume's intake is likely insufficient for capturing airborne gypsum particulates, which can lead to premature motor failure and, more importantly, a breach of the structural integrity of your pneumatic alien. Did you find that the additional surface area of the costume created a significant aerodynamic drag that necessitated a recalibration of your lateral balance while maneuvering those Dura-Stilts?