Yesterday I separated the “gasket” from the tank bottom pattern, unfortunately a) it came away in 3 pieces and b) it mostly separated between the resin and the carbon fibre tape and not between the release agent and the resin; this resulted in a corrugated surface mirroring the weave of the CF tape which was extremely well adhered to the pattern. It took a determined couple of hours with a screwdriver to remove this.
new vegas red lucy
The gasket being in 3 bits is a problem because if it is ever to replicate the tank bottom profile then I will have to put them back in situ on the pattern and re-epoxy with a second coat layer of CF tape. Rather than relying on release agent, I will, this time, put a layer of the special release tape down on the pattern. I have little confidence that even with an integral and one piece “gasket” that this approach will actually work. Like others at the moment I do not have a plan B so I must just press on and hope for the best. I have a number of concerns, the first is holding the gasket inside the CF tank top at about 4 to 5mm below the lowest edge of the tank while it is bonding and second, when it is bonded in, how to apply sufficient resin to take up the gaps and keep it in situ while it cures when the bottom of the tank is introduced to be bonded and hopefully sealed into place. The standard CF epoxy resin has a viscosity of about 40W oil and I need something with the viscosity of silicone bath sealer for both applications, even araldite would be too runny.
The seat mould is now trimmed down using a Dremel and cutting disc, the seat base surface is repaired and rubbed down and ready for release agent.