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Is it worth considering using the expensive carbon cloth which drapes well around the nadgery bits for the first lamination but then switching to a drapable fibreglass cloth for subsequent layers ?
That way you could use highly drapable cloth but at a much lower cost.
Purists may consider it sacrilege not to use 100% carbon cloth but unless you're producing a highly stressed component, the strength of carbon fibre is not required and glass would be more than adequate and would weigh about the same.
When I made my handguards I used 100% twill weave fibreglass cloth.
Using the same epoxy resin as for carbon, the results came out thin and light, indistinguishable from carbon once painted and plenty strong enough.
Silly question but .. you are using twill weave cloth rather than the less drapable plain weave stuff, I presume ?
I made my own gelcoat by adding fumed silica to the laminating resin.
That way at least I was pretty sure that it was totally compatible with (and therefore bonded well to) the main body of the moulding.
Now that I think back, I seem to remember that my first procedure after the gelcoat was to fill the tighter nooks and crannies with a mixture of resin and finely chopped glass strands, to soften the contours before applying the first layer of cloth.
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