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Three more duds from the CF “factory”, the seat hump pad, the headlamp support connecting plate and the chain oiler reservoir. These parts have structural integrity but are cosmetically hopeless. Two problems are occurring, first getting the gel coat to sit evenly in/on the mould and second getting the first and subsequent layers of CF to follow the contour of the mould and adhere to the gel coat. Results are air bubbles behind unsupported cloudy/milky looking gel coat. Worse with the chain oiler reservoir the back half only fits the front half where it touches so considerable work will be required before these two bits can be bonded together.
It is very obvious that wet laying CF needs to have a mould that is designed for wet laying, i.e. not too convoluted, definitely no right angles, all changes of plane with a largish radius (absolute minimum 6mm). None of which of course I knew when I started. A lot of time was invested in the moulds and it is a bit disheartening to be confronted with so many abject failures. I am left with 2 options – a) re-manufacture or modify the moulds or b) repair the cosmetic damage to the components by overlaying with epoxy resin, effectively using it as a filler. This will take multiple coats and some careful rubbing down and will have to be primed and painted as the epoxy resin is affected by UV in a way that the gel coat is not. Either way, it will be a substantial increase in my estimated time to completion but option b) will be probably less than option a) and is therefore preferred.
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