Hi Mike, I tell Ya, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I thought long and hard about eliminating the final bonding step as you suggest. My reasons for doing it this way are as follows: 1) The soft 'mold' gasket must be bonded very firmly and rather precisely to the substrate to form a good cast. Since there is a gap between the hatch and the deck (1mm to 3mm) AND the gasket edge must be aligned with the deck opening this area will be very vulnerable when you force the epoxy putty around the edges (some may squeeze through and fill the gap or distort the soft foam. BAD).

Second: I found out that the trim waste from the deck portion of the gasket makes up about 30% of the final product weight. This is just dead weight if you leave it in place. It can be reduced a bit by careful layup but if you have three rims to lay-up in one afternoon and the epoxy is setting on you, there is no time to mess around.

Third: The resin will find the smallest opening to foil your plans for easy lid separation. If you have not done it, I would suggest not doing it. If you already did it, please let me know how you did.

Thanks Vaclav