hi charlotte,

(presumably its about 3/4in by 3/4in and concave 1/4round shape)

as a straight unabashed light ash material coverd w/ clear epoxy, i think it'll look a little cheesy. but that's assuming that epoxy would stick to it, and i bet it's not that great epoxy adhesion for this fairly structural location. if it's really flexible, sounds plastic based; if surface treated, sounds smoothish; if paintable, sounds primered. what is the primer and how well doesl it stick?

but at the least, consider painting it out to simulate the black carbon(or use carbon fibre cover) so not so conspicuous. To get an idea of what i mean, squint your eyes almost shut at the image of your yak in your mind. does the round light coloured coaming rim image still stay in your mind? should it????? remind you of a thin light plastic toilet rim? -use something darker.

BUT as a methodology, it sounds real great. maybe really handy for those making plugs or one off glass yaks or squirts:

so as background material if works, just use one pce, upside down with the toe pointed outwards to literally make the coaming if its tallenough(need abt 3/4inclear). maybe use an upstand for a little extra ht. Or use 2pcs with the toes touching for a half circle and glue one of the 2 left over toes to the edge of the cutout opening.

Or use 3 toes touching and for a 3/4 round and glue one of the (2)remaining toes under neath and at the edge of the cockpit cutout to achieve a sunken recessed coaming. maybe trim the upstand a bit to get the top somewhat level.

another idea is to take abt 8in or so, and glue one flat underside the cockpit along the edge w/ the other long edge pointing down and even w/ the opening right where your thighs are. Almost automatic thigh hook braces. probably twist them out(to the ctr of the cockpit) a bit and glue on some foam.

another idea for the coaming is make the moulding an outside mould. and use rob's pvc smooth tubing trick clamped w/ the glass layup betweeen for a smooth outer and inner at the same time. maybe get some squeeze out too.

another idea totally different but linking to the recent hatch gasket post, is gluing the flat on the under side of the hatch fairly tight against the flanged opening. the down turned flat is on the flange side. now if just glued flat, it'd only be a redundant centering device, but since flexible, and strong, why not cant it outward a bit so the bottom is wider than the top by some little bit. release off the flange and put silicone sealant on the hatch inner edge and downturn and push down. after setup, there'll be a snap on the flange edge plus 3/4in snapped leeway on the 3/4in coving downturn.

might be worth trying.

-mick