Mike,

I sorted the problem out. It seems that my epoxy was not quite cured enough to tape over. I am guessing that the heater I bought to warm the garage could not keep up with the cool night we had over here the day I epoxied the deck, so the epoxy needed more time than usual to cure enough to be worked. The apparent residue seems to be an actual indentation of the tapes into the surface of the epoxy...very slight and just enough to notice. I know my epoxy mix was good since today it is very hard: I have never failed at mixing epoxy so I trust that was never an issue. I tried some very light sanding with 220 grit paper to remove the lines and they are disappearing with ease. Each maple leaf requires just a few minutes of light sanding to make the lines disappear so although I have a wee bit of extra work to do, the problem is not insurmountable. I think I am gonna have to find a better heater or get another one after improving the electrical supply in the garage. The entire garage was wired onto just one circuit (before my time with Linda) and it is really easy to blow the breaker. If I had had it wired, I'dda had at least 3 separate circuits in the garage with one catering to 220. I guess 3M is off the hook and I screwed up here. There's a first time for everything...just too pushy to get this project done before winter sets in.

Robert N Pruden