Cowling Repair

[Fandango]

My 300 Pro Max has the original cowling and the cowling is pretty beat up. It had been cracked in the back by one of the previous owners and repaired, but some other cracks have formed. It is still usable, but I wanted to try and patch up some of the wear and tear until I get a new one, maybe try and stretch one more season out of it.

Does anyone know of a good material I could use to help patch the thing up and keep it going for another few months/one more season? I assume/have hear fiberglass really doesnt work well because of the material used in those cowlings.

Any thoughts/suggestions appreciated

Thanks

Sean

[Da Bull]

Go to a plumbing supply house and ask about a plastic bead welder. You may wanna practice on a scrap piece of plastic first then make your repair from the inside of the cowling. They are very inexpencive and do a good job.

DB

[Fandango]

Appreciate the suggestion, thanks

[Forkin' Crazy]

Is it plastic or injection molded fiberglass?

Plastic, go get a plastic repair kit from a body shop supplier. The last plasic part I fixed I reinforced using the two part flexible epoxy in the kit and fiberglass cloth.

If it is injection molded fiberglass you must use SMC resin and fiberglass.

[MERC SCREAMER]

I have found that Acetone can be used carefully to bond cracks together on Lightweight
Merc Cowls. I use a small syringe to wet the crack. Keep the crack wet until it starts to
melt the plastic. The plastic can be "mushed" together and will meld together when it dries.
However, while it is still in it's wet state, you can lay a small piece of fiberglass cloth into the
wet, melted plastic repair area. The fiberglass can actually soak up the "liquid" plastic
material. When the Acetone evaporates, you can coat the repaired are with West Epoxy
or similar resin. Most of this is done inside the cowl. It takes a lot of patience, however, I've used this method to actually bond the two halves of an early 2.4 Merc cowl together as well as several repair areas with very good results. I tried this years ago after realizing that most types of glue or cements didn't work.

note: I bet the suggestion of the plastic welder would work well also.
Good luck!

[BOATBUFF27@AOL.COM]

I used a black two part epoxy cement. Card said 2500lb bonding strength, Cost about $5.00 at the hardware store. Worked great on 2.4 EFI cowlings, and didnot look to bad either. I did rough up the crack with some 280 grit sand paper before I applied it. Good Luck. Doug

[largecar91]

On my factory Merc 120 cowl, I used West epoxy and some carbon fiber and it has been holding strong for many races(I repaired it 3 years ago).