Fiberglass repair

[maroman88]

fiberglass hood has a few stress cracks and the paints chipped up from rocks and what not... method of repairing the cracks and what to use?

just curious before i invest any time or money

[Blacdout96]

Is it the glass that has the cracks, or just the paint? If it's the glass, you have to determine how far down the crack is going, and if there is any tears. If the cracks are just on the top, and is the gel coat from when it was originally produced, I would take a dremel, and grind down below the crack. Then take some masking tape and tape about an 1/8 of an inch next to the crack on both sides to prevent Resin/Gelcoat from splattering all over. Take some gel coat, and fill it in. When it cures, just sand down, but be careful you don't take the surrounding area down too far, or you'll hit the glass, and if repainted, and not properly prepped, will leave an imprint of strands afterthe paint cures.

If the Glass is what cracked, once again, dremel down past the crack, and take long strands of glass and lay it in the crack, and glass it in. If you take your time, you can fill just below the gel coat, and when it cures, apply gel coat, and once again sand. Make sure you use a gel coat that can flex, something along the lines of Marine grade for goo measure.

If the stress cracks are because it had impact ,and flexed, or can bend, it's going to require a lot more work.