Help with resin and hatch sides

[ubear7]

I left about 1/4" overhang on each side of the hatch. I plan on using the insert trim on the outside and a flat "scrap" piece of the aluminum on the inside part of the 1/8" luan ply. The 1/8" luan was slightly damaged at a bottom and top corner. I wanted to strengthen this up a bit and waterproof it. Could I just use resin and brush it on both side of the luan? Or should I use some glass mat also. I have never done fiberglass but seem pretty simple especially since it doesn't have to look nice cause it will be covered. Or do you guys have a better idea?
I have a quart of the Bondo polyester resin and some Bondo glass fabric. Would this be good for this purpose? Thanks

[aggie79]

ubear7,

I did the same as you proposed (except I used epoxy and fiberglass.)





The skin on my hatch is 1/8" ply and I was a little concerned about its strength. I can't say if it helped or not, but it made me sleep better.

Take care,
Tom

[dh]

Hey Aggie, what weight fabric is that???

[aggie79]

DH,

I used the 6 ounce tape. It's light, but the tape plus epoxy added quite a lot of stiffness to the 1/2" plywood.

Take care,
Tom

[dh]

Assuming thats not a typo, how did you get that tight curve at the bottom in 1/2'' ply?

[aggie79]

That is one serious typo I made. I guess I need to preview my posts. My hatch skin is 1/8" ply - not 1/2". The bottom of the hatch is a 10" radius and I had to wrestle a little bit with the 1/8" to get it to curve.