fiberglass repair

The fiberglass reenforcement half tube is delaminating from the trunk skin, what's the best procedure for repair?

Grind it back to clean material and put a light layer
of glass over it with resin

Is there enough of a gap/opening to get a needed amount of 2 part structural epoxy into the seperation and hold it during curing with weight or clamps? Re-glassing would not be my first choice. Be certain of compatibilty of chosen epoxy with fiberglass. I woul;d be curious first as to what caused the seperation, poor bond, poor/inadequate design, freak overload ( neighbor sat on it?)

If your trunk is painted already you may have a unpleasant result when glueing it back.I would be mighty careful as anything that heats up as it cures or shrinks when drying will warp the outer panel.

I would just lift-up slightly the delam area .. put in a section of well -soaked mat with resin and then clamp-it-down with some light pressure clothes-pins.

Thanks for the reply's, it will have a new paint job coming up and that is good to know. There is about a 1 1/2 flange that would allow a good bonding surface. A buddy said to use that body glue that the body shop uses to put metal panels on with, I've seen it on tv where they put on a pick up quarter panel on but never seen it used in person, anybody got info on that stuff?

It is the flange of the tube that disbonded from the underside of the trunk skin? If so, I would definitely recommend looking into something like the adhesive your friend recommended. Another adhesive that might work well is called Plexus. It is a methacrylate based resin designed for secondary bonding applications, which is what you have as the base resin is well cured. They have multiple formulations. Try to get one that has a high elongation to failure and also look for one with a tolerant mixing ratio, some of their formulations are like 10:1 by volume, kind of a pain for this situation. If you want to go with something more readily found look for an epoxy resin, not polyester resin. Polyester resin sticks well to itself when it is green. It is not good for secondary bonding applications. Polyester resin is catalyzed with a few drops of MEKP (DON'T GET IT IN YOUR EYE) and is the typical cheap resin people think of when they think of fiberglass resin. Epoxy is mixed in exact ratios of resin to hardener, it is not a catalyzed reaction so follow the label directions exactly, don't add more or less hardener to speed up or slow down the cure time, you will just end up with a gooey mess that is now REALLY hard to clean up. Mixing in a little colloidal silica (cab-o-sil) will help the epoxy stay in the joint and not run out.

Cleaning the surfaces is the most important task. 60-80 grit is all you will need, no coarser. Then a good de-dusting with acetone and have at it.

As mentioned, do try to determine why it failed as someone mentioned. Hopefully it is not the lid breaking down.

Yes it is the flange of the tube, it just looks like it didn't have much if any resin under it when it was put together. Not broke, just came apart, It is a pin on trunk lid with no other damage. Oh , I know about getting stuff in my eyes, blind in one and can't see out of the other.

Most panel bonder cost $30-$40 a tube and take a special applicator gun. You could also use some 2 part epoxy from a hardware store. Mix it up and pack it between with a bondo spreader.