Cracked cowling on Suzuki outboard

[angus99]

When I sent my dinghy to the shop there was a small crack in the cowling of the 20-hp Suzuki. When I got it back, there were two cracks, the new one being significantly larger. Unfortunately, weeks went by before I noticed (the edges of the break align perfectly) and I doubt I can make any kind of claim stick at this point.

This model seems to have a plastic cowling. My inclination is to use some epoxy resin and glass mat on the inside to hold the edges together and seal them. If anyone’s done this repair I’d love to know how you did it and how it’s holding up.

 

[BruceK]

I wonder if JB Weld, with some gentle clamping while it goes off, might work. Not as if it`s under load, though with 2 cracks, something might be happening, maybe when the cover is being replaced.
We used mat and resin to repair the vertical plastic handle of an otherwise ok upright vacuum cleaner, adhered just fine, not pretty, but it`s the outside of a vacuum cleaner, at least you can work inside. Maybe JB Weld, let it set, followed by f/g reinforcement.

 

[hollywood8118]

When I sent my dinghy to the shop there was a small crack in the cowling of the 20-hp Suzuki. When I got it back, there were two cracks, the new one being significantly larger. Unfortunately, weeks went by before I noticed (the edges of the break align perfectly) and I doubt I can make any kind of claim stick at this point.

This model seems to have a plastic cowling. My inclination is to use some epoxy resin and glass mat on the inside to hold the edges together and seal them. If anyone’s done this repair I’d love to know how you did it and how it’s holding up.

Look at plastic welding kits on Amazon, they rely on stainless screen mesh that gets melted into the plastic.. then plastic " rod" is melted into that to build up the repair. Check YouTube for instructions
HOLLYWOOD

 

[angus99]

Thank you both! I’d heard of JB Weld but not the mesh-reinforced welding kits. Since all of the repairs will be on the inside, aesthetics won’t matter. I might try heat/mesh welding with JB smeared over top.

 

[Rufus]

Harbor Freight also sells a plastic welding kit as well a supplemental package of rods for various types of plastic