Repairing non-structural crack in Leer cap

Picked up a cap this month, finally. Wrong color so I'll need to find someone to repaint in the ATL area but before doing that ...

I thought it was probably a good idea to repair this crack. This is in a non-structural area, there is no stress or force applied in this spot. However I want to do it right, and not rely on the shop repainting to handle it, which may cost half as much as the paint job.

I dunno if this is enough to go on, I assume I'll need to sand the crack to find and drill the end of it so it doesn't run later, then fill it. I have little experience with fiberglass and haven't touched any since helping someone restore their early 70's Stingray eons ago. Any pro advice welcome.

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Some additional pics if it helps...

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Looks pretty small.

If it's truly not stressed or flexed on, should be easy peasy.

Most of my fiberglass experience comes from fixing dings in my surfboards, but this doesn't look any more involved.

They have some pretty cool UV activated resin now, so you don't even need to mix resin/catalyst. That would probably work just fine.

$18 SOLAREZ UV Cure Polyester Ding Repair Resin - Surfboard Repair Kit (2 Oz) Sun Cures 100% Dry in Under 3 Minutes! includes 60/240 Grit Sand Pad. Made in USA!

https://www.amazon.com/SOLAREZ-Cure...1976653&mcid=2c09f06f5f1531be937a9d0bd92f3a74

I'd file a small groove along the crack to give it a recess to fill, drill the end or just file a bit past it. Fill with resin and then cover it with saran wrap taped down tight so the resin can't run.

Let it cure, then sand smooth.

 

Awesome, thanks for the input. I hadn't thought about any of the UV-curing stuff. I was looking at a 100EZ which is non-UV, but wasn't really sure what was best in this case.

The only time I can ever see this horn/ear getting flexed is during install of the shell, but in theory it "shouldn't". I guess as long as whatever goes into the crack has some tooth to grab into and provides a decent level of bond, it should be OK?

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I couldn't tell from your pics, is that on the front edge of the topper?

Yeah, I'd think you'd be okay with anything that provides a decent bond.

To be safe you could file/fill a couple of cross hatch grooves perpendicular to the crack just to give it a little more bite.

 

This edge, to put it in perspective. I suspect someone caught the edge on something or the cap tipped downward off something to create the crack. I don't see any other way to make a tiny crack like this.

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The used shell for my gen 2 had a crack on the rear bottom corner from being moved around while not on the truck. I used Six10 Epoxy and it has been great for a couple years. Its not cheap and may be overkill, but I already had some I use for boat repair. In your case I would have used some JB Weld and made sure to coat the individual fibers that form the radius.

 

Also, little sanding cones like this in a drill or dremel make prepping the crack itself easy. Painters tape on either side of the crack as a guide.