The gear doors, not worth repairing?

This was a no brainer after I found out that replacement doors are available from Streifeneder.

So here is the full story:

After I started cleaning the old gear doors. and started removing the gelcoat,

The extent of the damage and the horrid repair work became apparent that the re-repair on them would be another nightmare.


 

I started to remove the old fiberglass and polyester resin from the door. It was flaking off, and splitting down the center of the skin.


The more gelcoat and Bondo I removed, the task to repair them was looking grim.

  

 I could not believe how much Bondo and micro bubble filler was troweled in! ..  








Oh yeah, Microbubble was the staple filler used on this glider---and measured in pounds!







So, when I found out about the availability of the replacement gear doors, the answer was YES, to the question of purchasing them verses repairing the old ones!


So, I bought them. And they are a piece of art!


Here are the new doors, which are sold in one piece and with the bungees and hinges! (next to my old ones)


Now, you are going to love this!






I weighed the doors.
The original ones photographed here, with a load of filler and gelcoat already removed, weighs in at 518g.



The new doors, without the excess glass removed and fitted, weigh in at 416g.




Like I stated earlier.... it's a no brainer!.


If you need them, the price to buy new ones offset the cost of time and material to repair badly damaged ones.