Ether way, whatever happened hole has to be fixed. I has been looking for used one that is in one piece but they seem to be hard to find. And when I do stumble over one the funds tell me "no"....
I think the hardest part is to create the same curvature over that hole. I mean I could just slap the fiberglass patch on it and keep adding until it is right but that would take a lot of resin and sanding later. So I devised a plan to create a molding and copy the shape over that hole. I am sure I am not the first to think of this but just in case if anybody hasn't yet :)
First off I cut off one side of the zip lock bag. For some reason fiber glass doesn't stick on plastic and material seemed to be stretchy enough to make the moulding.
I attached it on the same fender but further down with masking tape trying to stretch it as much as possible without braking it. Fender curves the same way from one end to another so there is no problem getting it just right.
Than I cut the desired size of fiber cloth and mixed the resin. First with plastic putty knife I sprayed some resin on plastic and than laid out the fiber cloth I cut earlier on the resin. Added more resin and made sure that all the areas of cloth got soaked in resin.
I let it sit until it got cured. I made just one cloth thick so there will be flexibility but you can make it thicker if you are looking for something more rigid.
I started off by rasping plastic down around the edges (first picture) about an inch wide to make room for fiber glass to stick on. Without that after sanding there will be no edges to hold and fiber glass patch will come off.
Than I laid the molding on the fender to see how everything fits.
Than I took the molding off again and laid out the patch for outside.
Reinstalled the molding.
Than I turned it over and stuck it in the cardboard box so that the molding part wouldn't lay on something and make it flat. Besides I need it to lay that way so I can spread out the resin and add another patch for bottom.
After sitting all night this is what it came out with. Moulding pealed right off. It's very smooth except for couple wrinkles you can see on the picture. I have to put on another patch anyways so that didn't really bother me.
From the side is also visible the contour I was looking for.
Now adding couple more patches of fiber glass it is ready for sanding.
I still strongly recommend finding better shape fender. Could be even different color when it is going to be painted like mine. The time and effort that goes in to getting it right is just not worth it. Unfortunately, '83 Yamaha Venture is fairly rare bike unlike Honda Goldwing that has parts and accessories laying all over the place. I was unable to find a different front fender without buying another complete bike.
All the fiberglass material, resin and sand paper was available in local Menards store.
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