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As the PO used the whaletale instead of the grab rail to put the bike onto the centre stand, it has cracks on both
sides half way along , my question is this crack a common thing to happen to the whaletail seat base.
I am going to try a repair and strengthen it up a bit as well, I hope to match the factory quality of the finish.
Any tips
Cheers
John

The whaletail sometimes cracks where the scallops are for the rear shocks. I strengthened inside about 2 inches in either direction from each scallop. You can't put too much on there as it close to the frame around there, but I fixed mine about 10 years ago and no problems since. Often you find the seat base has worn away above the frame mounting points so I built up the mounting points on the whale tail so that it sits down evenly on the frame mounts with a nylon washer in between. That way, when you tighten it down or sit on it, it is being evenly supported across the 4 points - which helps avoid cracks starting.

Dunno about your tail, but mine was very uneven...the skirt up near the tank on one side was about 4mm longer than the other, so getting an even gap on both sides between the side covers and the seat base was impossible. I build the skirts up evenly at the same time. It was a lot of work, but now I have an even 5mm gap on both sides between the side covers and the seatbase, and the front of the seatbase and the tank. All tidy now.




Kev

Thanks for the tips , yes my mounting points have worn and will need attention. My cracks are about 130mm behind the shock scallops, very close to the rear mount holes which will also need strengthening. My problem is getting the
finish right on the outside as the cracks[both sides] are clearly visible and getting these fixed will take a lot of filling and rubbing back. The seat is also cracked
underneath and a P O has riveted metal brackets over them as a fix-it, so I will repair this as well as these seats don't come up for sale often . My fibreglass
experience is limited but I think I will give it a shot.
Cheers
John