I probably could have repaired the cracked panel with fiberglass tape, but since CLC was shipping a new bulkhead anyway, I elected to replace both top panels in the same shipment. My taping job on the second panel wasn’t so bad, but being so close to the beginning, I still hope to finish without a flaw.
Because my bulkhead was damaged in transit, CLC only charged me for the panels, a total of $95. If I had paid for the shipping, the cost would have more than doubled. A company called AIT handles the large box shipments from CLC, and their service hasn’t impressed me. Despite scheduling a delivery after the boxes arrived at AIT’s delivery terminal, the first shipment arrived a day late and was damaged, so my wife will take pictures of the boxes before opening this time. My second shipment is due today, but I’m away from home this week and next.
I have cut the damaged bulkhead as illustrated in Figure 1 above. I don’t have a picture, but I was happy with the result, particularly since I had never used a circular saw. The cut removed practically all of the damaged portion, so I could have used the damaged part, but the practice with a circular saw was worthwhile.