Some time ago I started making my own solo seat cowl from fiberglass.
I took some pictures while I was doing that so I will paste few of them and add description of what I was doing or what I was trying to achieve,
Write-up sort of thing  

1. I started by cutting a pieces of cardboard and shaping it using scissors and tape








2. Here is the finished cardboard mold:


3. Then I cut a fiberglass mat in the shape of the top part of the mold


4. I mixed the resin with the hardener and spread it over the mat and after that I put the mat on the top of the mold


5. Since the cardboard mold wasn't smooth and even I knew I had to do a lot of sanding so I put extra layers of fiberglass to fill the cavities/depressions and to make the whole cowl strong


6. I sanded a little to start forming a shape I was going for and added even more fiberglass after that


7. The shape is more or less OK so...


8.  ... I remove the cardboard mold from under the cowl and I spread a layer of FIBERGLASS body filer (short fiber - strong enough yet easy to work with)


9. After that I spread more filer to the other side trying to fill the cavities and form better shape


10. then I do some sanding


11. and more filer and more sanding and the thing is starting to look quite OK


12. one thing that took me quite a while were the sides - I wanted to make them look like they belong to the bike and my cardboard mold did do the trick. I had to drill small holes in the cowl (on each side) and form a nice arches using the filer, so that the cowl is fitted nicely on the seat and on the side fairings
here is what it looked like before making the arches with filer:


and here is after that procedure: (as you can see the arch is much longer, has better shape, and looks much better in my opinion)


13. Here is the fitment on the seat (I believe I worked it even better later on but don't have picture)


14. and here are two shots after final sanding





That is it for now. The cowl is ready for primer and paint, but I have to wait 3 weeks until my friend comes back from the vacation, as he will get me the primer and the paint - he works in car body shop, so he can get me that stuff much cheaper than ColorRite.com.

Total cost so far is: $35 and that includes:
$20 fiberglass mat and resin
$15 fiberglass body filler
paint brush (to spread resin) - FREE - leftover from painting the house
gloves - FREE - same as above
sandpaper - FREE - dad works at auto body shop
other tools - FREE - same as above  

I just would like to add that I had no previous experience in working with fiberglass, fillers or anything related so this was the first time for me.
I had a great time and have learned a lot.

My only advice to those who would like to do something similar and have no experience in body work: make sure you have TONS of free time before you start!

If you read everything I wrote and feel exhausted just imagine that I had to WRITE all of that   haha
cheers and good luck with your own projects!
KML

Look great!

I'm really impressed by all the things you guys can make from fiberglass. It's something I've never messed with. It's definitely on my list of things to do someday, but I've got too many other projects I want to work on in the mean time, not to mention I HATE sanding. It took me all winter to finish the walls in my basement because I couldn't bring myself to sand the compound down so I could paint them.

I'd love to see a picture of your whole bike with the cowl on, even if it's unpainted.

I own that same hammer that's on the top right corner of your tool board!

  very cool!
Look forward to seeing it painted.

that is sweet, I might give that a try one day . love to see the finished product.

wow sweet job man!

how are you going to keep the cowl in place? are you adding a screw somewhere? did i miss something? 

i think i'm inspired to give this a try.

cheers,
~drin

looks really good.  awesome job.

thanks for the write up and the pics..  i dont have the time yet.. but it is very tempting. I am sure you are just making it look easy.   Did you use mechanical sander? or is this all by Hand.  Is there a specific sand paper  you started out with and ended? 180 at the beggining then 300 for final?

Sick.

First of all thanks very much for kind words!!!

Quote from: Bluehaze on June 20, 2009, 08:34:54 AM
[...] Did you use mechanical sander? or is this all by Hand.  Is there a specific sand paper  you started out with and ended? 180 at the beggining then 300 for final?

All done by hand. Have pneumatic sander laying on the shelf, but no compressor in the garage  

I have no clue what sand paper I used... I did not look at the numbers   I just touched it and figured that it was going to work well.
I would assume this was something in the range of 120-180.

I will be using finer sand paper after the cowl is covered with primer to make it as smooth as possible.

Quote from: drincruz on June 20, 2009, 07:29:37 AM
wow sweet job man!
how are you going to keep the cowl in place? are you adding a screw somewhere? did i miss something?  
i think i'm inspired to give this a try.
cheers,
~drin

you did not miss anything. I did not explain yet. The plan is to make a "lip" kind of thing on the inner part of the the cowl.
I would slide the seat in the lip and use 1 or 2 screws to keep it secure and to prevent it from shifting around.
there would also be 2 smaller lips or aluminum angles located on the inner side but towards the front (closer to the tank) that would prevent the cowl from lifting upwards.
there goal is to make the cowl attached from underneath so there are no screws visible anywhere  

well, it's only a plan for now    I have three weeks to figure that out.

And for those who think it's difficult to make: it really isn't that hard, it is just time consuming and sometimes a bit tedious.

If I were to do one more from scratch I would probably spend more time preparing the mold, and then I'd use more body filer and then sand to create perfect shape, instead of sanding after each layer of body filer.

Quote from: tt_four on June 19, 2009, 11:48:38 PM
[...]
I'd love to see a picture of your whole bike with the cowl on, even if it's unpainted.
[...]

here is the only picture of the whole bike with cowl I have:

Missed this over the weekend.  Actually wasn't allowed near a computer, lol.  Gotta love holidays.

This is quite nice work!  I really like the step by step that you provided.  Almost looks easy but I am sure it takes some time and patience.  I cannot wait to see it painted up.

I might have missed it, but how is it going to mount?  I bet I read it and forgot, lol.

Jon

^^^^^^
I explained how I am going to mount it in my previous post 

I was thinking of doing this if I went with a stock tail but Im getting the mmotos full kit so, Idecided against it, However, I was going to mount mine with two screws on the front by your arse, then drill and tap a hole in the grab handle dead center and use a third on top, to go into that hole.

Looks fantastic!  Great job!

annguyen - thanks very much, I spent many hours working on that cowl.

Chanse - using 3 screws is not a bad idea and I though about that - it is sort of easy and quick solution,
BUT I want to make the mounting invisible 
I probably will be working on it tomorrow so I will let you know if I can do it or not.

cheers

looks great!  I think you'll be happy with the final look.  When I made my tail I added a lip that wraped under the seat so it went between the seat and the tail piece which then held it in place.  I wasn't to worried about making it removeable so as long as its on and stays then I'm happy!

Looks great! Wish i had the time.

ya know If your gonna make a lip to slip under the seat all you would need is the one screw on the grab bar like I said, that would make it quick to take on and off and you could put the screw in your pocket. and maybe make a mount or something to store the cowl if your on the run. I was kinda thinking of making a different profile that would double as an undertail, Havent quite figured it all out yet but I know youd have to remove the factory undertail fender. Just a thought as of right now...

Quote from: utgunslinger13 on June 22, 2009, 07:08:13 PM
looks great!  I think you'll be happy with the final look.  When I made my tail I added a lip that wraped under the seat so it went between the seat and the tail piece which then held it in place.  I wasn't to worried about making it removeable so as long as its on and stays then I'm happy!

Mine doesn't have to be easily removable either. I never ride with a passenger, so I doubt I will have to take it off.
But if I have to, it will probably be only 2 screws

Quote from: Chanse on June 22, 2009, 07:58:07 PM
[...]I was kinda thinking of making a different profile that would double as an undertail [...]

I say go for it! it would surely look interesting!

If you don't have much free time, you can spread the work over few weekends, and work on it whenever the weather sucks 

a small update:
I made the mounting for the cowl. It went easier than I thought 
I ended up using exactly ZERO screws and I am very happy with that. The cowl can be put on and off any time anywhere without using any tools.

Here are some pictures from the process:

1. after first layer of fiberglass


2. trimmed a little to create desired shape


3. and finally, after bit if sanding and second layer of fiberglass, is the finished mounting system with the seat inside.


cheers

very nice! do those tabs stop it from sliding backwards as well as forwards?