I want to use epoxy to bed a pair of aluminium 4 inch fair-leads (the
exisiting ones are some 40 years old gun-metal and have cracks) to the stern
of my boat. There is no access underneath to the existing bolt holes so I
intend to bed the fair-leads on a bed of thick-ish epoxy mix and epoxy the
bolts in position. As the new items are smaller than the originals, and both
the holes do not line up with the existing holes, I intend using one
existing thread and drilling an oversize hole for the other bolt and using
epoxy to hold it.

This is my first epoxy / fibreglass repair job so I'm a bit apprehensive and
want to make sure I have a good plan in place before I proceed. On the
subject of thickening epoxy, I think I read somewhere a while back that one
can use talcum powder as a thickening agent - is this indeed viable? Any
thoughts / ideas on this project much appreciated.