This is probably a really bad idea for several reasons.

1) The thermal expansion coefficient of metal is far greater than that
of foam, wood or fiberglass. The heating and cooling cycles will cause
stress cracks and delamination.
2) The metal plate will cause hard edges along the laminate, which
will be natural stress points and probably fracture the laminate along
them.
3) Prepping the metal to accept the epoxy can be a pain, and it may
not bond well enough to prevent a void.
4) installing the plate, and having the holes in the proper position
is difficult to do without introducing additional voids into the area
of laminate directly under the high load area.
5) If it fails, it will likely tear a section of deck away that is the
size of the metal plate or slightly larger. Fun Fun Fun.

But it is your choice.

On 2006-06-26 12:32:42 -0400, said:

I find an easy way out. I can simply place the metal plate above the
inner skin of the cored deck, add two layers of fiberglass cloth over
the metal plate, and then place the thickened epoxy and the outer skin
over it -- kind of encapsulating the metal plate inside the deck. Then
I don't need to cut open the inner skin.

Jay Chan\