Valkyrie repairs & modifications

I have the opportunity coming up to fly some gliders on a couple of (new to me) slopes, and rather than risk a PSS machine on a hill I am not familiar with, I thought I'd get and kill off a few repairs on aircraft that have been sat around too long waiting for attention.

First up is the Valkyrie - a 100" canard I built in the 2011 / 2012 winter from the RCMW plan.  The main problem with this (and most canards) is the fore-plane is susceptible to being snagged in the grass when landing, and this causes the nose to snap on this particular model.  I think it's had about 5 repairs so far!

So, the nose has been epoxied back together, and I have decided to manufacture this little skid from about 8 layers of 1/64" ply, bent around the wood screws on this jig.  Once touching down, this should give the nose the necessary clearance to keep out of the weeds.

And this is where it fits.  Or should.  I drilled 3 holes through the flat area, mounted it on the fuselage, and smugly bounced the nose up and down on the bench to test it..BOING BOING CRACK.

Balls.

It had broken through one of the drilled mounting holes.  OK, version two coming up with carbon cloth laminated between some ply!