"Marc J. Zeitlin" wrote
Assuming that it IS OK for an owner to work on wheelpants themselves

OK, reality check. First off, it's hard to argue that it's not.
Small simple repairs to nonstructural cowlings and fairings - spelled
out. And realistically - who will ever question it? If you have the
kind of IA who would have a problem with something like this at annual
- you need another IA.

I'd find a local composite aircraft
builder and offer to pay them to fix the pants.

Or anyone else with a clue. A fiberglass boat repair place comes to
mind.

Crap, even $1K is unbelievable.
If this guy things (at $60/hr) that it's going to take him 15 hours to
fix the pants, then he hasn't got a clue about composites.

Of course he doesn't. What he gave is the "no-clue, never-done-it"
estimate. In other words - he gave an upper-bound estimate for how
long it should take someone who is reasonably knowledgeable in
aviation, but has no clue about this sort of repair to do the job.

I've had similar repairs done to my engine nacelle nose cowlings. I
believe I paid about $150. Of course the mechanic in question knew
how to work with fiberbglass - he was only working as an A&P in
retirement, and used to work on cars.

Michael