When I first did this I put 6 layers of cloth under there and filled in the sides with thickened epoxy. You don't realize how week that is until you look under there.
The whole area is weak, for sure. The whole front area flexes so bad in stock form.
I did my conversion on my chick's square. She hardly rides it, and it doesn't get thrashed at all. When I did my conversion recently, I used a stock round nose bracket.
1) I first ground off that hook thingy on bracket itself. I removed the rubber stopper on the bracket. I ground off all the corrosion I could, then painted it with some rattle can epoxy paint.
2) I then decided to just do a couple layers of reinforcing on the top and to use a large backing plate on the under side. As said earlier, when looking from the bottom there is a bump on the flat handle pole area, or when looking from above it looks like a divot/dip. I cut this area out, then used thick epoxy to fill the holes and the big gaping hole.
3) I then layed down two layers of 1708 with mat on the back and one layer of carbon on the top of the handle pole area. I let this dry and sanded kinda smooth, then painted over the whole area.
4) I cut out a new hole for the cable to come through. I lined up the handlepole bracket and drilled new holes for it. And installed the bracket with backing plate.
5) Next I sat the hood on the ski and determined where the hood hooks needed to be on the hood. I re located them, then installed the hood hooks on the hull side in the appropriate location.
If the pads on the handle pole bracket are removed the pole moves up quite far enough to work in the engine compartment. If you use a limiting rope on the ski (which everybody should) there are no worries of the pole hyper extending.
