Hi San Bernard, 

i don't have a direct answer but here are some thoughts.

in general, epoxy does not play well in bonding plastic.  we often use plastic sheet (e.g., saran wrap, or scotch tape) over epoxy to hold it in place and then easily pull the plastic off.  so if you have a plastic backing it probably will not bond properly to the underlying surface and at some point is likely to fail even if you put epoxy over it.

the larger the surface area of the plastic, the more likely/sooner a failure will occur.    (e.g., a speck of plastic encapsulated in epoxy will probably just stay there forever, a square foot of plastic will likely fail sooner).

you can try an experiment by putting a drop of epoxy on the plastic, let it cure, and then see if you can dislodge it.  if it dislodges easily, it proves the point about epoxy not bonding to plastic and i would not move forward with that idea.

given the manufacturer already told you 'no', i would probably trust the manufacturer given my thoughts above.

to the extent you can take a picture or provide an item number for more research, somebody in the forum can likely sort it out.

you might also try calling the company again and see if they can offer a trick/technique to remove the tape if you have not done that already.

my only other thought is, is the plastic actually acting as a backing or is it a topping and you glue it in place with the tape facing outward, and then pull it off after the aplique with the non plastic side is glued to the surface?

anyway....just my thoughts.

h

   Thanks h for the advice, upon further examination it appears that the glossy surface has brush marks in it but also has wrinkles in the coating too. I will try a light sanding with 220 grit to se if it will "ball up" like tape would. If it does I will try the epoxy stick test like you mentioned. Right now I'm thinking if I epoxy the deck under the onlay then apply the onlay with a couple of layers of epoxy over it then sand then epoxy/glass over it it will pretty much be bonded in place no mater what is on the back. Maybe I'm over thinking it, it aint the space shuttle. SB