Thanks David
I was thinking about that last night, the stresses acting on the body.
As you correctly stated, there is always pressure exerted by the struts on its mounting points even when the boot is closed.
For my setup, the weak link is that I'm using healy external hinges instead of the traditional internal hinges. The external hinge only mounts to the body via one bolt on each hinge. I will be re-enforcing the underside of the boot as a result but it is this area that concerns me, as over time, it may fatigue.
If I use a stay instead then the pressure of the external hinges on the body is very minimal. It's only the weight of the bootlid which is really not very heavy.
So that leads me to my next question!
Boot Stays!
My backup plan would be to mount a small stay down the side of the bootlid maybe only 20cm long.
So what have other people done?
Thanks!