Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

[fanmanJ]

Hi all, I bought my first boat not too long ago, a 1972 Tri-sonic monaco 1600 with a mercruiser 120 hp I/o drive. tri-hull, bowrider. The guy told me that the floor and transom were changed about 4 years ago, and I dont doubt they have. This past sunday, after I had gotten the boat running decent (rebuilt carburator), and finding out i had trash in my fuel tank (boat would run fine for about 5 minutes and then start sputtering and losing speed). We were on the way back to the launch. According to my friend's GPS, we were doing 18.5 mph, and *bumP* I hit a log. No big deal, I had thought, until the boat started filling with water! Then, of course, the engine wouldnt stay running due to the trash in the tank, so I had no choice but to run the boat up in the marsh next to the launch... after 3 hours of cranking, jacking, pulling, etc... we got the boat up on the trailer, after the engine and transom had been engulfed in water. I finally saw why water had gotten into my boat.... 3 sizeable cracks in my transom around my outdrive... the transom isnt rotted, so do I need to replace the whole thing? is there another way I can repair this? I cant afford to sink a whole lot of money in this boat....
BTW, I was able to flush the water out of the engine and it still runs good.

 

[Blue Crabber]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

Man, that stinks. By the way, your picture is not working.

I assume that the transom cracked near the motor bolts due to the force of the log hitting the lower unit? (If you can get those pics up that will help! )

When i replaced the transom in my old boat, i had to due the whole thing because of rotten wood. Not sure why yours didn't crack if the wood was not rotten. You may want to double check that there is no rot.

The guys in the restoration area would probably be better help as they have dug into this stuff more than i have.

Good luck. Even if you don't have to spend a lot of money, you will be in for a lot of work!

 

[ronnieb09]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

Ouch, one of the positives of having an outboard motor.

 

[IVAZ]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

Thats a major bummer.
I think you will have to redo the whole transom. You might be looking at only three cracks but the delamination is going to be all over the place. If you just reglass the areas you can see damaged you will never know how long it will hold up.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

Thats going to need a complete rebuild.
The drive,gimbal housing and engine removed.
A complete new transom and major fiberglass work.
From the pics i wonder if the transom was really replaced as the seller told you.
You will end up spending way more than the boat is worth in my opinion.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

No way you can repair that transom. Why is there white paint on the outdrive? I would almost say that the previous owner did a hack job repairing the transom. Either that or you hit one serious log really hard. A simply thump would not have ripped the outdrive through the transom, especially at 18mph. You won't be able to repair that transom yourself for proabably less than $1K due to the cost of all of the seals, etc you'd have to replace in addition to the fiberglass mat/cloth, resin, paint, plywood you'd need. If it were a larger boat and in imacculate condition you could probably justify it, but not on a 16ft tri-hull.

I repaired my transom with SeaCast which eliminates all of the wood, but it's expensive stuff, so not really an option. (it would cost you $700 for the SeaCast alone).

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

Best thing he can do is pull the engine and drive...sell it all for parts on Ebay and find another boat...

I know it sucks but thats way more damage than you want to get into on that old of a boat.

Looking at the picture i doubt very much that the transom was ever replaced.The previous owner globbed a bunch of 5200 around the gimbal housing to hide a leaking,rotted transom.

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

It looks to me like if the wood had been replaced as the previous owner said, it was not properly adhered to the outer fiberglass skin of the transom. It also looks kinda like there were already cracks in the fiberglass that were sealed with silicone. It looks like there has been attempts to keep this boat from leaking.

 

[IVAZ]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

I completly missed the caulking the first time I saw those pics. That previous owner has a weird method to re-doing a transom.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

Depending on how much you paid for the boat, you could probably make your money back by selling the outdrive and engine on ebay/craigslist. I hope you didn't pay more than $2,500 or so.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

Don't i/o's kick up when they hit something hard like an outboard does?

Anyway, that sure is a lot of damage for 18 mph. Either the previous owner did a crappy job of the transom work, or didn't do anything at all other than squeeze some caulk around the outdrive.

Disassemble and put the parts on ebay and you will get your money back plus more.

 

[180shabah]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

Hate to say it, but the seller pulled a fast one on you.

Any chance you had it insured before you put it in the water?

 

[Mark42]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

BTW, pull some of that cracked fiberglass back and lets have a look at that "new" transom.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

Take pictures of everything, then drive back to the sellers house and tell him to either take the boat back and refund your money, or you will take him to small claims court to sue him. Since filing a claim there usually only costs about $100, he may understand that its not an idle threat.

I hope things work out for you.

 

[180shabah]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

Take pictures of everything, then drive back to the sellers house and tell him to either take the boat back and refund your money, or you will take him to small claims court to sue him. Since filing a claim there usually only costs about $100, he may understand that its not an idle threat.

I hope things work out for you.

Good luck with that. I am suing you because I ran into a tree. Doubt you could even win that one in Cali.

 

[timrod]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

boy that gimbal ring and bellhousing did a good job of holding up !!!yep he pulled a fast one on the transom repair .You need a good fiberglass man !!! my friend builds boats and owns a fiberglass shop and 2 days with the chop gun and plywood you would have a new transom.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

Good luck with that. I am suing you because I ran into a tree. Doubt you could even win that one in Cali.

Well, here's how I would view it - if he peels the fiberglass back and finds solid wood inside, I would agree with you. On the other hand, if he finds rotted wood and obvious signs that the defect was covered up, he probably would win a case.

I recently hit something underwater so hard that it ripped the motor off of my transom. I too was going abou 18 mph. The only thing that saved my motor, was the steering cable. The transom, which had also been rebuilt a number of years ago, was just fine. My motor is now repaired and I use the boat frequently.

Transoms just don't split open like that for nothing.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

I hate to have to say this (we rarely give up on a boat here) but I think I agree with the other posters...that boat is probably not worth fixing. That's some serious damage in a critical area. Fortunately you have a good running common powerplant in your possession that could be transferred to a better hull. Really sorry to hear about your luck. That's a pretty crappy way to start out. Good luck with getting back on the water.

 

[180shabah]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

On the other hand, if he finds rotted wood and obvious signs that the defect was covered up, he probably would win a case.

Does he have a warranty, doubt it. He has an unrecorded verbal statement from a seller along with pictures that show obvious incorrest repair was performed prior to the sale - he proceded anyway. Whining to a judge won't change that.

you have a good running common powerplant in your possession that could be transferred to a better hull.

There are plenty of "hull only" deals out there. Don't know where you are (profile not completed) but you may check with Budget Boats in Chesapeake, VA.

 

[David Greer]

Re: Bought my first boat, 6 days later I broke the transom.

Good tip on Budget boats.
Old tri-hulls are a dime a dozen; many are free (except no boat is free when you get it home!)
replace the boat.
You'd be better off if he'll take it back (doubtful) even at 50%--think of the work to pull and sell the old motor/drive (if it's also 1972, it's scrap) and pay to dispose of the old hull. The only alternative that makes sense to me is to get another old hull and put your engine in it, but price out the labor to do that, and double it, first.
Your chances of winning in court are less than 50/50.
Sorry to be a harbinger.