Transom repair?????

[72cheyenne]

Hi, I am pretty new to boats and picked up my first one a few months back. It is a 1984 16ft crestliner with a 90hp johnson on it. I recently developed a couple of small cracks on the outer transom at the bottom of the botor mount brackets on each side. I want to fix it before it becomes worse. I looked at the inside and there is no peice of wood behind the two bottom motor mount bolts or at the bottom of transom, should there be? Or should I put something in there for reinforcement? I posted a couple of pics, hopefully this helps. Any info would be appreciated.
Thank you

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Transom repair?????

Post a few pictures and people will be more then happy to lend proper advice

 

[72cheyenne]

Re: Transom repair?????

Here are the pics of the cracks

 

[72cheyenne]

Re: Transom repair?????

Here are some more pics. The one with the hole in it is inside the boat, just inner layer of fiberglass, the wood behind it is rotten. The transom is a little soft. Just trying to figure out a good way of reinforcing it and fix it up a little.
Thanks

 

[FBPirate95]

Re: Transom repair?????

You're going to need to replace the wood. I think if you keep running it like that you are most certainly going to drop the outboard and sink your boat. Depending on your stern and design of the transom, you might get by with just cutting out the cap right under your outboard, gutting the wood out and pouring seacast in, or making a new wood piece. I'm currently doing the wood route on mine, and its not too much of a pain.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: Transom repair?????

No quick fix, unless you're selling it to an unsuspecting buyer. If so, shame on you.

 

[72cheyenne]

Re: Transom repair?????

No, I'm definatly not going to sell the boat. I like it a lot and want to keep using it. Does anyone know how I go about getting the old wood out? Do I have to cut away the inner thin layer of fiberglass? I assume I do. And up top, by the top of the motor mount with the drain holes, is there a piece of wood in between the fiberglass up there?
Thank you

 

[FBPirate95]

Re: Transom repair?????

It all depends on the design of your boat. Posting more pics would help. There are several different ways to go about removing the wood. Search the forums for transom repairs, as well as take a look at the SeaCast website.

This isn't going to be a "cheap" fix, nor a quick one. Just be prepared for that.

 

[drewpster]

Re: Transom repair?????

The basics steps go like this;

remove outboard, remove boat cap, remove inner transom skin, peel old wood out, realize the deck and stringers are soaked, cuss, spit, cry then accept, remove deck, remove stringers, replace and reglass in reverse order.

sorry dude (or dude-et)

We have all been there.

see link below for example

 

[72cheyenne]

Re: Transom repair?????

OK, so here are pics of the area I have to deal with, When you say take the cap off, what do you mean? I understand I will have to pull the motor, gas tank, and battery. I also would like to know a good fiberglass for sealing and reinforcing and making new inner skin is. if anyone knows, I could sure use some advice.
Thank you

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Transom repair?????

Welcome to iBoats
Some terminology first.
Transom - The entire Back portion of the boat where the motor attaches(basically whats under the aluminum piece in pic #3 of your last post)
Splashwell - Section in front of the motor that catches water that comes in from the back and allows water to drain back to the bilge. ( basically picture #3)
Outer skin(picture one)
Inner skin(inside the boat covers the transom)
Stringers(These are the fiberglass covered wooden beams that support the deck. I mention these because if the transom is rotted, it is a very good bet that the stringers will have some rot in them as well.)
Bilge(the area in the back of the boat(stern) where the drain hole is located which allows any water below deck to drain from the hull.
RubRail the rubber and chrome strip the runs around the outside of the boat

Ok now your boat design makes it difficult but not impossible to replace the transom for two reasons. Your splash well is structural to the boat meaning that you cannot cut it out and NOT replace it because the boat depends on it for strength. Two because it it "In the way" and you cannot easily get to the inside of the transom so what to do.

Best way but some times not the easiest is to remove the entire top of the boat. You can do this by removeing the rubber from the rub rail an removing hundreds of screws or rivets from the rail and then lifting the entire top of the boat off.

Another way is to cut off the back section of the top of the boat and then re fiberglassing it back on to the boat after the repair is made and matching the gelcoat or paint. This might be easier but more skill might be required.

The main thing you need to know at this stage is that this is a MAJOR problem. It IS fixable. But it does take a LOT of TIME, EFFORT, MOTIVATION, DEDICATION, and MONEY to get the job done. Do a search on transom repair and you will see a lot of pics of other projects and the amount of effort that goes into this. Approximate time and costs should be 60-100 hours and $750 -1,500 dollars depending on what you find when you start tearing into it. If you like the boat, want to keep it, like working with your hands, and have time to do it then

GIT ER DUN!!!!!!

Hope this was some help!!!