how to tell if transom has rot.

[bigbad4cyl]

please bare with me here.........i had my engine removed by shop , they called me and told me my floor /stringers and most of my floor was rotten .....i took my boat to a fiber glass expert who makes fiberglass objects but seems to know the boat industry ....he said floors are fine stringers are fine and that there is some rot in the transome area toward the bolt holes ,,,so i took of out drive completly and unbolted every thing from the transom in preperation of him working on it next week ...........i opened a sailing magazine and found a nice austrian woodworker /fiberglass man who came over today and examined the boat and said he cannot find any dry rott any were .....now i did find some when i tore up the old carpet ...the center section of floor had no fiberglass on it a dosent look so good so i pulled it up,along with some supports that were soaking wet? the floor was screwed into that these supports were inturn screwed into the stringers .........any way they were all thrown away by the time this austrian guy got here ,,,,,,,its gone from copletly rotted to rotted in part of the transome to a professional opinion of no dry rot.......what is going on here ,,,,how exactly can i tell if i have rot ,,should i drill holes and look at the dust...,,,,,it seems like some are out to make a buck ive found 3 good guys but there opinions seem to differ the deeper i go......when i push real hard with a screw driver on the inner skin i can push through in a couple of areas a bit and here a crunch sound just like a layer of ply wood though 1/16 of an inch ......

<br /> ; as you look at the picture you can see were my screwdriver would dent the wood, a couple of inches below the top bolt on the left and down on the bottom on the right ,,,,,but after i took the plate out ,,,the holes seem fine and the wood around the mounting hole seems fine ....oh yes one of those sqare things that the nut pins against kinda sagged into the transome after i removed it i could tell ,,,but the wood seems solid to me ...

 

[Tinkerer]

Re: how to tell if transom has rot.

Dump the screwdriver. Don't drill holes as they'll just open another source for problems in future no matter how well you seal them.<br /><br />Here's how I test a transom.<br /><br />Get a standard carpenter's or engineer's hammer. Put a bit of duct tape over the flat face to avoid marking your boat.<br /><br />Tap the transom firmly, but not hard like you would belting in a 4" nail.<br /><br />If it's solid you'll get a solid clear sound. Try tapping a solid piece of about 1" thick timber or ply first to get an idea of what you're listening for.<br /><br />If it's rotted you'll get a different dull sound.<br /><br />You'll pick it up pretty quickly as you go.<br /><br />You can work out where it's solid and where it's not by tapping all over the transom.

 

[Maximerc]

Re: how to tell if transom has rot.

Take your hammer to a boat dealer and pound on some new boat transoms .. then you will know what it really is suppose to sound like .. less the screaming of the dealer !! only kidding here, I suspected mine from holes in the transom , when I put in a depth gauge. All doubt removed when the skil saw started slinging water as I cut into it from the inside about half way down. I would not feel comfident about the tapping method. But know how it bites to put more holes in the boat too.Good luck.

 

[Mark42]

Re: how to tell if transom has rot.

No disrespect meant to the above posters tests, but I know from experience that a transom that sounds and feels solid can be very rotten.<br /><br />The only way to know what is inside the transom is to drill into it. Get a 1/8" or so bit, wrap some tape around it at 1.25" in from the end to use as a depth guage. Then drill a few holes from the INSIDE of the transom. Start at the bottom and work your way up. <br /><br />Use an awl to probe into the holes to determine how soft the wood has become. <br /><br />If the wood that comes out is dark, gritty and wet or moist, it has rot. If it is dry and white and smells like wood, it is good.<br /><br />Fill in the holes with an epoxy like Marine Tex. <br /><br />The bottom line is that if water got in, you will eventually have rot. I suggest you remove those bolts again and probe the holes with an awl again to be sure. If you have any doubt, get out the drill. Those soaking wet stringers are not a good sign.<br /><br />Mark.

 

[bigbad4cyl]

Re: how to tell if transom has rot.

the stringers arnt wet, but the floor in my boat is three pieces,,,2 on the out side and 1 in the middle ....the 2 on the outside are fiberglassed and look perfect ,,,the one piece in the middle looks like it is old and about used up ....the braces or 1x 1 1/2 inch wood slatts that ran along under the center section to help secure it to the stringers they were soaking wet ....but i also just pulled my engine and my coolant ran out wich i thatht would evaporate and it went forward and soaked the carpet etc ....and the carpet in the ski locker soaked it up to the slatts ...maybee.....well the stringers look fine any way ....and we did the hammer thing ,,,then i pulled the plate in the picture and all the holes look solid as does the big hole and all the surrounding wood,,,,,,,,but the areas were i can push the screw driver in a tad i guess ill have to drill i belive it is the only way....