Transom cracks/stability issues on year 2000 Chris-Craft 308 Express Cruiser

Hi, I'm attaching some pictures of transom cracks that were repaired (poorly) by the previous owner that became compromised possibly rotting the wood structure in the transom. Due to this, our service marina said we should not put the boat in the water this year. We had issues with an upper drive unit that was seized and when they went to pull it off they noticed a lot of instability and movement in the transom.

We have tried three different fiberglass repair shops in the New Hampshire lakes region and all three lost interest after either looking at it or seeing the attached pictures. They don't offer any reason or explanation as to why they have no interest so I thought I'd ask here.

My primary question at this point is this boat a lost cause and worth me spending more time trying to find someone to work on it? Using a baseball term it seems three strikes your out might apply

Any thoughts on this is very much appreciated.

Kind regards,
Kevin

keep in mind, this is primarily a DIY site. so our answers are skewed to doing it ourself.

with that said, anything man made can be made again...... you can so do the work yourself. the information you need is in the stickies https://forums.iboats.com/threads/how-tos-and-other-great-information.283508/ specifically, links 14, 15, 18, 13, 2, 3, 4a, and 4b

the work required is a fairly major undertaking, especially on an express (random pic of a 308 for the readers)





to tackle that transom, the swim platform must come off, the drives, motors, transom shields must be removed. all the other bilge rigging removed

the lazarette must be removed

then the transom and stringers addressed, the fiberglass repaired, and then everything put back.

do do the job yourself, you are looking at a minimum of $4k in materials, about $500 in incidentals and PPE and about 1000 hours of work minimum

to hire the job out, you are looking at a minimum of $30k to do the work...... which exceeds the value of the boat.

the reason they loose interest is that if you dont pay their bill, they are stuck with the legal expense to get the boat into their name and then they sell it at a loss. its not a good business plan for them to work on it unless you offer cash up front. a really large pile of cash.

looking at the pictures, that transom was most likely rotten before it originally cracked on the prior owner. I take it you did not get a survey when you bought it?

your best bet is to talk to them in person and ask very specific questions as to what you may be able to do yourself to help bring the cost down to come to some agreement.

this crack and the ones in the center means that your motor is moving significantly. as in if they put the boat in the water, is will most likely sink

Thanks! I'm almost positive the one on the left is not a crack. It's the string they used to hold parts of the transom mount. All cracks are in between the transom mounts.

Having said that, I appreciate the knowledge and insight you provided. None of this I could consider doing myself as a I have a bad back. It's an interesting idea to have someone do all that prep and have it ready for the fiberglass shop.

I saw this in one of the other threads:

"Cut the outside skin of fiberglass off it.----Dig out the rotten plywood.-----Dry everything.----Glue in 2 layers of plywood as needed.----Glue the outside skin back on."

Not an option?

As far as having it surveyed. We didn't. In this case they likely would have said don't buy it! We bought it from a marina and thought they were reputable. We bought the boat in 2010 and the cracks were mentioned but their answer was it's not the way we would have repaired it.

Lesson learned. Don't buy a boat! If I ever do get another boat it will be a twin outboard.

Kind regards,
Kevin

you can do it from the outside...... then when you get to the stringers which will also be rotten, you still have to do all the work on the inside AND now repair and refair the outside and the sides. its usually about 50% more work than just working from the inside

remember, boats have a finite design life. 15 years for most small boats, 25 years for most express cruisers.

klongfel said:

"Cut the outside skin of fiberglass off it.----Dig out the rotten plywood.-----Dry everything.----Glue in 2 layers of plywood as needed.----Glue the outside skin back on."

Not an option?

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Nope. The repair would be weaker, wouldn't address the stringers and motor mounts, and you would still have to pull everything attached to the transom anyway. Also, it would look terrible.

klongfel said:

their answer was it's not the way we would have repaired it.

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That should have been a big red flag.

MikeSchinlaub said:

That should have been a big red flag.

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with lights and sirens

Thanks for all the sad news! Is there a market for a DIY person that would buy the boat for some minimal amount?

Another red flag even if you do get it surveyed: A deal that seems to good to be true. A friend of a friend bought a fairly new crownline for a great price. He Had it surveyed which was a go from the surveyer. The last trip using the boat on the ocean was a disaster. After using the boat a bit, the bottom of the hull exposed a large poorly done fiberglass repair. It came apart.

Time to get everything off the boat and let it go!

Kind regards,
Kevin

klongfel said:

Is there a market for a DIY person that would buy the boat for some minimal amount?

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there is a bunch of sunken boats in the boat salvage yards down here. so probably not in Florida. however you can post around. you can strip the boat down for parts and sell the motors, drives, windows and make a decent amount.