1974 Grady Transom Repair

[Kruegs35]

​I just bought my first boat, a 1974 GW 184 Rogue. It needs a new transom, which I knew before I bought it. The previous owner already took out the old rotted wood and never got around to finishing the job. I've done a lot of research and I am comfortable with the repair, but I overlooked one important step of the process. How do I get the new wood into position? There now exists a slot between the outer hull and the stringers where the wood would slide in, but the gunnel prevents me from sliding the wood in from the top. I've heard of removing the top cap of the boat, which is not what I want to do. Is it possible to make each layer of the transom from two pieces? Maybe one vertical seam and one horizontal seam?

 

[jigngrub]

Dammit man! That looks like fun!!!

I would personally cut the top cap at the gunwale about a foot forward of where it makes the 90 degree bend for the transom and just remove the portion of cap above the transom.

Then when the transom core is set in place reinstall the gunwales cap and glass it back together with the existing cap.

Removing the rear portion of the cap will give you more room to do a better job. A better job of cleaning and prep and a better job of installation too.

 

[Kruegs35]

Am I correct in thinking that before glassing the seam in the cap, I would have to sand down a valley around the seam to allow the new glass to set flush?

How much of an overlap would I need on each side of the seam?

 

[jigngrub]

Repair the cut from the underside of the gunwale if access is available for a much easier repair. A plywood or 2x stiffener on the underside bedded in with peanut butter adhesive and clamped or screwed into place until the adhesive sets and cures. Then fill/fair any imperfections on the topside and touch-up paint.

 

[Woodonglass]

Uhmmm, sorry but there'll be a bit more to the repair than this^^^?hwell:

 

[sphelps]

I would think your going to have to cut the rest of the decking and maybe the stringers back a little to tab the new ply into the hull .... I'm not sure of the strength needed for an I/O seeing as the motor mounts take most of the stress instead of the transom ..

 

[Kruegs35]

Uhmmm, sorry but there'll be a bit more to the repair than this^^^?hwell:

Could you be more specific? Which repair, reinstalling the cap or the transom?

 

[Kruegs35]

I would think your going to have to cut the rest of the decking and maybe the stringers back a little to tab the new ply into the hull .... I'm not sure of the strength needed for an I/O seeing as the motor mounts take most of the stress instead of the transom ..

I am replacing the deck, so it will be removed to work on the transom.

 

[Woodonglass]

Ok, Better pics of the transom area from a bit further back so we can get a better look at what you're dealing with will help. Also IF you need to cut the cap at the gunwales as discussed, when you repair the cuts you will need to do some glass work on the back side and the top side as you assumed with some grinding (about 3" on both sides of the cut) and feathering on both the bottom and top and layering of CSM and Resin. It's real easy to do and will be totally unnoticeable when finished. We can/will help guide your thru the process when the time comes. Once you get the deck removed and post some more pics we can better determine what's gunna be required to get your transom installed. I highly recommend using a free Photobucket account for your pics. Once you get your pics uploaded to PB copy and paste the IMG code directly into iBoats and the pics will be automatically resized and easily viewed by all.

 

[jigngrub]

Glassing in the back of the repair was mentioned in post #2 and was supposed to be understood in addition to the repair description in post #4.

I personally would make the repair at the underside of the cap strong enough that I wouldn't have to glass in the top side instead of trying to do a bunch of grinding and fairing that probably isn't going to look right when the sun hits the horizontal top surface of the repair. Filling and fairing a 1/8" wide saw kerf will be much easier and a lot less noticeable.

 

[DeepBlue2010]

Have you inspected your stringers yet? The root cause for this problem is that the stringers are still in place. I would defiantly inspect them thoroughly. It would be a major waste of time to do all of this to work around them and you find out you need to replace them after you done.

 

[Woodonglass]

Good point DB, If the stringers need to come out then the cap doesn't need to come off at all!!!

 

[Kruegs35]

Not so sure about that. I believe the floor and seats of the bow are all part of the cap. It has been a slow process of removing the deck. I am checking the stringers as I go and so far I think I am ok.

 

[DeepBlue2010]

Not sure about what exactly? About the status of the stringers or what?


Boats usually rot from the bottom up and from stern to bow. If your stringers are solid forward, they still can be shot closer to the transom.


You are in a demo mode so dont bother with drilling and inspecting the shavings. Remove a piece of the glass on the stringers using a cutting tool very close to the transom and see how the wood looks like. This is what i would do

 

[Kruegs35]

DeepBlue2010 - I'm not sure about not having to take the cap off to fix the transom if I am removing the stringers. It looks like my cap includes the floor of the bow, so I would have to remove it to get to the stringers.

The boat was sitting with the bow lower then the stern and the worst part of the deck was around the captains chair. That is where I started my demo. The deck of the stern actually feels pretty good, but I'm going to remove it anyway.

 

[DeepBlue2010]

If the stringers are ok forward as you said, you dont need to worry about removing the cap to get to then under the bow. Stringers are not all or nothing deal. You can replace the section that is shot, splice and glass it in.

If the section near the transom is shot, you can replace this section only. You can do this even if it is not shot to gain access to install the new transom as an alternative to removing or cutting the cap.

 

[Woodonglass]

If you cut out the the red area then you will have ample access to the transom...