Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help
Hello Gentlemen,
Warm enough today to lift the cover and poke around in the bilge. Well, there is a stringer right on top of the crack area (that my batteries sit on) that right angles down into the bilge. The stringer wall is about 6" port/left of my through hull live well intake. Everything is in great shape and dry in all the areas I can see. I can not see behind this crack area at all however. It is completely enclosed by the stringer/box.
There is a hole drilled into the stringer from the inside towards the port. This hole is about the same height off the bilge floor as the live well through hull and about 2" in from the inside of the transom wall. (Attaching pictures for reference). The starboard side is exactly the same with the same hole and location.
I get a mirror and stick a screw driver in this hole...it is about 7" deep into the stringer and completely surrounded by foam. I stick my finger in the hole and the foam is pretty damp. I stick my finger in the starboard hole and it is damp also, but not quite as much. I guess these holes are for filling foam from the factory. And they are low enough that I would think bilge water might get above them in the case of pulling out that boat after a good rain.
So, I do the tap test real good on the crack area and other parts of the transom, and the crack area does sound back more of a snap, where the rest is a thud. The sound is almost like the gel is delaminated, but there is absolutely no other sign of that and the crack does not flex whatever I do.
Regardless, I am fearing the any water trapped in the stringer would be accumulating back at my crack area...since I do keep her pretty bow up in winter storage.
So...with this new information...smear some marine tex in the crack and forget about it? See what she looks like next year? Or should this now be grinded out to inspect the glass and re-gelled now. And what about water getting in your stringers? I would think they should drain also. Thanks
Hello Gentlemen,
Warm enough today to lift the cover and poke around in the bilge. Well, there is a stringer right on top of the crack area (that my batteries sit on) that right angles down into the bilge. The stringer wall is about 6" port/left of my through hull live well intake. Everything is in great shape and dry in all the areas I can see. I can not see behind this crack area at all however. It is completely enclosed by the stringer/box.
There is a hole drilled into the stringer from the inside towards the port. This hole is about the same height off the bilge floor as the live well through hull and about 2" in from the inside of the transom wall. (Attaching pictures for reference). The starboard side is exactly the same with the same hole and location.
I get a mirror and stick a screw driver in this hole...it is about 7" deep into the stringer and completely surrounded by foam. I stick my finger in the hole and the foam is pretty damp. I stick my finger in the starboard hole and it is damp also, but not quite as much. I guess these holes are for filling foam from the factory. And they are low enough that I would think bilge water might get above them in the case of pulling out that boat after a good rain.
So, I do the tap test real good on the crack area and other parts of the transom, and the crack area does sound back more of a snap, where the rest is a thud. The sound is almost like the gel is delaminated, but there is absolutely no other sign of that and the crack does not flex whatever I do.
Regardless, I am fearing the any water trapped in the stringer would be accumulating back at my crack area...since I do keep her pretty bow up in winter storage.
So...with this new information...smear some marine tex in the crack and forget about it? See what she looks like next year? Or should this now be grinded out to inspect the glass and re-gelled now. And what about water getting in your stringers? I would think they should drain also. Thanks
