I am finally starting my project, a 1970 16' Alumacraft fiberglass runabout. It is a single "V" that flattens out as it reaches the stern. Following the advise of an experienced relative and the West Marine repair manual, I used a router with a rotozip carbide bit and removed the outer skin of the transom (I know, I should have taken Jim Anderson's advice and removed the top, but it seemed a good idea at the time 
). I was happy to see the skin was at least 1/4" thick but the plywood is only 1 1/8" thick and very rotted. Anyway, back to the original question. Opening the hull this way revealed a problem. Since the bottom of the hull at the transom in these old boats is almost flat, quite a bit of water can't make it out of the drain hole and the bottoms of the stringers are below the bottom of the drain so they are always sitting in water. They are very rotten also. I was wondering why this old boat that was supposedly always stored inside had so much rot. This is probably why. I thought about trying to modify the stern to make a lower exit for the drain but feel this would cause too much wake in front of the prop. On newer boats and some old ones the "v" continues all the way to the transom and and allows for the drain to be lower so the water left in the bilge is below the stringers. I am planning on replacing all of the wood in the boat. Do you think it is possible to seal the wood well enough with epoxy to keep it from rotting or would I be better off to find a project that is not as flat in the back? I like the boat but I don't want it to start rotting as soon as I put it back in the water (at least not too fast).<br />Best regards,<br />RCS
). I was happy to see the skin was at least 1/4" thick but the plywood is only 1 1/8" thick and very rotted. Anyway, back to the original question. Opening the hull this way revealed a problem. Since the bottom of the hull at the transom in these old boats is almost flat, quite a bit of water can't make it out of the drain hole and the bottoms of the stringers are below the bottom of the drain so they are always sitting in water. They are very rotten also. I was wondering why this old boat that was supposedly always stored inside had so much rot. This is probably why. I thought about trying to modify the stern to make a lower exit for the drain but feel this would cause too much wake in front of the prop. On newer boats and some old ones the "v" continues all the way to the transom and and allows for the drain to be lower so the water left in the bilge is below the stringers. I am planning on replacing all of the wood in the boat. Do you think it is possible to seal the wood well enough with epoxy to keep it from rotting or would I be better off to find a project that is not as flat in the back? I like the boat but I don't want it to start rotting as soon as I put it back in the water (at least not too fast).<br />Best regards,<br />RCS