Help with Repairing a transom

[dbrannon79]

Hi to yall, I'm new here. I started repairing my 61' tri-hull boat and found that all of the transom and portions of the floor were rotten. I have since installed a new transom board consisting of 3 layers of 1/2" plywood which I coated very well with fiberglass resin. I installed the new transom and sat the top half of the boat back on the lower hull. all of the pop-rivet holes are lined up where the "bumper" molding surrounded the boat. I need to know what kind of sealer to use to fill the gaps between the top of the new transom and the upper part of the hull. I have included some snap shots of what I'm talking about.

before I pulled the original transom the gaps were filled with bondo. is that good to use. keep in mind, I'm on a tight budget!

oh and one more question. there were two drain holes in the top of the transom that had some kind of metal sleeve through the transom. in the last pic it shows where one of them was. where can I find them at, or what do I use to replace them?

Thanks.

 

[dbrannon79]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

also had another question. I have seen where that foam in a can was used to fill in between the floor braces before the floor was installed, what advantages does that give? or disadvantages?
Thanks

 

[jonesg]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

No glass on the transom wood?

What you should do, I would do, pull the cap forward again and glass the inside of the transom wood with at least 1 1/2 oz glass mat, grind it down rough first, doesn't matter if you grind thru to wood.

Gluing the cap at the transom, need to see it in person but from the pics, I'd grind the glass back, just form a lip and use glass tape to seal the joint, you can do it last, then paint the seam.

It can all be glued with PL Premium, you gotta be quick if doing the whole cap joint. Estimate 3-4 tubes and pre-open 2 of them.
A thick bead along the top of the transom wood, press the cap down and wipe the excess away. Ideally the joint is done from underneath if you can get at it from under the splashwell, not usually methinks. You can also cover any ugly joints with alum angle.

You probably need a transom drain and splashwell drain if you have a splashwell, can't tell from the pics. Bed anything that goes through the transom wood with 3M5200 or 4200. I only use 5200, its not coming out again.

 

[jcsercsa]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

well said Jones !!!! John

 

[dbrannon79]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

I could pull the cap and use some matt to cover the wood, the wood has been sealed with resin, but the gap that's in the pics it at least an inch in some areas. before I sat the cap down I chipped out what looked to be small hair bondo that filled that gap. I'm new to this game! this is the first time I've ever done anything like this before. what is PL premium?
and yes there is or was two splash well drains where the motor mounted. where do I find those sleeves that were in the drains?
Thanks

 

[chrishayes]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

here

http://www.iboats.com/Boat_Parts_Ac...422651--submit.Search--submit.x.0--submit.y.0

 

[jonesg]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

I could pull the cap and use some matt to cover the wood, the wood has been sealed with resin, but the gap that's in the pics it at least an inch in some areas. before I sat the cap down I chipped out what looked to be small hair bondo that filled that gap. I'm new to this game! this is the first time I've ever done anything like this before. what is PL premium?
and yes there is or was two splash well drains where the motor mounted. where do I find those sleeves that were in the drains?
Thanks

Resin will crack on its own, it needs the glass reinforcement.
As soon as you tighten the engine bolts it will crack...so..

PL premium is similar to liquid nails but better. Home depot.
Regular bondo will get wet and soften, there is a marine type bondo though.

I might consider inseting a peice of hardwood to fill a bigger gap or make up a resin putty, thicken with cabosil, add chopped fiber for strength and shoot it in there.

 

[dbrannon79]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

here

http://www.iboats.com/Boat_Parts_Ac...422651--submit.Search--submit.x.0--submit.y.0

Thanks for the link. I will be ordering them soon.

 

[dbrannon79]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

Resin will crack on its own, it needs the glass reinforcement.
As soon as you tighten the engine bolts it will crack...so..

PL premium is similar to liquid nails but better. Home depot.
Regular bondo will get wet and soften, there is a marine type bondo though.

I might consider inseting a peice of hardwood to fill a bigger gap or make up a resin putty, thicken with cabosil, add chopped fiber for strength and shoot it in there.

Your right! I will pull the board and re glass it with some matting. thanks for the advice, I will have to visit home depot and get some, along with a few packages of fiberglass material for the board. I figure I need to do the same for the new floor too.

 

[dbrannon79]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

Well I had some extra time to work on the boat. went to walmart and got two quarts of resin and two packages of mat. lifted the cap and went to work. I have to say there's a first time for everything! Never having done any fiberglass work before, I started by applying resin to the board and about 3" onto the boat surrounding the board. then laid the mat on top of the board, patted it down and brushed on the resin. as I brushed the mat, it started to make a mess pulling the hair from the mat and sticking to the brush and me!
as I went further, it started to come together, I found that if I patted it down with the brush, it made all the hair stay down and made a nice finish. here are some pics of my progress.

these two are before I glassed the board.

these are after the board has been glassed in.

And what I used!

 

[dbrannon79]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

I still have lots of work to do. these pics are of the inside wall of the hull. the supports are rotting. what can I do to them? I had thought about a quick fix by coating them with resin and laying a heavy layer of glass over them to re-inforce it. I also thought about glassing some 2x4's in there place and later laying a piece of plywood covering them, so that I could lay carpet from side to side. any ideas?

 

[jonesg]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

You say the supports are rotting inside the hull, what do you mean by the supports?

Stringers?

Those are the vertical ply supports for the deck and ought to be replaced if the transom was bad, they tend to go together when things rot.
What I did was run a saw down the bottom and pull the stringers out, leave a short glass socket where the stringer sat and run a bead of PL to bed the new stringer in place. Stringers shouldn't actually touch the hull.

Pre-glass the stringer to make things simple, then seam the stringer to the hull w/ resin/glass.

BTW, you really need to buy unwaxed poly resin from a boatyard supplier or order over the internet, if you use depot resin you have to sand everything between coats and that can create a ton of extra work.
I ordered mine from fiberglassite.com
uscomposites.com is also good.

 

[dbrannon79]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

You say the supports are rotting inside the hull, what do you mean by the supports?

Stringers?

Those are the vertical ply supports for the deck and ought to be replaced if the transom was bad, they tend to go together when things rot.
What I did was run a saw down the bottom and pull the stringers out, leave a short glass socket where the stringer sat and run a bead of PL to bed the new stringer in place. Stringers shouldn't actually touch the hull.

Pre-glass the stringer to make things simple, then seam the stringer to the hull w/ resin/glass.

BTW, you really need to buy unwaxed poly resin from a boatyard supplier or order over the internet, if you use depot resin you have to sand everything between coats and that can create a ton of extra work.
I ordered mine from fiberglassite.com
uscomposites.com is also good.

the stingers seem ok, the supports go up the sides of the hull. I guess you might call them wall supports. they run up and down the side wall of the boat, there are two of them on each side and are connected by what looks to be a 1x4 going across. the last pic shows them on the left side and also shows a portion of one of the stingers from the floor. I want to install carpet after everything is done, but wanted to make it easier to lay the carpet over them!

 

[jcsercsa]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

If there on the side , I think your talking about the gunnels ?? did it have a lip[ on them do you could store stuff in them ??? John

 

[jonesg]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

It looks like you glassed the transom sides to the inner gunnel liner instead of the hull sides beneath the liner. Thats a rather critical joint to miss.

I would compensate either by installing a couple of knee braces from the stringers to half way up the transom, or as far up as possible. Drill the outboard mounting holes first so you don't interfere with the bolts.

Or cut away some of the inner liner (about 2 inches ) and install 90 degree plywood braces set horizontal to the deck.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

I think you should stop right now and do a search here on "rotten transom" or something similar and start reading to get a better idea of what needs to be done. It doesn't look like you sanded the surfaces you're applying resin and glass to, that's a very important part of the job.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

Agree, looking at the pics he's missed a step or two along the way.
If its not sanded it will probably pop right off anyway, simple to remove.

 

[chrishayes]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

Ok, so after griping about the fact that I use epoxy instead of poly and that I wouldnt reccomend epoxy to anyone because it is just silly strong and not needed, I see this and realize that there is a place for epoxy after all. Some people just want to do a quick half a** job and for them epoxy is the way to go. I wouldnt trust that work for nothing...Walmart resin and glass on a dirty, oily non sanded surface with no continuous joint along the hull and no layering with overlap I am sorry but that work need redone:redface: If you truly dont want to put the work in, please at least use epoxy and some better glass

 

[dbrannon79]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

If there on the side , I think your talking about the gunnels ?? did it have a lip[ on them do you could store stuff in them ??? John

there's no was to store anything there. it's made up of two pieces of plywood that run up the side and a 1x4" going across. I'd like to add something that could store stuff. I was thinking of using 2x4"'s and covering them with plywood creating a panel that I could mount speakers for a radio, and also would hide the wiring and cables that are exposed.

 

[dbrannon79]

Re: Help with Repairing a transom

Agree, looking at the pics he's missed a step or two along the way.
If its not sanded it will probably pop right off anyway, simple to remove.

I scuff the surface before applying the coat of glass. I may have missed something, but I don't think there's an option of getting back into the transom now. the transom is glassed to the sides of the inner part of the hull, but I did leave the area for the bilge pump intact. I didnt want to pull the good parts out. I've never done this kind of work before, but I'd say it's a learning experience! I may cut a few corners, but I am making sure that the transom is sealed water tight to make it last a few more years.