How do I get the wood outta the Transom?

[garzilla]

Re: How do I get the wood outta the Transom?

I just did mine....I cut out the inner glass with a grinder, took a circular saw with the depth set just right and made a ton of rip cuts in the wood...hammer, chisel, pry bar, utility knife, scrapers....3 hours later, I'm transom free.

I was real careful not to damage the outside fiberglass though....not one hole in it luckily.

It's tedious, but with two guys, it went ok.

 

[oops!]

Re: How do I get the wood outta the Transom?

hi.......welcome to iboats.....

lol......i am just about to do a 10 footer identical to that....(in design, not hull).

grab your transom......and start yanking on it......if if flexes a huge amount.....rip it.... forget seacast....it is worth more than the boat...


if you remove it.......your tools are, circ saw.......chain saw.......grinder with a backing pad and a 24 grit disc....and vairous prying tools.
your goal is to remove the rotten wood that is between the inner and outer fibreglass hull........with out damaging the outer hull.

the inner glass can be sacrificed....

it also looks like you have deck issues....thats why the po did the bondo repair and cut that 4 inch hole in the deck.
but...a little at a time....

as i said the boat i am working on next....... is identical to that one.....but....quite a bit uglyer......yours looks fantastic comaired to mine.....lol

depending on when you tear into this boat......i will be posting the process on mine.....i only have about 12 working hours to do the whole boat.....decks ....seats....transom....and all glass.....its gonna be a real quicky.......lol

 

[1BadTitan]

Re: How do I get the wood outta the Transom?

I tried yanking around the transom, its solid. The reason I think its rotted is when I look in the old u bolt holes, the wood looked dark, also I thought the wood around the drain was rotted, turns out that was black mold around the drain hole. It wiped out and the drain is clean, coated in resin. The other reason is look at the cracks in the inner transom glasswork. I thought wood was getting wet in there, but the PO told me that wasnt like that when he was using it, he had it stored upside down in his yard so water couldnt get to the inside. That 4" deck hole is actually a layer of fiberglass repair that was halfassed to cover the drain that runs down the center. I peeled that up and intend to fix it right. I'm gonna do a few core drills to check for transom rot, if none is there, I knocked a bunch of work out that I can put into my POS trailer.

 

[gjmsd]

Re: How do I get the wood outta the Transom?

Just finished my transom a while back. Was actually easier than I thought it would be. I used the chainsaw method and it worked perfectly. I did have a choice between two chainsaws, a gas one and an electric one. I chose the electric figuring I could control it better. It cleaned out the transom well.

I also mixed up my own composite. I used epoxy resin thickened heavily with microballons and then mixed in a lot of chopped glass. Came out real strong and about the same weight as wood. Search my other links and you'll find the thread on the mix I used.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: How do I get the wood outta the Transom?

IMHO, you do not have an inner skin on your transom. It is just wood glued to the outer skin with a veil of glass on the inside tabbing it to the hull. I had a similare Gamefisher glass boat like this and this is how the transom was installed. Easy to replace. But again, I'd core sample it in various place to make SURE it needed it. If its just soft in spots, I would not worry about it until it started to flex. You can always drill out the drain tube and use filler to fill the partially rotted area and then redrill and install a new tube. Lot's easier than a total transom. JMO.

 

[1BadTitan]

Re: How do I get the wood outta the Transom?

IMHO, you do not have an inner skin on your transom. It is just wood glued to the outer skin with a veil of glass on the inside tabbing it to the hull. I had a similare Gamefisher glass boat like this and this is how the transom was installed. Easy to replace. But again, I'd core sample it in various place to make SURE it needed it. If its just soft in spots, I would not worry about it until it started to flex. You can always drill out the drain tube and use filler to fill the partially rotted area and then redrill and install a new tube. Lot's easier than a total transom. JMO.

Thanks man, I think I'll do just that. Its not flexing at all. I'm thinking about spray in lining the interior of the boat. I didnt want to do this and then need to tear into it to replace the transom. I have to be sure before I drop the money into it.