New User Introduction.

[1959Cherokee]

Re: New User Introduction.

Ok well after some looking around I've found quite a few people who have made the long shaft work on a short transom.
However it looks like most of them did it through the use of a jack plate or some such contraption.
What do you think of this,
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=279588

Would this be a better route to go?

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: New User Introduction.

Yep, I'm not a fan of em, but if you're gunna use a long shaft motor on a short transom then, a Jack Plate is for sure the way to go. But you still need to investigate your transom. Trust Me. You have WOOD under That aluminum top cap and the knee braces are screwed into wood. The condition of the rest of that boat leads me to believe that the transom is prolly rotten too. And since they bolted that contraption on there they prolly didn't seal the holes real well either. You really need to investigate this in detail.

 

[1959Cherokee]

Re: New User Introduction.

Will do, I wish the boat was right outside and could just go look, but alas its at my friends house, I'm garage-less where I live.
I should be able to get over and do some investigating this weekend and will find out exactly whats going on under that aluminum cap.
I'll take plenty of pics!!
Thanks alot for your help Wood

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: New User Introduction.

No problemo!!!! Take a screwdriver with you or a drill and from the Inside of the boat drill some core samples in the transom. Do not drill all the way thru the transom. Put some tape on the bit so you only go about 1" deep and see what kind of shavings you get. Tan and Dry...Good. Dark and Wet...Not good. If you're gunna use a jack plate your transom MUST be STRONG!!!!!

 

[lmuss53]

Re: New User Introduction.

Since you are probably going to have to replace the transom anyway, I don't see any reason why you can't add 5 inches to the transom you build to make it suitable for your long shaft motor. You'll have to add some exterior and interior aluminum and refab the cap but it is do-able as part of your current project. The strength in the transom is in the wood, the aluminum skin is just along for the ride.

Are you sure that boat is a 1959 model, it looks a good bit newer?

 

[1959Cherokee]

Re: New User Introduction.

Since you are probably going to have to replace the transom anyway, I don't see any reason why you can't add 5 inches to the transom you build to make it suitable for your long shaft motor. You'll have to add some exterior and interior aluminum and refab the cap but it is do-able as part of your current project. The strength in the transom is in the wood, the aluminum skin is just along for the ride.

Are you sure that boat is a 1959 model, it looks a good bit newer?

Thanks for chiming in, I'd much rather go the route of td's jackplate to get the additional height needed if possible.
It certainly seems like the easier route without having to make extensive modifications to the transom.
Additionally if I ever find a proper motor for it removing the plate would be quick work.
Im pretty sure it is a 1959 model, it is titled as such and I found a great old thread on here about McKenzie/Cherokee boats and all of them were from the same age 59-62 and looked identical to my boat.
I would have posted some pics and said hello but the thread was closed.

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: New User Introduction.

I just read the whole thread, and I had to mention something. I noticed you said you were in Texas, the boat was purchased in an auction, and it looks like the tags are out. Did you get a title with that boat? If you didn't, I would stop wok right now and start trying to get one. Texas is a real pain in getting titles if you did not get one at the sale, and most of the time you are out of luck. I just went through this with the TPWL on a jet ski, and we had to end up junking it.

Just wanted to pass on a little advise.

BTW what lake are you on?

 

[1959Cherokee]

Re: New User Introduction.

I just read the whole thread, and I had to mention something. I noticed you said you were in Texas, the boat was purchased in an auction, and it looks like the tags are out. Did you get a title with that boat? If you didn't, I would stop wok right now and start trying to get one. Texas is a real pain in getting titles if you did not get one at the sale, and most of the time you are out of luck. I just went through this with the TPWL on a jet ski, and we had to end up junking it.

Just wanted to pass on a little advise.

BTW what lake are you on?

Hey Friscoboater!!
Lemme just start by saying I've thoroughly enjoyed many of your YouTube videos, particularly regarding removing old carpet adhesive, what fun!!
I did get a title with the sale for the boat and outboard from the previous owner, he was actually the one who purchased it through auction, not myself.
Recently I have been going to ray roberts because its just so close to me in north Denton.
I would have spent my time between there and lewisville but with lake levels where they are I have to drive to tower bay which is twice as far as roberts/pond creek.
Where do you do most of your boating?
Thanks for stopping by!!

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: New User Introduction.

I am glad to see you got the title. Make sure you get everything transfered in your name before you loose track of the old owner. there is lots of paperwork that goes with boats, and it is easy to miss one little thing.

Most of the time we are on Lewisville. I know the lake well, and it fits our lifestyle. It has a family side and a party side, so we choose which side based on if we have kids or not.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: New User Introduction.

If you decide to Jack Plate it, here's some nice plans...

http://www.dillon-racing.com/jackplate/index.htm

 

[1959Cherokee]

Re: New User Introduction.

If you decide to Jack Plate it, here's some nice plans...

http://www.dillon-racing.com/jackplate/index.htm

Thanks for the link wood, the only issue I can see with those plans is the plate will only allow for 3" of vertical adjustment.
I want to say the riser on my transom is likely closer to 5 or 6 inches in height.
Whether those couple inches will make a difference or not I don't know.
Ill find out this weekend exactly how high my motor is off the actual transom.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: New User Introduction.

True but I'm sure you could modify them to meet your needs, or as the other member state, you might want to consider modifying the transom.

 

[1959Cherokee]

Re: New User Introduction.

Ok well after thinking long and hard about what I wanted from this boat I decided to take the deck back out completely, properly glass it, and do things right.
This is going to be a long-term project for me but think in the end I will be much happier knowing my boat is built to last.

That being said I knew this weekend my attention needed to focus on the current state of my transom, as speaking to woodonglass left me with several concerns regarding its structural integrity.
No sense in doing all this work and not checking everything ehh?

It is an unseasonably beautiful day in north Texas and perfect project boat weather.
Here is a picture of the previously mentioned PO's transom extension which makes the long shaft motor I have work with my setup.
It came in at 4.5 inches tall, 15 inches wide and around 2 inches deep.

The plywood center rests on the aluminum transom cap and is sandwiched between two exterior plates of aluminum which bolt to through the transom.

The wood was waterlogged, did not appear to be treated with anything, and just beginning to rot.

The outer aluminum plates also had thinner backing pieces against the transom, for additional support I suppose.
Notice the hacked up main cap in this picture, ugh I'm gonna have to come up with a patch to keep this from acting like a drain spout onto my new transom.

Here is the whole contraption removed from the boat.

And the bare cap underneath.

I'll pick this up again in just a bit.

 

[1959Cherokee]

Re: New User Introduction.

Ok, with the transom extender removed I started drilling out rivets to remove the first cap in place.
It was riveted in place and I found the easier way to remove the rivets to be to take a screwdriver or punch and imprint the center of the rivet, then drill the head off.

Here is the top cap removed.

The main aluminum cap was held in place by these rivets going into wood???
I don't understand what this is supposed to be tied into to hold it securely in place.
This arrangement certainly didn't do the job as it pried right up.

Aside from the holes trimmed into the center section of the cap, it looked to be in fairly decent shape.

With both caps removed it became clear this transom was overdue for replacement.
The wood was soft, waterlogged and again untreated or glassed.

At this point I climbed in the boat and began on removing the rear boxes where the battery and fuel tank live.
Here's a shot of everything removed to make way for the interior transom piece to come out.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: New User Introduction.

Now THAT'S ^^^^^ What I'm talking about! You'll be rewarded for your efforts with a Boat that will last for decades and your Kids Kids will enjoy using. Great decisions. Now get busy on Craigslist and find a short shaft 25 horse Motor to put on her and Sell that Long Shaft. Shouldn't be too hard to find one.

 

[1959Cherokee]

Re: New User Introduction.

Next the rear corner boxes came off.
Anyone know the proper name for these things?

I noticed around this point that the PO had used a combination of steel and aluminum rivets to hold the various trim pieces on.
I should use only aluminum correct?

Now I had to get the splash shield off.
I don't have alot of good pics of the removal process in detail.
Basically I just started punching, then drilling every rivet I could see holding it in place.
There were several rivets going through the transom, and more going through the bottom of the shield into the knee braces underneath.

The splash shield also had two large drains going through the transom that I cut in several directions then hammered through using a 3/8ths ratchet extension.

With that out came my tool tray... ehhh splash shield.

More in a bit.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: New User Introduction.

Forget trying to find a new motor unless you want more power.

When you replace the transom .......... Just replace it to the proper height. You can get aluminum to cover and blend the difference. Once it is built at the proper height .....you will be fine.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: New User Introduction.

BVT, has a very good point, my bad!! Now that you are doing the full replacement you could fab the transom to fit the motor as we discussed previously. You have to make a new top cap any way and that, by the way, is a pretty easy thing to do if you have a friend with an acetylene torch. It almost appears that a straight across transom would be whats needed in your case.

 

[1959Cherokee]

Re: New User Introduction.

Now THAT'S ^^^^^ What I'm talking about! You'll be rewarded for your efforts with a Boat that will last for decades and your Kids Kids will enjoy using. Great decisions. Now get busy on Craigslist and find a short shaft 25 horse Motor to put on her and Sell that Long Shaft. Shouldn't be too hard to find one.

Thanks Wood, I appreciate the advice but I love my motor, its the one thing on my boat that wasn't broken!!
Lol

With the splash gone I started work on the metal backing plate behind where the outboard would mount.
There were ten rivets on each side securing the knee braces to it, seems like a pretty beefy structural tie in.
I'm also going to have to come up with something more appropriate for trailer tie eyes.
I don't think I found one piece of hardware aside from aluminum rivets that had any resistance to corrosion.

Here's the plate removed.

And even more rot underneath, what a surprise!!

Then the knees came out.

More in a bit

 

[1959Cherokee]

Re: New User Introduction.

With the heads drilled off the rivets I was able to remove the stern side of the transom by lightly prying with a tie rod separator.
I think I could only get away with this because the other side of the transom was still in place and I wasn't really putting pressure onto the bare aluminum skin of the hull.
With the exterior piece removed I was left with a bunch of rivets sticking out and no easy way to remove the interior piece.

What I was left with were tons of rivets, missing their heads that would not hammer back through to the other side.
With these still in place I couldn't get the interior side out.
So I used a cutoff wheel to trim them as close to the hull as I could, then punched them back through the other side with a hammer and punch.

With the rivets now completely gone the interior panel came off in one "template capable" piece.

Here is the transom completely removed, and cleaned up a bit.

This was my stopping point for the day.
Does anyone know if the long rivets I am going to need are available at a local store like Home Depot?
The rivets used primarily in the transom didn't appear to be the standard pop rivets I have used in the past.
Anyone know where I can find them?