Now.. about that transom.....

[watermellonI]

I have been reading and learning from iboats the past six months, I hve 19 glasstream, cuddy with 3l 1990 mercruiser and from what I have learned I have ripped out, and replaced stringers,foam and deck, all reglassed and finished in. I would like to thank all the contributors at iboats, and hopefully i can help someone sometime as I am continually trolling here.
My transom... on the other hand well i got some Nauticus Tabs for the boat, and when I went to drill holes for them water poured out, yes I had just been on sea trials, and yes the boat had done a lot better with four stringers,( dry clean stringers) as opposed to just one. Any way the water came from inside the transom along with some muck that i m certain was rotten wood. ok ok I know long post, and yes i did check the transom it was fine till i took a drill to it, you cannot move the outdrive, nor is there any evidence of leakage, no cracks or anything like that, well heres my plan:
Instead of removing outdrive and hardware what about opening transom with a plunge cut to get into one side(in or out) actually making a slot one high and one low, to clean and dry the inside of the transom, then refill the transom with wet resinated figerglass which i have plenty of. devising a method to pack the glass into the opening before it kicks. I would like to hear input here guys so dont be shy, I respect all opinions, and yes i know how important this is as far as safety,but it is an old boat.

 

[watermellonI]

Re: Now.. about that transom.....

oh yeah i forgot i have a swim platform that covers the whole transom in the form of an overhang and my transom is actually in 3 sections across the stern of the boat and again thank you all for getting me this far!!!

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Now.. about that transom.....

One problem with that idea is the wet wood will never dry and whatever you pour in will not bond to it. If it was wet enough for water to drip out of the holes you drilled then i bet the transom is in pretty bad shape..
You may as well do it right and get all the old wood out...Thats a real bummer.

 

[Robj]

Re: Now.. about that transom.....

I agree, the correct fix is to replace all the rotten wood. Do it right and it will last. Pouring resin will not do anything if the wood is rotten, plus if you do all the transom like that, you will be adding alot of weight as resin is heavier than wood.

Good luck,

Rob.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Now.. about that transom.....

i would pull the engine and outdrive, do it from the inside, the right way. or sell it to another poor unsuspecting sole. (i'm bad!!) did you check the motor mounts when you did the stringers?

 

[watermellonI]

Re: Now.. about that transom.....

ok front motor mount was replaced and is fine now rear is solid(mounted midway of transom actually high)

i wasn t planning to pour resin in, and i m not gonna leave any wood there either,

cut slit app 2" wide or so one high one low, this would give me access to the rotten wood, clean it all out and then dry out the interior fiberglass

then soak glass in resin and pack in through slots

and just to make things clear i agree with doing things right im just lookin for a little different method (better mousetrap)

 

[SuzukiChopper]

Re: Now.. about that transom.....

Do they not still have that Seacast stuff or whatever it was called? You clean the transom of all the wood and then pour this stuff in for a nice strong transom? I think it's a little pricey but if it's difficult to get at the inside of the boat, might be a solution to the problem? Just throwing it out there.

http://transomrepair.com/zk/

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Now.. about that transom.....

Gary H NC, just redid his transom with seacast, which is basically what you are talking about, but a whole lot better.

 

[watermellonI]

Re: Now.. about that transom.....

yes I know about it TD, been studyin that idea, but i would have to find a way to "pump" it in somehow because i dont have access to the top of transom, hey maybe that would could work.

this sounds like a picture/boat project, (crap, now i gotta learn to use the camera too)

I m a little stubborn about cutting into the boat again, I know it needs it but i really want to work smart this time, after replacing floor and stringers i found there were some things i could have done a little differently and saved a lot of time and a few bucks, not so much the money as the time

 

[SuzukiChopper]

Re: Now.. about that transom.....

Just a suggestion, but you could cut the outside skin away, and replace the transom that way. I've seen it done at least once from a member on this forum. Would require more resin and glass as well as gelcoat/paint but can be done. Just tossing it out there to give you something else to think aboot