Removing wood from transom

[89cruisers]

Hey there guys,
Well I am at the next step in my restoration, which is going to require removing the rotten/wet wood from my transom, the transom wood is 1 1/2 inches thick, I purchased 2 3/4 thick sheets of PT, but want to know the proper way of removing the bad wood from the transom outer shell, I will be cutting the lower half of the transom wood out, while leaving the upper half which is still dry.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Is this a fiberglass or aluminum boat?
And why in the world would you only replace half? If your already there do it all

 

[89cruisers]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

This is a fiberglass boat, the reason for only replacing half is becuase the wood for the transom is a good 4 feet tall, seems wastefull and expensive to replace wood that is still perfectly fine

 

[robaru]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

I used a 4 inch grinder with a 25 grit wheel to take the wood off the transom, being careful to leave the outer gellcoat skin. Makes for a lot of dust, definitely mask wearing time. I think the concern with making a joint in the transom is the potential loss of strength due to the joint. If you are using epoxy to glue and encapulate it, that could help. It also depends upon the size of the boat, motor, outboard verses inboard/outboard. If you have to replace part of the transom, might be better to replace the whole thing. I separated the top of the boat from the bottom, and it made replacing the whole transom pretty easy.

 

[89cruisers]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Well the whole new wood for the transom would of course be glassed over, this is a 21 foot sportcraft with a 250 IO, problem I have is figuring the right way to cut the wood, without cutting the shell, then getting the wood off of the shell

 

[BigBoatinOkie]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

I replaced the transom in my fiberglass I/O recently. What I did it cut out the inner skin to expose the wood, then used a circular saw to cut kind of a grid pattern into the whole transom. Then I could just use a chisel and hammer to knock out the square sections. You have to be very careful to set the depth of the saw so you don't get into the outer skin. Worked for me anyway.

 

[robaru]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

I used a skinny metal cutting disc for my 4 inch grinder to cut through the fiberglass skin on the inside of the transom. It cuts through the glass very easily, as well as your gloves and hands. Where the wood is wet, the glass should peel off the wood pretty well and then you can scrape or gind it off. Once you hit dry wood, grinding it off was easier than peeling it. Did you have any problems with your floor or stringers? My boat was an outboard so the transom was pretty easy, seems a IO would be more difficult.

 

[89cruisers]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

That grid idea seems like what I might try tomorrow, and the floor was rotten, along with the stringers, the whole boat is getting redone, along with I am extending the size of the cabin to accomadate a galley and head

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

IMHO if I am that far into it I would go the extra mile and effort and replace the entire transom. It does NOT make sense to do it 1/2 and 1/2. Structural strenghth could be compromised. Unless there is some other reason other than the wood is still good then I would take it all out and replace the whole thing.

I'm just sayin...

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

IMHO if I am that far into it I would go the extra mile and effort and replace the entire transom. It does NOT make sense to do it 1/2 and 1/2. Structural strenghth could be compromised. Unless there is some other reason other than the wood is still good then I would take it all out and replace the whole thing.

I'm just sayin...

Agreed! Replace the whole transom. If you have a joint in the transom that is the week spot. The whole point of a transom is one solid piece that distributes the weight/force of the motor/drive evenly.

 

[irish24]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

I am currently in the same stage of restoration on my 87 Starcraft with a fiberglass hull. A chainsaw worked like a charm to remove the transom after I separated the top and bottom of the boat. I would not recommend this approach unless you're good with the tool however. But, I do agree with these previous comments about replacing the whole transom as opposed to only half. One guy said something like "spreading the forces evenly" and contiguous stability throughout.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Hello m8s..

Though Im no expert on drives I dont fully accept the whole I/O transom "spreading the forces evenly" thing..

Ive seen transoms that are Totally rotted out.. but there are very little signs of it from the exterior..

I Think the energy transfer would be more through the Stringers ( engine bolted to it ) then the transom..

However..in due respect.. I would also fall into the "replace the whole transom" catagory of thinking.

YD.

PS. I will check with the engine/drive techs to see what they have to say.

 

[dude11]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

I am currently in the same stage of restoration on my 87 Starcraft with a fiberglass hull. A chainsaw worked like a charm to remove the transom after I separated the top and bottom of the boat.

Now that's something I'd like to watch!! dude11

 

[mogfisher]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Now that's something I'd like to watch!! dude11

Ya know, it sounds absolutely nuts but I guess people do it all the time. I guess the trick is that the chainsaw doesn't cut to the sides so it's actually hard to cut through the inner and outer skin if you hold the saw right. On seacast's website, the chainsaw method is actually what they recommend. I'm with you, though. I'd like to see it done. Sounds scary. All I can picture is bubba staring at the boat with a rotten transom wondering how he's gonna get it out. Suddenly, in between gulps of bud it comes to him. CHAINSAW!!

 

[oops!]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

i have seen only half a transom being replaced.

however it is my opinion that it was more work!

instead of being able to seperate the hull from the transom with screwdrivers and chisels......great care had to be taken not to seperate the top section while the bottom section had to be flexable to seperate the rotten/wet wood.

after the job was done.....the mechanic agreed that drawing a "money line" was not the best approach to that job.

the trick for removing a transom is so use the stability of the good wood to seperate it fom the hull skin...you start at one side of the top and keep prying and working inch by inch.....till you seperate the old transom from the hull.
anything you dont get out needs to be ground out with 24 grit on a grinder with a backing pad.

by the way....while you do need the stregnth of the transom to the hull to transfer the push.
(as said above....its the stringers, transom, working in concert that does that)
what you are really looking for around the drive hole is the anti crush.

cheers
oops

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

i have seen only half a transom being replaced.

however it is my opinion that it was more work!

instead of being able to seperate the hull from the transom with screwdrivers and chisels......great care had to be taken not to seperate the top section while the bottom section had to be flexable to seperate the rotten/wet wood.

after the job was done.....the mechanic agreed that drawing a "money line" was not the best approach to that job.

the trick for removing a transom is so use the stability of the good wood to seperate it fom the hull skin...you start at one side of the top and keep prying and working inch by inch.....till you seperate the old transom from the hull.
anything you dont get out needs to be ground out with 24 grit on a grinder with a backing pad.

by the way....while you do need the stregnth of the transom to the hull to transfer the push.
(as said above....its the stringers, transom, working in concert that does that)
what you are really looking for around the drive hole is the anti crush.

cheers
oops

I agree with OOOPS 110%.

 

[Isaacm1986]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Ya know, it sounds absolutely nuts but I guess people do it all the time. I guess the trick is that the chainsaw doesn't cut to the sides so it's actually hard to cut through the inner and outer skin if you hold the saw right. On seacast's website, the chainsaw method is actually what they recommend. I'm with you, though. I'd like to see it done. Sounds scary. All I can picture is bubba staring at the boat with a rotten transom wondering how he's gonna get it out. Suddenly, in between gulps of bud it comes to him. CHAINSAW!!

I used a chainsaw when I replaced the transom on my ranger bass boat. Worked great! Really a lot easier than it seemed. I would not hesitate to do it again.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Removing wood from tansom

Re: Removing wood from tansom

An electric chainsaw is actually the typical iboats prescribed tool for transom removal (especially for someone not popping the cap and rebuilding the whole boat). From what I understand it tears through the wood but doesn't cut the glass much and an electric chainsaw allows to immediately hear when you've hit glass.

 

[mogfisher]

Re: Removing wood from transom

I think it's just one of those things that just sounds scary but if you really think about it, it makes sense. If I needed to I would probably give it a shot.

 

[dude11]

Re: Removing wood from transom

Yeh,I guess there's a ton of ways to skin a cat.I just had a flashback of a "You Tube" of a guy cleaning & cutting up a deer with a chainsaw---WoW--what a mess.