Rotting Transom Board on Pontoon boat.

[joe28704]

Does anyone have a source for 1 3/4" thick Transom Board? Any Plywood, solid wood or Synthetic material will be considered.
My 24" x 13 1/2" x 1 3/4" thick Transom Board has rotted.(factory 1 3/4" plywood)
I'm not in the mood to buy a 3/4" and a 1/4" treated plywood sheet at Home Depot and glue them up and seal them to get 1 transom board if I can get a line on the real deal in one shot. I'm looking for a 24" x 13 1/2" piece I can trim to fit in the "Trialgular or tapered" aluminum transom of this pontoon boat.(fresh water)
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Joe

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Rotting Transom Board on Pontoon boat.

well you can hire someone to glue one up for you, or do it your self. i would buy a 2x4 ft piece of 3/4 and a 4x4 piece of 1/2 inch exterior ply, the 1/2 to be the out pieces, the 3/4 to be the core. you run the 1/2 grain vertical, and the 3/4 grain horizonal. 3 good coats of an oil base paint, and you are good for another 5-10 years. Gorilla glue works fine. i just did this with 3 piece 1/2 scrap i had. and made a jack plate.

 

[wire2]

Re: Rotting Transom Board on Pontoon boat.

PL construction adhesive works well too, only $3 a tube. Put lots of lines on it, put next piece on and so on. Pile some weight on it overnight and you have 1 piece.

I think you'll have a really hard time finding 1-3/4 ply in stock anywhere.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Rotting Transom Board on Pontoon boat.

and if you find it available, you will have to buy a 4x8 sheet.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Rotting Transom Board on Pontoon boat.

How about three pieces of 5/8" plywood? can you use solid pressure treated dimentional lumber? Glue up a piece of 5/4 and a piece of 1" by, and that is exactly 1- 3/4".

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Rotting Transom Board on Pontoon boat.

Chris pressure treated is not friendly to the glue up, sealing, or the aluminum mounting bracket.

 

[joe28704]

Re: Rotting Transom Board on Pontoon boat.

It looks like I may have to fab one up. But I'll keep one eye open for a 1 3/4"
thick stock.
You would NOT use TREATED plywood for it's unfriendliness to sealing and it's corrosive potential to aluminum?
Thus "conventional" plywood well sealed is the best choice? Any particular grade?
The boat sits in the water 10 mo a year.
Thank you kindly for your response.
Sincerely,
Joe

 

[bbloomer]

Re: Rotting Transom Board on Pontoon boat.

What about LVL? I'm not sure if that's the proper name, but it's used in homes for structural support of long spans. You can get it up to 2" X 16" and it's basically heavy duty plywood cut into boards rather than sheets. (It's fricken heavy, that's why they don't have sheets of it.) If you can get a piece that's 24" long, you'd be set.

 

[wire2]

Re: Rotting Transom Board on Pontoon boat.

What about LVL? I'm not sure if that's the proper name, but it's used in homes for structural support of long spans. You can get it up to 2" X 16" and it's basically heavy duty plywood cut into boards rather than sheets. (It's fricken heavy, that's why they don't have sheets of it.) If you can get a piece that's 24" long, you'd be set.

That's Laminated Veneer Lumber, yes, very heavy because of the resin to bond it together. It's not made for wet applications, It may/may not stand up.

Modern pressure treat uses copper, so you'd have to seal it with a layer of fibreglass or other to keep it off the aluminum.

I think Tashasdaddy has the right idea, one 3/4" sandwiched by two ?" glued together. "Good 2 sides" will have the best surfaces.

As for sealing it, my experience is that Thompson's Water Seal has a very short duration of a few weeks (on my cottage deck, anyway). Behr Waterproofing has lasted several seasons, (has a high percentage of linseed oil). I have experimented with polyester resin but it tends to separate from lumber when exposed to the elements.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Rotting Transom Board on Pontoon boat.

as said above " 3 good coats of an oil base paint, and you are good for another 5-10 years. Gorilla glue works fine." been doing it for years. just keep it painted in the off season. grade exterior, the same thing they use on houses, that are exposed to the weather 24/7 365. painted will last a long time. so in 5 years you do it again, it's cheap fix.

 

[sdunt]

Re: Rotting Transom Board on Pontoon boat.

You would NOT use TREATED plywood for it's unfriendliness to sealing and it's corrosive potential to aluminum?

'Modern' ACQ treated wood EATS metal. You can only use Stainless or Double Hot Dip Galvanized fasteners with it. It will corrode through regular nails in a couple of years. I can hardly wait for when some of people decks start litterally falling apart.

ACQ lumber will EAT any metal in contact with it, your Outboard motor clamps, the control cables, etc. If you build lockers out of this stuff and put metal inside that rests on the ACQ it will EAT that away as well..

Just went through this discussion on another board,

http://www.readylens.com/messageboard/showmessage.asp?fm=Forum&messageID=52615

and the experienced opinion is there is NO PLACE where you would use pressure treated wood in a boat..