small transom crack issue

[evilwind1]

Hi to all, I have a small crack on the keel (where it meets transom) right below drain plug hole. It's about eight inches long and opens up about 1/2 inch wide. Now, the boat is very wet in that area and would probably take months,inside and doing everything possible to remove water/moisture. I would like to find a way to patch it the best way and use it this week. It's a small (16 foot) Winner runabout and we only use it in lite conditions. Also it's a 40 year old hull so I don't want to dig out the transom or do the whole seacast thing. The question I have is can I vac as much water as possible out and patch it with some kind of epoxy (MarineTex)? or is there something that will adhere to the water soaked wood and fiberglass. Will MarineTex or West epoxy fiberglass stick to it? Would it help if I drilled a few small holeto allow resin to seep and and soak area with acetone first? As I said before it's a small area and I don't think it will present too big of a problem to repair, just wondering what was the best way to fix,I tried to download a couple of pics, I hope they came thru, thank you in advance ,Bill.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: small transom crack issue

Sorry, but its time to park the boat until you can do the correct repairs, that's not a little crack that can be plugged with some putty.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: small transom crack issue

Sorry, but its time to park the boat until you can do the correct repairs, that's not a little crack that can be plugged with some putty.

+1 Park it..... that is not a simple fix with all the dis-colored material

 

[lowkee]

Re: small transom crack issue

'Small' is hardly the word I would use for that crack! That looks like you will need to gut and redo your transom before the season is over. There are plenty of transom repair thread on here. Give soem of them a read. It isn't too bad, but you will need the proper materials (fiberglass, resin, resin tools, etc) in order to do a proper (and safe) repair job.

 

[bigredinohio]

Re: small transom crack issue

+3...park it or carry a lot of life jackets

 

[5150abf]

Re: small transom crack issue

Ya, I would call that a major failure.

I don't do glass but couldn't he put several layers of glass over the outside to get him through the year?

It wouldn't look real great but he said it is a 40 year old boat.

But I agree with everone else, you need to either rebuild that one or look for another, that is a pretty major failure and no JB weld won't or caulk won't fix that.

 

[jonesg]

Re: small transom crack issue

Ya, I would call that a major failure.

I don't do glass but couldn't he put several layers of glass over the outside to get him through the year?

.

I'm the type of idiot who would do that, but its too far gone.
The danger is the transom is coming off, if it hits something the engine will be in the back of the boat, if it doesn't hit something the engine will be at the bottom.

If it was a rowboat...yeh, but theres a load of force being applied to the area thats cracking, thats why it cracked there.

fuhgetaboutit. !

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: small transom crack issue

Yeah that is a pretty major crack in a very bad spot, I would be very leary of riding around in that boat. It looks as if there has been some work done on the bottom already which compounds the problem further. You may find something to stick but it won't fix the problem at all. If you use that boat be VERY careful and keep your and your passangers pfd's on at ALL times.