Crazy ideas for installing new transom, would love your guy's input.
So looking at my old transom, I realized that the water damage and rot was mainly around the drain fittings and the mounting bolts for the motor. I started thinking of ways to seal these holes like Fort Knox while increasing their strength and minimizing any movement of the mounting bolts within the holes. Call it “reinventing the wheel” if you will. The ideas I came up with are MAJOR overkill. I also had an idea of a way to ensure that the new stringers are installed to the exact same height and location of the factory stringers.
My first idea for the transom was to just seal the insides of the holes really well with the thinnest glass you can possibly buy. Once cured, I’d go on to add a good filling of sealant. I realized that the resin would wind up shrinking the diameter of the holes, making it a bear to get the bolts/drain fittings in, potentially causing the resin I put in there to be scraped off. I then thought that maybe I could increase the diameter of the holes by a 16th of an inch to accommodate for this, but given I want the holes as close to the diameter of the bolts as possible, I scrapped this idea.
My second idea is very similar to the first. Instead of a using thin glass in the holes, I thought of using just a single layer of unwaxed resin. Once it tacked up, I thought of filling the holes with a waxed PB mix that has a vey high concentration of chop strand. While it’s still wet, installing the hardware and wiping any excess that pushed out. This idea seemed a little more plausible.
My third idea is where it gets really nuts. Before installing the transom, I thought of finding 1/8” thick stainless steel pipe with an inner diameter that matched that of the mounting bolts and drains. Then, I’d drill the holes in the new transom to match the outer diameter of the pipes, maybe going a bit bigger. To prep the pipe for install, I thought of sanding the outside with 40 grit to give it a good bonding surface and then cutting it to sit flush with the wood and removing any burrs from the edges. I’d then pretreat the wood with a few layers of resin to include the holes. After the final coat of resin tacked up, I thought of lining the hole and coating the sanded pipe with the same PB mix as I mentioned before, and then wiping away the excess after I installed the pipe. I’d wait for the PB to cure, then I’d install the transom like normal. Once the transom was in place, I would tab it in and cover it with glass like normal, making sure to leave the holes exposed. After everything cured, I would install the hardware like normal, being sure to add sealant around the outer edges of the holes as well as in the pipes to seal it even further. I really want to hear what you guys think of this idea in particular.
The idea I had for installing the stringers is pretty simple. I plan to cut the top and outer side of the glass off of the old stringer with a dremel, leaving the inner side of glass intact and flush with the top of the old stringer. After this, I’ll remove the old wood stringer (hopefully in one piece so I can use it as a template on the new one). I’ll then sand down the old fillet and glass on the side that was removed, as well as where the old stringer was bedded so that it is prepped for a fresh stringer. After everything is wiped down with acetone, I plan on bedding the new stringer. I’m going to make sure that the new stringer is flush against the glass that is remaining, and hold it in place by screwing it to a 2x4x10 placed on the opposite side of the old glass. Once it cures, I’m going to remove the screws and 2x4 and cut out the remaining portion of glass and prep it for tabbing in the new stringer. I'm planning on doing the stringers one at a time like this(there's only 2 stringers on my boat from the factory). I figured the bit of glass left intact, in combination with doing the stringers one at a time, will help to prevent the full from deforming at all while I replace the stringers. I also planned on bracing the hull from the exterior. It may seem confusing, so I’ll attach a couple pictures to help illustrate what I’m saying.
