Transom Job in my future

[jasonbailey]

All-

I need you guys to take a look at what I have. I'm certain I have a transom job in front of me. So all experts please chime in, I need a final dose of reality to kill all lingering denial.

First picture is of what came out of the transom when I pulled out the stainless steel - through transom hardware.

It did not appear that whoever put the through hardware did not seal the wood. It was dark and flaked pretty easily when I scraped it with a screwdriver.

Second Pic is of my lousy repair job from two seasons ago. Water was leaking from the splashwell down into the bilge. The factory put some filler in there, and after almost 27 years it fell out. I got some epoxy resin, filler, and some fiber cloth to repair. As of today, what I highlighted you can see a crack has developed, and once again allowing water down into the bilge.


Final pic is of caulking that had failed and I didn't not notice until one day when the OB was spraying some water up on the transom. The water went through the failed caulk line under the metal cap strip, under the fiberglass and down into the bilge.


The hull is 28 years old, it is a 18 Foot Riviera Tri-Hull. My F-I-L bought it new in 85 and gave it to my wife and I in 2001. I repowered it in March of 2009. The dealer that put the new OB on said the transom was solid, they had to drill two new holes to install the OB. Alas, I think father time has caught up with me. The boat has been stored in my garage since 2004. I had the garage built big enough so I could fit the boat in with room to spare. The floor is still solid, no soft spots at all.

 

[bakerjw]

Re: Transom Job in my future

We need more pictures of the transom area itself. Sometimes they can be easy and other times... Well, not so easy.

Transoms can be dug out and filled with products like Seacast or they you can cut into the inside portion and replace it like it came from the factory.

Be warned though that you can sometimes open up a can of worms once you start poking about.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Transom Job in my future

It did not appear that whoever put the through hardware did not seal the wood. It was dark and flaked pretty easily when I scraped it with a screwdriver.

There's no room for denial with a statement like that.

Dark unsealed flakey wood = transom replacement.

As for the deck being solid, we'll see about that when you cut what you need to back to access the transom.

even though the boat has been well kept for the past 9 years, it won't undo what was done in the first 17 yrs. If your boat needs to be restored the garage will make it last a lifetime after the hard work is done.

Be warned though that you can sometimes open up a can of worms once you start poking about.

If the worm can is opened, all of the worms need to be dug out and dealt with... and just leaving worms to do as they wish and run amok isn't a good idea.