Re: Transom Replacement
The right way to do it is to leave the exterior fibreglass skin, and cut the interior fibreglass skin out. Grind the lip of the interior skin down to flush with with the sides of the hull. Fit new wood, then cover it in with new fibreglass cloth and resin, lapping the the cloth about 6" or 8" onto the sides and bottom of the hull.<br /><br />The process involves taking off the deck or cutting the back part of your deck off, and cutting out at least the back 18" of floor.<br /><br />More often than not, if you find the transom is rotten, the stringers are rotten too. The stringers are structural support under the floor. A lot of boat manufacturers installed the floor with bare plywood exposed to the bilge. The floor is usually the indicator of rot. You should check it thoroughly too.<br /><br />You can check for rot in the transom by using a technique called "sounding". You tap the inside of the transom with a hammer. Rotten spots will give a "dead" sound instead of the solid hard sound of a tap on good wood.<br /><br />I think you'll find that removing the wood from in between the two fibreglass skins is very difficult unless the rot is so advanced that the whole transom is mush. That's the sort of thing you would do if you were going to use seacast.<br /><br />Even after cutting the inside fibreglass away, I had some hard work gettting the pieces of wood out that weren't totally rotten.<br /><br />If this whole process is totally new to you, you should check out "runabout renovation". I bought it, but I found the info wasn't much beyond what I could learn here and from looking in my boat. I'll sell you mine if you want it, but it will probably end up costing you as much as ordering it from a bookstore online, since I can't ship as cheaply as they can.
