Transom Thickness

[Wishin I was Fishin]

Good morning everybody, I am in the process of laminating some marine plywood for my new transom in my tin blue fin. Got to scratching my head over the overall thickness of it. The max thickness is 1-1/2". I laminated two pieces of 5/8" plywood. obviously this does nto add up to 1-1/2". But what I was hoping is that with the glue and epoxy resin I would get close enough. Well the glue didn't give me much thickness as it turned out and now i'm wondering if I apply resin and glass will I get enough out of that to make it work ok. I'm assuming that the plywood is where most of the strength comes. Would that much epoxy/glass be detrimental to the overall strength of the transom? or should I just go get 3/4" ply and coat it? Just concerned about that becoming too thick.......

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Transom Thickness

1 -1/2" is the normal but I have seen thicker and thinner. What type of boat? What was the old transom? What size outboard? Most people use 3/4" x 2 pieces

 

[Wishin I was Fishin]

Re: Transom Thickness

17' Blue Fin center console. old transom literally came out in chips so no measurement there but the tray it sits in is right @ 1-1/2" thick. I just worried if I go with (2) 3/4" layers than by the time I epoxy it might be a smidge thick. I have never worked with epoxy resin so I wasn't too sure how thick it would build up with one or two coats.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Transom Thickness

The limiting factor will be what fits in the place of the original. If the motor mounts completly over the transom with screw clamps then you must be careful...... if the motor mounts with bolts then the thicker transom is not an issue.

The epoxy is to seal up the wood and is less than 1/8" even if you put on a layer of cloth.

 

[Wishin I was Fishin]

Re: Transom Thickness

Thanks Bob, I decided to go ahead and use 3/4" ply. If it doesn't quite fit then I can always use a layer of 3/4 with a layer of 5/8" and that brings me just under the 1-1/2". Next week I think i'll start working on painting the outside of the boat before I start thinking about layin in the floor etc...