Transom woes:(

[BEERNUTS]

Hi all,
I have a few concerns about the transom on my boat, the bottom seems really solid and it seems to get softer towards the top, ie top is starting to compress the glass as the engine bolts are tightened, so far its pulled in about 1/4" on both sides at the top, in the OB well. There are no cracks anywhere yet in the glass.
My question is how worried should i be? also how much transom movement is acceptable if one manipulates the motor to stress the transom? At present it moves maybe up to 1/4" depending on how much pressure i apply to the transom, its only moving at the top.

Any help/advice greatly appreciated

 

[bigredinohio]

Re: Transom woes

Welcome to iboats.

Do you have pictures?

Any movement or give in the transom is a bad sign along with cracks you describe. You may want to do a core test also but it sounds like you're in the market for a new transom.

 

[BEERNUTS]

Re: Transom woes

Hi, Thanks for the reply.

Give me a few minutes and I'll take some now its stopped raining.BRB

 

[jonesg]

Re: Transom woes

The transom is shot, its rotted, its done, finished.

Until you recognize the obvious its not possible to fix it.

I spent months playing around with mine trying to convince myself it wasn't too bad, but only 6 weeks fixing it once I accepted the fact.

I found the wood in my transom was firm at the bottom because it stayed completely wet, the wood at the top was drier and it rots easier that way.

Its not so bad, its not a very difficult job, it just seems that way but it isn't.
The good news is you end up with better than original.

 

[BEERNUTS]

Re: Transom woes

ok heres a couple of pics

 

[BEERNUTS]

Re: Transom woes

Thanks for the quick replys guys,

In the first pic you can see it the best, where the wedge plate has pulled in and slipped down a small amount, this side is the worst.

Over here in Oz its the start of our fishing season and i would really like to get some use out of the boat in the next 6 months, how long do you guys think it will last? can it wait till next may/ june to fix?

 

[bigredinohio]

Re: Transom woes

Yeah, I'm inclined to say the same as jonesg.

There are several good threads to read upon that have transom replacements done. I'm am wrapping mine this week and have pictures that you could browse. Also, check out "oops" thread on hull extension. Everything you ever wanted to know about boat renovation can be obtained there.

As jonesg said, it's not a very hard project to do but it does require a commitment of time and dedication to do it right.

 

[BEERNUTS]

Re: Transom woes

I've had good read on some of the transom repair projects on this site and feel quite comfortable in being able to fix it myself,looking at hundreds of pics really helped, i really like the idea of the pourable transom compounds that are available in the US, unfortunatly there not available here yet, but there must be something simular, I'll have to investigate.

 

[VeroWing]

Re: Transom woes

Your pics remind me of what I saw when I started checking my transom. Seeing that you have an aluminum angle molding covering the exterior edges of the transom notch, you can be 99% sure that this is what caused a good amount of water to enter your transom wood. On my boat (1984 Grady White) that molding covers the seam of exterior hull/interior cockpit joint. After a few years caulking washes out, and water is directed under molding and through screw holes down into wood in transom.
You would be shocked to see how many boats are built this way. Crappy engineering, or planned obsolescence, either way, its just a matter of time before transom wood is compromised.
I have just completed rebuilding my transom, and below is link to steps I took doing this rebuild. Its' a lot of work, and not for the timid, but the results are a better than new solid transom that should last indefinitly.
Good luck with your repair. Mike

http://forums.bateau2.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=19949&start=0

 

[BEERNUTS]

Re: Transom woes

Hi Mike, great job on your repair, really impressive. Thanks for posting the link to your thread, after reading it and seeing how you did yours, made me feel a lot more at ease with mine.I'd like to remove the ali trim on mine today so to get a better picture of whats really going on in there, thats if it ever stops raining.

 

[notsunkyet]

Re: Transom woes

hey there Beer nuts... its best err on the side of prudencr and caution... it looks shot just fome th one good pic and any movement is bad for the whole thang!!!! i did mine alittle more unorthadox i used a 20 inch electric chainsaw and went between my splashwell and transom glass gouged out all the old wood and worked awesome made finish cleaing a breeze!!!

on the pourable stuff .... very high dollar and in my opinion wood is better

 

[BEERNUTS]

Re: Transom woes

Hi notsunkyet, i like the unorthadox method, makes perfect sense to me, I'm pretty handy with a chainsaw and own a few. For getting out most of the old wood i couldn't think of a better way to do it, and seeing the skins and floor are in good condition still, i thought the pourable method would be the easiest way to go.
Why is wood better than epoxy?

 

[VeroWing]

Re: Transom woes

I also used a chainsaw in the beginning, before I decided to remove the splashwell floor area to better reach all areas of interior transom.

Regarding rebuilding transom with wood or Seacast pour type material, many swear by the pour type transom fillers. Others say wood is the only way to go. I did a thorough search on pour type transom fillers, and also wood type rebuild, and decided that if I was going to do this labor intensive rebuild, I had to be absolutely sure that it would outlast me, and I would be completely confident of the quality of the material used in rebuild.

To me that material would be biaxial fiberglassed encased marine grade plywood, bonded to existing transom exterior skin with marinexpoxy. Nothing better, in my opinion.

I will say this though. If my boat were an inboard or I/O model, and I could confidently remove ALL bad wood from between the existing transom interior and exterior fiberglass sandwich, and get it properly cleaned and dried, then I would not hesitate to use Seacast, Nidacore, or another high rated pour type filler.

 

[notsunkyet]

Re: Transom woes

i like the wood because it will flex ever so slightly.. even encased in glass but it is a matter of opinion i think when it come right down to it. My thing is when i priced seacast i was looking at 600 for just materials.. lol well im broke hehe and i went with wood and besides if i have this boat in 20 years my kids will have it its their problem lol

 

[notsunkyet]

Re: Transom woes

oh yea i forgot... i also used a 1 in spade bit with a 12 inch extention from the home depot.... drill it first and lossen it up and the chainsaw will have a blast with the rest

 

[justchange]

Re: Transom woes

oh yea i forgot... i also used a 1 in spade bit with a 12 inch extention from the home depot.... drill it first and lossen it up and the chainsaw will have a blast with the rest

This chainsaw thing sounds interesting. Not to mention fun. I can imagine the looks from my neighbors. almost makes me wish I needed to do this.



------but am glad I don't

 

[BEERNUTS]

Re: Transom woes

Hi All,sorry for the delay in reply.
I had a good look at it today, i pulled the motor and removed the trim.
The seam is split right across the well under the trim and its awfully wet.
Looks like a got a replacement to do and will be going the ply option as its way to dear to use a pourable solution the ply route will be dear enough for a porper like me

At the moment I'm thinking about cutting off the transom cap with a diamond wheel in the small grinder to expose the rotted wood and removing it from between the inner and outer skins with a selection of chainsaws and augers.
Then once the old wood is completely removed and the skins cleaned, slotting in the new ply from the top, obviously the new ply will be encased in epoxy first.
Am i on the right track here fellas and has anyone done it this way before?

Or heres another option that i like going in from the back.

Since the floor is rock solid still i can't see the point in making more work by going in from the inside.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[VeroWing]

Re: Transom woes

Below is a link to a complete rebuild of a boat, including good info on replacing transom. You may find some good info for your project in it. I did.
Be sure to click "next" on bottom left of each page to get to the next. Mike

http://boatbuildercentral.com/howto/aquasport/index.php

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Transom woes

BEERNUTS, in my opinion, the pourable transom products have one specific usage. And I think yours is that usage. They are for a boat that has a good solid interior that you don't want to mess with but has a rotted transom. I would absolutely go with the chainsaw method as described above. Remove your motor and the trim piece and go to work. From what I understand an electric chainsaw is the best because you can easily feel and hear when you touch glass.

Now if I was totally restoring a boat (floor, stringers, etc) then I would think it would be silly to spend the money on a pourable solution when you have everything ripped apart anyway. In that case you may as well do wood.

I'm really not a fan of the "cut the outer transom skin off and replace it that way" method.

 

[BEERNUTS]

Re: Transom woes

Well the hard work is finally over and we had the first water outing yesterday and all went well, not a drop of water came out the bungs

Once i got the transom or what was left of it out i decided to cut 2' out of the rear floor as there was a small amount of stringer rot at the transom end.
Also i wasn't really keen on the idea of just glassing the transom at floor level only, so now its glassed into the hull as it should be.

New hardwood stringers were spliced back into place and then glassed to the hull and transom,i used 450gsm CSM for the whole project, first tabbing then followed by full length mat and all filleting, tabbing and mat was laid all at once and wet on wet and the result is rock solid i am very happy to report.

Below are a few pics of the job
Outer skin cut off, just look at all that rot

Just a few of the tools i used to get all that rotten timber out

All of the rot cut out and just the inner skin remaining.

Nice new shiney transom with motor back on.

One from the otherside.

No more aluminium trim for this old clunker, alot more work but worth it in the end