What material do I need to fill a gap or hole in my hull?

[briangcc]

Re: What material do I need to fill a gap or hole in my hull?

Disclaimer: I'm no expert, have never done this type of repair, and have not stayed at a Holiday Inn recently


That all being said, maybe I can clear this up for you...

You cut the outer skin (transom) off to gain access to the transom wood for replacement. By doing so, you removed the structural integrity of the hull. The factory skins the inside of the transom lightly to provide some water resistance. That's all its there for as a bulk of the structural integrity comes from the hull itself (and the transom bonded to the hull).

What you have now is a transom bonded to the weakest part of the transom, not the strongest. So when you punch the throttle on that 150, you stand a very good chance of doing structural damage to your boat and possibly giving your freshly rebuilt 150 a cylinder cleaning with lake/river water or returning it to Davey Jones locker (depending on how quickly you can get your boat to shore).

In other words...its not the safest way to approach this and definitely not strong.

Follow what these guys are telling you...gain access to the inside of your boat transom and start tabbing it in with the correct materials. Then reattach the outer transom skin you cut off, and fill the voids. Now you get to do tabbing on the outside of the boat and get to feather all that in to make the repair strong.

If it were me, and I just put a bunch of money into a 150 outboard, I'd be heeding these guys advice.

My $0.02 on it. But hey, its your boat, and your money.

 

[MAtkins]

Re: What material do I need to fill a gap or hole in my hull?

I'm beginning to think I got in over my head on this one.
I guess I need to determine what you mean by 'tabbing'.

This boat's worth about $400.00 with the trailer.

 

[MAtkins]

Re: What material do I need to fill a gap or hole in my hull?

Woodonglass quote:
"With some additional cutting of the rear section you could gain access to the sides of the hull to place the glass tabbings needed to beef up the repair."

I have no idea what you're describing here.
With my boat how would I do this?

 

[73Chrysler105]

Re: What material do I need to fill a gap or hole in my hull?

This is still salvageable just not recommended. Follow along with what I said and you will increase strength back into the transom. Right now the transom is being held on by the 1.5" edges of the wood holding onto the sides of the boat right now since the entire rear skin was removed. That was a one piece of solid fiberglass which was interwoven through the entire side and would take a great force to rip it apart.

Imagine this take a 2 foot section of 2x4, grab either end and try to bend and break it. You can't. Now take a circular saw and set it to 1" depth run it across the top of the 4" side of the 2x4 do there is now a slit 1" into the 2" side now try to bend and break the 2x4. Its the same as with cutting down a tree you never get to cut all the way through it because you weaken the trunk and if you cut it half way and left it the next wind would break it. The transom skin you cut off was as integral as the extra inches of the 2x4 for strength and although you added back the 1.5" of wood in the transom the skin was your strength otherwise your motor would have fallen off before. The wood provides additional strength but it pushes against the transom the force is a backwards force not a sideways force. you need to tie the stern back into the sides of the boat so the sides help hold the stern onto the boat. It may be a difficult and expensive lesson to learn but it would be worse if you went out and lost your new motor the first run out. Luckily it is not impossible.

 

[MAtkins]

Re: What material do I need to fill a gap or hole in my hull?

73Chrysler105: Thanks. WHEW!

Yea, it'll cost me a bit but that's a far cry from a rebuild job.

So, it's the hull that the transom is secured to, not so much the inside shell & the stringers.
I guess I got bad information on that to start off.

As I work I'll be sure to secure the transom to my work on the hull with glass.
I don't know what 'tabbing' means.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: What material do I need to fill a gap or hole in my hull?

Tabbing just refers to the glass used to hold it (anything) in place, there may be additional tabbing at stress points.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: What material do I need to fill a gap or hole in my hull?

Stand up on the rear of the boat and take a pic looking down on the top of the transom so we can see the entire rear section of the boat. Post that pic and then I can Show/Tell you how I'd propose you do the repair to ensure that it's safe and sound and ready for the big 150!!!