What types of wood are in transom base?

[pman7]

I recently purchased a 1972 16' Ouachita fiberglass bassboat. The boat had a 1" diameter hole on the keel, about 6' to 7' from the front of the boat, where it had been shaved from beaching the boat. I don't know how long the hole had been there as it was unknown to the previous owner. I know the owner well and am sure he was unaware of the hole. The boat had set unused for well over a year, maybe even two years before I discovered the hole. The foam inside all seemed to be dry and dropping the front of the boat for several days brought no water forward to dampen the foam I had access to through the hole.

I assumed it was safe to go ahead and repair the hole and had a pro fiberglass and reinforce the keel.

Well this past weekend I installed a transducer plate to the base of the transom. I drilled holes about 1.5" deep into the transom for the plate. After drilling about 1/2" to 3/4" deep the wood shaving coming out of the drilled hole turned quite dark. Not quite ebony dark but at least redwood dark and maybe darker. Definitely darker than I expected.

I didn't notice the shavings being damp but I can't swear they weren't as it didn't dawn on me at the time that something could be wrong.

My question is would these dark shaving be a sign of water damage to the base of my transom or is it possible some dark water resistant wood such as redwood was used in the contruction of the transom base?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: What types of wood are in transom base?

to be honest it could be both. i know when using a hole saw when cutting some plywood, that the sawdust is quite dark, redish brown color, almost coagulated blood color (scab) the only way to test is with a moisture meter, if it is not obliously wet. they use a lot of strange woods in the core plys in plywood.

 

[pman7]

Re: What types of wood are in transom base?

TAS, the coagulated blood color was close.

If it were you, would you drill another hole to test? The boat doesn't seem abnormally heavy, jumps up on plane and seems solid in the transom as far as I can tell.

Will an area like that dry out over time? The deck is fiberglass so I guess that area might be sealed up and possibly prone to retaining moisture. I don't have a clue. Should I leave well enough alone or drill it and do some testing?