Transom Repair Advice needed

[SCO]

I have a boat that needs transom replacement. On these designs the transom protrudes aft, and it looks like the thing to do is cut the aft skin and get at the wood from the outside vs the inside. I am thinking of cutting out the glass skin in one piece and later glassing this piece back in place. Looks are not an issue, and I replaced the stringers and floor last year. It looks to be a whole lot easier to do this from the outside.<br /><br />Am I missing something here? I have searched but find no ref to replacing transoms from the outside. Can it be done this way? Thanks in advance for all the help I can get

 

[JB]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

Howdy, SCO.<br /><br />I am not familiar with your boat, but if it is like mine, replacing from the outside would be easier.<br /><br />Make the wood portion out of multiple layers of thin plywood, epoxying each in place in turn. <br /><br />Sounds to me like you have a good plan, but what do I know?<br /><br />More expert folks will come in and refine the advice.<br /><br />Red sky at night. . .<br />JB

 

[DJ]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

SCO,<br /><br />JB's got it right. You can laminate as many pieces of plywood tegether as you need to make the right thickness. You DO NOT need to use marine plywood, just about any quality will do.<br /><br />The trick is to work on the shop floor with your pieces that you are going to laminate together. <br /><br />1. Use waterproof wood glue between plys. <br /><br />2. Hold together with stainless steel wood screws. <br /><br />3. Let it cure for a couple of days and then coat thoroughly with epoxy resin-all sides. It's easier to coat once you have it cut to size.<br /><br />4. Glass it in and you're all set!<br /><br />Good luck.

 

[scottmech]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

For some more info, check out rotdoctor.com. You can email them with any questions you might have. I have to replace the floor, strs, and transom in my Stingray and got a lot of good info from them. They usually reply within 1 day.

 

[outonbizniz]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

I own a 1967 glaston 14 foot jetflite. I am in the process of replacing my transom. Since the floor and stringers are also bad I separated the hull. This is suprisingly easy to do. Once I had the top off the hull it was very easy to access the transom from the inside. I cut off the inside skin and left about 2 inches of glass around the sides. I then used SeaCast (pourable transom). This stuff is great if you have a curved transom (or not). Check out transomrepair.com.

 

[SCO]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

Todd, can you elaborate some?. How much time to seperate the top and do you unscrew the fasteners from the outside? If easy to do, I think that is the best option. Ive heard it can be difficult to get the top back on. Also, it sounds like you cut the side of the vessel out for the seacast. Did you cut out the inside skin, replace wood, reglass the inside skin then pour seacast from the top into a sealed vessel? How much does that qty of seacast cost? I like Jb and Scottechs procedures with a top off of the seacast or epoxy to make sure the wood is sealed this time.

 

[SCO]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

Thanks also Djohns. Good suggestions.

 

[outonbizniz]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

It took me about 2 hours to separate the hull. You must pull the rubber in the rub rail out and underneath there are screws or rivits. Remove the screws or drill out the rivits and remove the aluminum rail. Do not destroy the rails (some can be expensive/difficult to replace). I then just hoisted the top off the hull with pulleys and pulled the hull and trailer from below it. Next I cut the inner fibergalss skin off the transom and removed all the rotten wood. Next i made a masonite "mold" (really just a piece to hold the new inner fiberglass skin in place). The mold was covered with a mold release and then fiberglass mat and resin. After tying in the edges to the remaining 2 inch border of the old inner skin i poured the seacast in from the top. The only hard part about removing the top of the boat was the fibergalss that tied the inside transon wall to the top (if that makes any sense). I found that a dremel tool ($60?) with the carbide cutting wheel...about $12...worked great. As long as you make your new transom NO WIDER than the origional the hull will line back up. I also will be running an aluminum angle iron along the top outboard side of the transon the cover that joint. I haven't replaced the top yet...I'm replacing the stringers with seacast as well. The really great thing about seacast is that it WILL NOT ROT!!! That says it all for me as I don't plan on ever disassempling my boat again.

 

[SCO]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

Thanks for the reply Todd. That does sound easy to get the top off. That would allow me to get to the fwd deck and redo the middle fuel tank which I havn't been using. Da#!, guess I'm gonna have to do this the hard way and get it over with.

 

[SCO]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

By the way Todd, watch out when you put the new floor in. I have heard that the sides will be spread out with the top off, and the new floor can hold the sides out. Sounds like a remote possibility to me since the sides on these old Glastrons are pretty flexable, but a heads up for you.

 

[Hooty]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

I don' know where chanesaw evin iz when we need him but the way he does it is use a chainsaw to hog out all the old wood. The saw doesn't really want to cut the fiberglass but eats up the old rotten wood. Go up to "search" and see if ya can find his "method". Should be in the last 2 or 3 months and saves beaucoup time.<br /><br />g'luck & c/6<br /><br />Hooty

 

[outonbizniz]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

thanks SCO, I've taken measurements and will check them before I glass in the floor.

 

[SCO]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

Hooty,<br /><br />That is an interesting chainsaw technique. I think he posted under 12footers thread about rotary saws which has recently been bumped up.

 

[oldboat1]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

I've done a couple of transoms in the last five or six years. On the first one (17' Sportcraft, 85hp Evinrude), I cut the deck about midships, unscrewed enough of the rail to free it up, and lifted the deck off -- or the stern portion of it. This gave me access to the transom, and I cut/hacked/scraped the old plywood out. On this boat, there was a partial pocket for the transom -- glass ran up about 6 inches from the floor on the inside, and of course I left the glass intact on the outside. I epoxied (West System) two pieces of 3/4 inch construction grade plywood, based on a template I made from insulation foam. The plywood was epoxied and screwed together (drywall screws), and completely coated with epoxy -- particular care to the edges. When dry, the new transom was epoxied into the glass "pocket", using drywall screws again from the back of the transom. I also drilled holes around the bottom and sides from the rear of the transom into any gaps. I filled the gaps with expanding foam. Finally, screwholes were epoxied over, and the transom sanded, primed and painted.<br /><br />The second boat was a 14 foot MFG. On this one, there was a full pocket for the wood transom, but because of the configuration of the deck I did not want to cut and lift it (or lift the whole deck). I therefore cut away the old transom from the rear, cutting around the perimeter and saving the outer glass for reuse. Replacement in this case was by piecing strategically cut pieces being sure to overlap joints -- all coated with epoxy and joined with screws (again, double thickness 3/4 inch ply). The original glass skin was then epoxied and screwed back into place and all cuts and screw holes filled with thickened epoxy. I also did the process of drilling around the perimeter and filling gaps with expanding foam (finishing holes with epoxy) -- object is to keep water away from the wood as much as possible. Again, the transom was primed and painted (I'm not capable of doing gelcoat.)<br /><br />Take special care to seal the top of the transom, as that is the primary source of water incursion.<br /><br />Anyway, it's an interesting job and gives you essentially a new hull -- at least one with a transom that is arguably as sturdy as the original one.

 

[SCO]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

Thanks for your post old boat 1. I took the rubber rub rail off but have not yet committed to the idea of taking the deck off. Still may do the job like you did. I can get to the fwd tank by cutting the main bulkhead and making a proper fix to it later. On this boat, there is no way to get at the tank without taking the deck off or cutting that bulkhead.

 

[SCO]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

Update,<br /><br />Had to put the project on hold to mull it over and replace some rotton fences. I opened the transom from the outside, and it looks like i'll be able to pull it out whole and replace it easily. It was easy to open up with a grinder, like cutting through butter around the perimeter of the aft protruding glass on this model. As planned, the glass came off in a single big plate in less than 5 minutes . I will epoxy it back on later and reglass around the edges. The wood looks good but is soft, and anywhere you choose it is easy to tap a screwdriver in and water beads out where the screw driver goes in. Will report back on wrap up.

 

[sho305]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

Oh, very good! Keep going on this. I have an old Chris Craft I have to re-floor and all my research says to do it from the inside and keep the original skin. It has some sort of double hull I have to recore somehow too. But first I have a 17 Checkmate and it is bad below the transom drain and the floor, and I might do that first if the 150 Merc on it goes fast enough. I plan on spitting it as I am not sure how you would do a good job of glassing the transom back into the sides from the outside. <br /><br />Also saw a guy run screws out through the bottom at the edge of the new floor he put in, be careful.

 

[SCO]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

This particular transom is well suited for aft replacement. It is not full width so I don't have to reglass to the sides. I read somewhere that someone screwed his boat to the trailer. But for the grace of God, there go I . <br />Can we post photos for free somewhere or on this forum?

 

[legend602]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

For transom repair, I would have to agree with Scott and go to http://www.rotdoctor.com <br /><br />We replaced the transom in our '85 Wellcraft I/O using their products. Taking a bout 4-5 days (less than an hour each day), the transom was fixed, and strong as steel...<br /><br />-Mike

 

[sho305]

Re: Transom Repair Advice needed

SCO,<br /><br />You have me thinking. I have a Bayliner 17' I was going to part out, transom appears empty and the rest of the boat is fair. Upon further investigation I see it is only about 18" wide in the center and the rest of the transom is thinner and angles toward the bow. Sounds like you describe where I could cut out just the center thick part, after I crane that 85hp motor off there. Maybe I will do this one for practice; I have cheap plywood, the epoxy would be the costly part.