Re: 1987 Sea Ray Seville "Re-Re-Restoration"
For the transom, I made some clamps out of 2x4's and some all threads and bonded together 2 layers of 3/4 treated ply. For my first (failed) attempt at this, I used the fast grab PL since it claimed it was 8x stronger, but I had a very hard time even getting this stuff to come out of the tube, and no matter how much I clamped it down I could not get the pieces to bond without a gap. I don't know if I got a bad batch or what, but regardless I had to start over from scratch. My second (successful) attempt was with using the regular PL premium. If anyone has had any experience with the fast grab please feel free to chime in.
I was originally thinking about doing the transom as one-piece but decided against it for a few reasons; first, I wanted to keep the design as close to factory as possible. Second, since the swim platforms screw through the sides, I figured this would minimize any possible water intrusion into the main transom.
The center transom was adhered with a mix of resin, milled fibers, and cabosil, filleted with the same mixture and tabbed with 1708. After it had cured I realized I had some bubbles so I ground down those areas and re-tabbed.
After completing the initial buildup on the transom using 1708 and 1.5oz mat, I filleted the engine stringers in place using epoxy* and glued in the side transom pieces and clamped them down.
And here is the transom completely covered in 1708 and some 1.5oz mat. To make sure I was within factory specs, I used a digital caliper around the keyhole to ensure I was within an 1/8 deviation. When all was said and done I believe I was right at 2.25".
*I decided to use epoxy for the fillets (and eventually the tabbing) on the engine stringers
thinking structurally it would be stronger, but did not put any consideration into how difficult it would be to keep the divide between the epoxy and polyester. After cursing myself out for this rookie mistake I grinded out all of the epoxy and re-did with polyester.
