1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

[clint243]

First off I want to say hello ...I have been reading this forum for aver a year and got some very good ideas on my last boat ...But now I have goten into something a bit more .....here is what I have ....I purchased a 1995 stratos 280 sf that needed the transom repaired. The woman that I bought this boat from said that she was going through the lake and hit something and broke the transom ....which it is def broke...I have looked in the boat for any water damage which I have not found ...she said as soon soon as she did it they took it out of the water for fear of the motor falling off ....I will post a few pictures to let you experts look at it and see if this is a candidate for seacast or nidabond ...I dont want to pull the cap unless I have too

this boat has been stored indoors all of it life and the carpet ans seats show it as well ....I dont mind spending some money or time to reapir it ...I just want some opinions

thanks in advance guys....I will have hundreds of questions


Clint

here you can see the outer skin is cracked the inner skin is perfect

here is closer shot of the side and the lower section of the transom

 

[drewpster]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

You will know if you need to remove the cap by the time you get everything de-rigged. Replacing a transom is pretty straightforward. The question is if the boat's design will allow access to the transom with the cap on.
Get the engine off and start tearing in to the aft portion of the boat. If the cap extends over the transom you are going to have to remove it, or cut it, your choice.
Personally, I would plan to remove it no matter the boat's design. Most mass produced production boats, like Stratos and like my Thunder, are built using a hull skin and a cap. Unfortunately, It takes separating them to get to anything.
Now!....if you had a hand laid CC ocean going fisher..then you could get to the transom!
We working folks have to work to get our boats fixed! teehee
Let us know what you decide.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

Tough to tell without an overall picture of the rear of the boat. If you can gain enough access to dig out all the wood with an electric chainsaw you can get away without popping or cutting the cap. I think that fact that your transom might NOT be rotted (since the damage was the result of an accident not the typical rotted mulch transom), may hurt you.

 

[clint243]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

Thanks for the replies ...I am planning on removing the motor this weekend and then I can get some better pictures ...I do know that there is a cap or a removable strip over the top of the transom. After getting this boat home and looking closer at it, I think that they also towed this boat with no support on the lower unit ...granted they lived 5 min from the lake ...it doesnt take very long to break something with that motor hanging off the back with the lower unit not supported ......once again thank you guys for the reply ...but either way I go I will post pictures of my progress...I have not been able to find a whole lot about this boat ...so it might help someone else out in the future.


Clint

 

[clint243]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

also can anyone give me some insight into these particular boats I cant really find anything on a stratos 280sf I know that stratos went to an all composit boat but I dont know when ......I have used the search here as well as google too .....I hope I have not purchased one of those one or two year run boats


Clint

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

That may be the BEST candidate I have seen here on iBoats for a Nidabond/Seacast Transom. Pics of the entire stern both inside and out will solidify the assessment, but based on what I can see and read so far it looks to me like it is a Prime candidate for this methodology.

Post up some more extensive pics so we can see what you're dealing with.

I'm just sayin...

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

Hello Clint..and welcome to Iboats..

The one thing that bothers me is the location of the damage(s)..

No real damage that I can see on the drive.. ?? It so it couldnt have hit that hard eh ?

The damage is on the bottom of the drive plate...Thinking about it wouldnt that mean she would be going in Reverse ? You would have more damage up top if she was going forward.. ( looks compressed on the bottom ). Or like you said not supported during traveling seems more like the cause of the damage.

Agreed that we are looking forward to your pics after the drive is off .

YD.

 

[clint243]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

thanks again guys...and yes Dr. that is what I was thinking ,,,and that is why I 'm leading more to thinking that it from trailering unsupported ...there is a little spot on the front of the drive but not one that I would suspect could cause that much damage...I will go out and get a few pictures of the inside of the transom....
Thank you guys so much I have learned a lot just from reading on this forum .....

I just hope that I didnt get something that is not woth anything...I did get it cheap but I hope its not a cheap lesson learned ...lol

and just how cheap...1800.00..I figured the motor was at least worth that ...I did run it and then also do a comp check and was 110-112 on all six cylinders.....so I assume I'm in good shape there


Clint

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

thanks again guys...and yes Dr. that is what I was thinking ,,,and that is why I 'm leading more to thinking that it from trailering unsupported ...there is a little spot on the front of the drive but not one that I would suspect could cause that much damage...I will go out and get a few pictures of the inside of the transom....
Thank you guys so much I have learned a lot just from reading on this forum .....

I just hope that I didnt get something that is not woth anything...I did get it cheap but I hope its not a cheap lesson learned ...lol

and just how cheap...1800.00..I figured the motor was at least worth that ...I did run it and then also do a comp check and was 110-112 on all six cylinders.....so I assume I'm in good shape there


Clint

You Done Good .

Aint Nothing you cant fix heh...

YD.

 

[clint243]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

ok guys here are a few more pictures ...
here is her side shot

now the front of the drive

inside of the transom area

if there are anymore pics needed please let me know and I can sure try and get them .....and once again thank you guys for all of your help...this couls be a fun little winter project....

Clint

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

Man that's a super sharp boat and a heck of a motor. You stole it at $1800 even with the damage.

I agree that hitting something doesn't really jive with that damage. It might just be a good old fashioned rotted transom. Either way, totally fixable and certainly worth it.

 

[clint243]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

thats what I tought too and thank you very much ......I feel like others here, that is not a strike but either rotted or carried without support which the po did say she did ....she didnt even know how to use the transom saver ...go figure


Clint

 

[drewpster]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

Looks like damage they did backing down a ramp with the engine tilted to low to me.
I have seen someone try to fold their outboard under a pontoon backing down once. Wasn't pretty.

 

[clint243]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

Well the big day should be tomorrow or friday ...as far as getting the motor off anyway ....wish me luck and I will take as may pictures as I can

Thanks again for all of the help and advise

Clint

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

Curse on the Iboats that cant let me swear !!!!!!

Grinding..friggin..glattin !!

Mecky lecky high mecka highny hoe !!!!

Dude..all I can say is the Boat gods have landed gold in your lap

Again..Nice catch m8..

Take the motor off and lets see what we have here.. Looks like an ez flip..erm.. I mean fix

YD.

 

[clint243]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

ok guys...I got the motor off and cot the transom cap cut ...I will have some pictures for you in the morning ...but I do have a question ....the trnasom was wet ...I kinda expected it to be ...but it is only wet about 6-8 inches on either side of the motor...I can find hard almost dry wood there ....there is some very wet wood right in the middle where the bold go through the hull but other than that It appears to be fairly dry ....heres the question....where should I drill to look for wetness....everything is sealed solid no delamination anywhere in the boat that can see.....should I cut a hole in the bottom of the ski locker and look around there ....

And as I said I will get some more pics in the morning ....

aslo the I pulled the hull holdowns loose...which are on the transom too and they were dry and very solid ...so I am hoping that is a good sign


Clint

 

[jonesg]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

I don't know why you're concerned whether broken wood is wet or dry.
Its got to come out period.!

Its not a good candidate for seacast, the good wood will make removal from the top with a long drill and chainsaw a beech. When I did mine the wood had turned into black mulch and it still took a few days.
What I would do..

De-rig it,
cut the splashwell off ,
I would cut 4 feet of the rear deck away too, (not across hatch openings).
Section the transom into squares with a circular saw set to depth and use a wonder bar to pry the sections of transom wood out.
Grind out the old glass tabbing, make a cardboard or doorskin ply template.
Exterior grade pressure treated is cheap and works great.
It must be dry to glass, buy it early and let it dry out.

The alternative is to pop the cap and thats a strong consideration due to it being a very nice boat cosmetically, it will retain more value if it still looks original.

 

[clint243]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

ok I guess I am looking at taking the cap off of the boat ....can I just pull the rub rail and unscrew the cap and lift up the rear or am I going to have to dismantle the entire boat ...electrical gauges all of that ....I have cut some of the transom out and there is not rot IE dark wet wood there is light colored wood but it is wet .....I know these are stupuid newb questions but I have a limited area to work on this boat ...thanks for all of the help so far


Clint

 

[clint243]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair

OK guys I got the back of the cap loose and lifted....I cut some into the transom just to see what I have and it looks like I find dry wood on either outer edge of the transom

here where I am pointing is where I start to hit dry wood

and I see a single piece of FG inbetween the two layers of wood and its proving to be a bit difficult

and this is where I stopped today ....I am getting the cap lifted up like you can see but can I continue to lift and possibly slide forward without taking everythig out of the boat...I have plenty of slack in all my cables and wires ...but I need some professional advise on this part ....

I am still planning on cutting out as much as I can of the transom and trying to use sea cast....reason for that is you can see how the back of this boat curves and where those curves are I have a dry transom and there is foam in those curved areas and it is dry ....but if I need to do this the other way please advise me ......i am getting in pretty deep or so I feel ....so thanks for the help


Clint

 

[clint243]

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair**new pics**

Re: 1995 stratos 280sf transom repair**new pics**

OK I got some new pics up of what I have been able to do ....

So far I have got about 90% of the transom out and I am still leaning towards a sea cast/nidabond transom .....look at the pics and you will see why ....

Asw you can see on either side of the transom there are these open spaces that were filled with foam ...I was thinking about filling the entire back are with the sea cast/nidabond mixture


are there any pros or cons about doing so

also the reason I am thinking more about this is that I have a fairly good inner and outer skin to work with

thanks for looking and thanks even more for your input

Clint