92 Chaparral 2000sl transom leak

[94excel]

Hello guys been a long time since I have owned a boat, anyhow, I own a 92 chaparral bow rider in good shape, does need a little floor work. Runs great got a new outdrive and a mercruiser 5.7, but last weekend, were was out on the river, ran into some shallow water and ended up beaching the boat!
well when I got out and on the trailer I noticed a lot of water coming out when I pulled the plug and I mean a lot.
so I got home and filled hull with water, finding the leak between transom and transom assembly, if I push up on the lower unit u can see the leak even more! Transom seems in okay shape, so my question is what’s best fix to make her water worthy again being I put my kids on this boat?
thanks for the help in advance guys!

 

[Rick Stephens]

The bottom pair of bolts, at least on an Alpha 1 drive, are aluminum. I assume so they will shear off before destroying the drive or transom. Might just be that those were broken off.

However. If you want to be sure of anything, the drive has got to come off and the motor out so the transom along with gimbal housing, transom plate and bolts can be inspected. If you are leaking like crazy it could easily be that your nearly 30 year old transom is rotted out and needs replacing. Wouldn't even take that much of a hit to loosen the entire drive to boat fit. A lot of us have replaced rotten transoms, me included. Beats sinking.

Oh, and welcome to the forums!

Rick

 

[Rick Stephens]

One easy way to test if you are truly bad shape back there is stand on the drive and bounce up and down.

 

[Bt Doctur]

If it has visible flexing the transom is done . If your lifting it by the drive and you see a gap, broken mounting bolts or a rotted transom

 

[Scott Danforth]

I own a 92 chaparral bow rider in good shape, does need a little floor work. ...............Transom seems in okay shape, so my question is what’s best fix to make her water worthy again being I put my kids on this boat?
thanks for the help in advance guys!

If your floor is soft, your transom long ago rotted

The leak is most likely from a soft transom. This is confirmed by your statement that pushing on the drive makes it leak more

Time to pull the motor and drive, and restore the hull

 

[tpenfield]

You need to take things apart to investigate more. We can't see what you are seeing, so there are a number of possibilities, as mentioned already. When you say you 'beached' the boat . . . what does that really mean :noidea: . . . ran aground? at a decent speed? How abrupt? etc. . . .

 

[94excel]

Yes ran a ground! Around 20mph, also when I say pushing in the drive, I’m pushing up! How hard is it to rebuild a transom?

 

[Scott Danforth]

if the floor is soft, its not only the transom

with any question, the most often asked ones are in the stickies......

plan on a complete restoration. estimate $2500 to $3500 for materials

start by reading links 14, 15, 18, 2, 3, 4a, and 4b in their entirety https://forums.iboats.com/forum/boa...r/295740-how-to-s-and-other-great-information

when you get to pulling your drive and motor, look here https://forums.iboats.com/forum/eng...ion-for-diyers-an-work-safe-search-version-of

 

[nola mike]

Nothing is "hard" if you research and take your time. It is a *ton* of work though, and of course expensive. At the end of the day you'll be far more into it than your boat is worth, and you'll never recover that money or time. But you'll know your boat, and know what you've got. I dislike this stuff immensely but have slogged through it in the past and continue to as we speak.

 

[94excel]

So this afternoon I got home and me and my son decided to
do a bounce test! And transom has no flex in it at all! So I’m guess the transom assembly bolts may have broken? Is there a parts listing for these? All I’m looking to do is get a year or so out of the boat, so I can save up to restore her!

 

[Rick Stephens]

You bet. take your drive serial number and go to one of the original Mercruiser parts outlets and it will be listed in the transom assembly page. Used to be iBoats was offering that, never was able to look up parts here though, maybe someone else can help.

Not sure if you have to pull the motor to get to the bottom bolts....

Rick

 

[nola mike]

Here, I just bought some. Amazon. Mercruiser Quicksilver 55989A8 8M0030655

For a gen 1. Then thought you may have a gen 2. Then realized we have no idea what you have...

Still suspicious of your transom btw... Even missing those 2 bolts shouldn't have that big of a leak. And if the leak is worse pushing it up by hand, you almost by definition have transom flex.

 

[94excel]

I have a alpha 1 gen 2! And yes gotta pull engine out to remove these bolts, exhaust is in the way of getting them!
i know there is a lot of people out there drilling hole into the transom and adding some kind of epoxy, would this be a good idea if I do find some rot? Once the engine is out I’ll know more! I think reason the boat took water on is when I ran into ground I made a small gap, letting water in! It took me a good 10 mins to get that boat off!

 

[Scott Danforth]

you drill the transom about 1" up from the inside of the hull, with a 5/16" bit and into the transom about an inch to look at the wood shavings. you make 2 or 3 drill holes about 4-6 inches apart on each side of the drain plug, starting about 1" from the drain. if the shavings come out light colored, dry and smell like fresh cut wood, then you fill with epoxy putty - no rot.

if the wood shavings come out dark, wet, and smell like rotten leaves and mulch, you need to bite the bullet and do a restoration.

the only way you can fix rot is to cut it out.

BTW, I know plenty of people that ran boats aground, one went 300 feet up a sand bar at 2am in the morning in low tide and had to wait 4 hours for high tide to be towed off the sand bar. none of them leaked. I would be surprised if you only broke two bolts and that is the cause of the leak

 

[Rick Stephens]

you drill the transom about 1" up from the inside of the hull, with a 5/16" bit and into the transom about an inch to look at the wood shavings. you make 2 or 3 drill holes about 4-6 inches apart on each side of the drain plug, starting about 1" from the drain. if the shavings come out light colored, dry and smell like fresh cut wood, then you fill with epoxy putty - no rot.

if the wood shavings come out dark, wet, and smell like rotten leaves and mulch, you need to bite the bullet and do a restoration.

the only way you can fix rot is to cut it out.

BTW, I know plenty of people that ran boats aground, one went 300 feet up a sand bar at 2am in the morning in low tide and had to wait 4 hours for high tide to be towed off the sand bar. none of them leaked. I would be surprised if you only broke two bolts and that is the cause of the leak

This is exactly how I redid my transom. I pulled the engine to repower with a V6 and first step before proceeding with building now motor mounts was to drill test holes and see if I had water intrusion. The shavings were dark, but not mushy. Decided to redo the transom while I was there since I was also doubling the horsepower attached to the transom. The water came in through poorly sealed sonar transducer mounting screws (silicon is worthless - use a real marine sealer!)

I spent a bit of quality time grinding and cutting out plywood. Then learning how to properly fiberglass in the new wood. I enjoyed it immensely. And the end product is not going to rot again. Much better than factory.

Rick

 

[94excel]

Pulled engine out today, found 2 bottom bolts are broke! I also only found one spot that I can say is fully rotted! Goes in bout 1 inch! So I bought new bolts, and hoping I can get a year outta it so I can save up and build her the way I want!
do you guys think I’ll be safe with this?

 

[JASinIL2006]

Nope, not safe in my book.

 

[tpenfield]

You got to show us pictures of the rot in order to get informed input. . . . but If the rot is around the keyhole for the outdrive, re-bolting everything is merely going to crush the rotted area and it is likely to leak.

Post some pics so we can see what you are seeing.