Crack in bottom of Transom help

[Angler1]

Hello,

I found a hairline crack in the gelcoat on the lower port side of my transom today. I am in PA and the boat is stored outside. I do not believe this crack was here last year. the crack is probably 10 inches long and does not follow a straight path. It can hardly be felt with the finger, but a finger nail will catch it. This on the lower transom with a 225 Yamaha above and to the right of it. It is right above the port bunk and there are no other cracks in the transom.

It has been very cold this winter. There is no water inside. I did store the boat for the first time in a marina all last year.

Can anyone look at the attached picture and give me some ideas what might cause this? And should this concern me. It looks cosmetic, but what put it here? This is the most solid part of the transom at the bottom of the boat. Does this need work since the boat will sit in the water again this season.

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks

 

[dan02gt]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

It looks like a stress crack to me and should definitely been fixed. Being that it's on the transom I would want to check it out the transom really good to make sure it's not comprised in any way.

Can you tell us a little more about the boat. Like make, model, and year model?

 

[Angler1]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

Thanks, the boat is a 2003 Hurricane Deck boat. It is the GS 211. I've never hit any thing I can remember and I waxed it up good before winterizing and storing it in the back yard, so I do not think this was there when a put it away late October. The rest of the transom is fine. I'll try to attach another picture shortly so you can see the whole transom.

 

[Angler1]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

You can't see the crack in this shot, but it is left of the through hull live well pick up above the bunk...right above the point where the step starts.

 

[dan02gt]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

The rest looks ok. I think I would just have a fiberglass shop fix the crack, and check for any other issues. Another thing you could do it drill a small hole (like 1/8" or smaller) in the area of crack. If this will let you check the transom for water intrusion. If water weeps out you have a problem if no water comes out your probably good. You would only need to go a 3/4" or so in to be able to tell. Just have the glass shop fix the hole when they fix the crack.

 

[Angler1]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

Thank you for the feedback and recommendation. I bought a couple underwater LED's for night fishing and this area is exactly where I was going to mount them. Hence... when I found this crack today while holding the light up against. So I will be drilling a hole actually through this area for wiring. I'll see what I get.

The boat is still covered tightly so I haven't looked at the other side of this area yet. Still too cold around here to start the projects, so may be back to this thread if I find any other info.

Thanks for your help. This kinda stuff is bummer.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

I have never seen a 10 year old boat that didn't have a hairline crack somewhere. While cracks occasionally signal bigger problems they are most often merely cosmetic, and any attempted fix makes it look worse. It's especially not an issue when you keep the boat on a trailer.

So don't go drilling out your transom or digging out the crack. "if it ain't broke, fix it until it is"

 

[dan02gt]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

Angler1, let us know what you find out.

I have never seen a 10 year old boat that didn't have a hairline crack somewhere. While cracks occasionally signal bigger problems they are most often merely cosmetic, and any attempted fix makes it look worse. It's especially not an issue when you keep the boat on a trailer.

So don't go drilling out your transom or digging out the crack. "if it ain't broke, fix it until it is"

Would you be worried about water intrusion due to it being beneath the water line?

 

[gtochris]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

Angler1, let us know what you find out.




Would you be worried about water intrusion due to it being beneath the water line?

I have a hairline crack probably worse in that area, but for near 20 years old and the stress of waves and trailering I figure it is just from general flexing.

 

[Pez Vela]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

I'm with Homey on this. Whether caused by flexing or not, your really can't rule out that possibility, and for that reason, I'd want to minimize the potential for transom flexing caused by the motor's torsional forces placed upon the transom while towing. You may either drive very slowly on perfectly smooth roads or use an aptly named transom saver.

 

[greenbush future]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

I would be checking from the inside of the transom behind that crack, if the wood is clean, moisture free and dry, plug the hole and enjoy your boat. I would not try to open the outside of that small hairline crack up unless you have moisture entering at that location. Your boat looks to be in very good condition.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

...Would you be worried about water intrusion due to it being beneath the water line?

No. But if i was the nervous type all I'd do is rub a little hard sealant, like white marine tex, into it.

Good advice to look behind it from inside since sometimes--not always--a crack is an indicator. But I bet my lunch money you don't find anything.

I can also assure you that the crack was not caused by trailering without a transom "saver" unless you were doing some serious hard off-road 4WD or the Jersey Turnpike.

 

[Angler1]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

Thanks for all the comments. From dan02gt's comments, I find myself hunting factory gel coat and watching crack fixing videos.

A couple notes to see if any comments change. I did have this boat in a slip at a river marina this past season and will do that again this season. so it will be in the water 24/7 with some pull outs and other lakes once in a while.

I was crazy about waxing her up and winterizing her before putting in the back yard. I am certain I would have seen this crack. Therefore, I think it showed up over the winter. We had some extended below zero weather this winter, so I am concerned about some moisture somehow. Perhaps wicking in by the water pump ghrough hull. Although this boat is "tight" and never had much water coming out of the drain, even sitting in the river 24/7. Only time I get a lot of water is when we get a lot of rain.

I have this boat rigged for fishing mainly, and I am going to install one of the coastalnightlight underwater LED's in this spot. So I will be drilling through here for wiring with some 4200. Since this light will cover some of this crack, never to be monitored again, I'm wondering if fixing it should indeed be done.

Anyway, some more background above in case any of your comments change. Please keep the thoughts coming..fixing it or not (assuming no problems on the inside), and any investigation steps. Thanks

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

If it's underwater it should be painted with antifouling paint. That alone will solve ab=ny issues but again, you can rub some marine tex in it before painting.

The "fix a crack" videos would pertain to real cracks, not hairline, or are for perfectionist boaters. You don't have the first; don't be the second.

if you are drilling into that area anyway you can look at the wood that comes out and see if it's waterlogged. If it weren't for the lights I wouldn't do it. I do not believe in messing around with the integrity of the skin, and especially below the line.

Keep in mind that if that crack came from expanding wet areas in the transom, the wet area could be far from the crack itself (since it's so minor).

 

[gtochris]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

unless you were doing some serious hard off-road 4WD or the Jersey Turnpike.

Ug- Hard reminder, I went through a crazy construction zone last year with the boat on the back through un-even pavement and pot holes, even driving as slow/ gentle as I could I still cringed watching the boat bang around behind me.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

It's possible that it's from thermal stresses in the laminate, while not as common in the US, some of the colder parts of Canada have had problems with boats and RV's parked outside over the winter. The repeated heating and cooling cycles can create a huge amount of stress that may eventually results in cracks that look very much like this one.

This is just one possibility, there are others, hard to tell the exact reason from one pic.

 

[Angler1]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

Re-reading all your comments now that I'm back at a computer instead of a smart phone... So, per Home Cooking's thoughts...if I don't find any problems behind it, and don't find any water logged wood or wheeping when I drill my hole for the lights...forget about it??

Put it in the water 24/7 for the season and not worry about it. Or should I be pushing some marine tex, or dremeling and re-gelling this area? If it was above the water, I'd be moving on, but below...just want to be sure what I should do about this. I'm a little bit of a perfectionist...more so on making sure she stays in good shape and nothing gets worse due to not fixing something.

Let me know any final thoughts on this. I will post back in a few weeks after I can get the cover off and start prepping her for the season. Thanks

 

[jestor68]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

The Hurricane web site has a owner forum. And you can join their owners club.

It's usually better to go back to the manufacturers forum to discuss any issue; as they actually monitor that one.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

There are a few different ways to fix it, or at least cover the crack.

Use a dremmel tool or something similar to router out the crack, the gel coat should be around 20 mils thick (about the thickness of two business cards), if you find it to be thicker than that the chances of it cracking are greater and this may be the only reason it cracked. If it's thinner, then there may be other reasons.

If you find the cracks have migrated into the glass and are not confined to the gel coat, then you need to continue to go deeper and remove the entire crack, not doing this will result in the crack returning rather quickly. The deeper the crack, the more need for using stronger products to fill it other than just gel coat (a gel coat only repair can be rather brittle). You can mix some gel coat with milled fibers or some cut up fiberglass mat, this will add some strength and reduce the chance of it cracking again, for deeper cracks you may need to do an actual glass repair though. (This mix is just used to fill the crack, the final layer is just gel coat so it can sanded and buffed.)

This can be sanded down ever so slightly lower than the surrounding surface so that when a color matched gel coat is applied it can be sanded to be level with the existing surface.


For a quicker more easily done cover up, take some masking tape and follow each side of the crack leaving a gap to each side of it at least 1/8th of an inch. Use four or five layers of tape to build up the height. Apply a caulk of some type that can be removed if you plan to do a different repair in the future. Fill the gap between the two lines of tape with the caulk, when done use a putty knife or straight edge and drag it across the surface to level it out, remove all the excess caulk, pull the tape before the caulk begins to harden. This will leave a slightly raised caulk line that will at least look uniform in width and depth. This looks much better than the smeared on finger-painting look.

If you plan to use something like Marine Tex (and it will work) don't expect a good match, but if this is just a gel coat repair it will work well. Again router out the crack, a slightly beveled edge will help it bond better, and fill it with the Marine Tex. Use a putty knife to remove any excess epoxy, any extra left on the surface will be a bugger to remove. This may leave the surface slightly low, that's fine, just sand the surface lightly and apply another layer, it will be easier to do this time with the shallow depth.

The epoxy will be much harder to sand than the surrounding gel coat, so be careful and keep the surfaces level, don't over sand the gel coat.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Crack in bottom of Transom help

How long these repairs last depends on the reason for the crack appearing in the first place. If there are underlying issues this crack may return, or more may show up in the near future. If it was from thermal shock it may never happen again, or if next winter is this cold again it could. If the gel coat was just too thick, this crack may return or others may show up around it.