Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

[Joe_the_boatman]

1979 Starcraft 18' SuperSport.

I just don't see how this "pulls straight out" as everyone's told me (see the aluminum on top of the wood?). Maybe the wood has to be pulled down from inside the hull to remove it? (If so, the whole splash guard needs to be loosened, so I hope not....)

Anyone done this before?

 

[JUSTINTIME]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

you got a serious problem there

 

[wire2]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

You could drill lots of holes (1" spade bit + extension) straight down in the middle for 12" across, vacuum the bits out, then you can pull a side piece to the middle and lift it out.

Are you replacing with plywood or Seacast? If plywood, you will have to lift deck out of the way on 1 side to put new 1 piece in.

 

[Willyclay]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

I had to remove the splash well to get at the rotten transom in my 1965 Lonestar Medallion II. It was necessary to drill out all the rivets. Good luck!

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

you will find a lot of info here, where you use wood or seacast.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=206019

 

[Joe_the_boatman]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

Yeah, I've read through that post before. Nice looking work.

Getting the wood out wouldn't be a problem - I need a plan to put the transom back in in one piece. This has been brought up before in another post, but there wasn't a solution.

Seacast is out of the question; although it looks like a perfect solution from the pictures I've posted, the rest of the transom (i.e. the entire other side) is open. I'd have to fabricate something to hold it all in. That, and the expense - the whole boat, with trailer was $200. And I still have painting and the deck to replace.

Maybe I'll post in the Starcraft board.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

Joey I don't have any advice for you unfortunately but I wanted to ask you to keep posting pictures through your project because I'm going to be tackling the transom on my Starcraft this spring. I am also really hoping I don't have to remove my splashwell but that may be a pipe dream.

 

[Expidia]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

I had a Starcraft aluminum that had the same problem. Wood was so rotted it was falling out and wouldn't hold the outboard in place anymore, Mine had the end caps pictured below, which were easy to remove and exposed the wood for removal.

Since yours has that metal overlapping, if it was me doing that job I would simply cut a line through with a hacksaw and bend that piece up. You might wind up doing both sides (at least it will match). When you're finished just bend it back into place. If you care about the aesthetics, just put a small piece of aluminum under the splice and pop rivet it in place.

I went to Home Depot originally in search of wood to put back in the transom and I found they have this planks in various sizes that are about 20 feet long and made of some type of a white plastic material. Forgot what they call it but it's stronger than wood and you can screw into it just like wood. Home Depot even cut the plank into 4 pieces for me. Luckily, when I put two pieces side to side I had the correct width I needed. I had my neighbor next door who has a band saw in his garage, cut the top of each board to match the dip on the cap which a traced out with a pencil. I drilled some starter holes and used stainless steel screws from West marine to screw and bolt all back together.

Came out so nice (I should have taken closer pics) I really hated to sell it. That transom came out like a work of art! Sold boat on Craigslist to the first person that came over to look at it for more than I paid for it including the repair materials.

Total cost to repair the transom about $35.

Side note: check out the second pic which shows the difference in Freeboard (water line to top of gunnel) from my Starcraft to the new Sylvan I bought next. Kept the Sylvan for two months and bought a new Lund this year with an even higher freeboard now. Through experience I learned I prefer the water in the lake, not in the boat The higher the freeboard, the better.

 

[AllUrBassRBelong2Us]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

It looks like there was a corner brace on there. If you cut out a rectangular section of the aluminum you could have just enough clearance to remove and replace that wood. When the corner brace goes back you would never know it was missing.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

the way i did this one, is, the basic 3 piece method. that outer layed went in, in 2 pieces, the the inner as one. i removed the splash well,

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[Joe_the_boatman]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

Expidia - is the plastic you used the synthetic decking planks? You said it was white and that it was stronger than wood, both descriptions don't match up with that decking stuff (that I've seen). The stuff you used, what's it originally made for? (I'll ask for it next time I'm there).


I've been tempted by that stuff, but it seems so weak (it can't even support itself - it's real floppy). It is dense, though. Widest they have around here is 1X6's, which means lots of stacking (and therefore less strength).

I'd be a happy camper if I could use something other than wood.

 

[Joe_the_boatman]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

It looks like there was a corner brace on there. If you cut out a rectangular section of the aluminum you could have just enough clearance to remove and replace that wood. When the corner brace goes back you would never know it was missing.

Clever handle, by the way. Wonder if anyone else will pick up on it.

Good idea. I think I will cut that - I always "measure twice, cut once". In this case, ask Iboats, cut once.

It has been replaced before - I guess they removed the splashwell when they did it (and screwed some stuff up in the process).

 

[Expidia]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

Expidia - is the plastic you used the synthetic decking planks? You said it was white and that it was stronger than wood, both descriptions don't match up with that decking stuff (that I've seen). The stuff you used, what's it originally made for? (I'll ask for it next time I'm there).


I've been tempted by that stuff, but it seems so weak (it can't even support itself - it's real floppy). It is dense, though. Widest they have around here is 1X6's, which means lots of stacking (and therefore less strength).

I'd be a happy camper if I could use something other than wood.

That's probably true on the size as the label on my extra piece says trmpnk 1x6 btwt 70673 836885

It's not floppy though. It may be in a 20 foot length but when cut down to size it's rock solid and even more so when placed side by side.
But from your pic I can't see how high a piece you need. They may have wider widths in this stuff. The 6 inch height was all I needed as you can see by the pic. It's dense and heavier than wood.

Mine had end caps which were also handles to move the boat around by. If yours does not have any now you could probably pick a couple up from a used boat yard or off Ebay. If you get ovesized ones they will cover the area that you need to cut to pull the transom wood out.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

I just did a 1963 Starcraft Jupiter, I had to unbolt several thru bolts in the transom, remove about 50 self tapping screws which held the lower portion of the splashwell to the transom wood, and remove both end caps. The gap that was exposed under the end caps was about like yours. I was able to remove the original wood through that gap, but the layers were not attached, it was made up of several layers of plywood, each one just barely cleared the opening.
Since I wanted to laminate my new transom and install it in one piece, I simply cut back the top edges of each gunwale. It was more than covered by the end caps when I was done. I did fill and seal the top areas though with filler just to help prevent any water intrusion from under that cap, which is most likely where the rot had started on mine.

It was a tight fit going back in with the one piece transom, mostly since I think it was a bit thicker than the original. I had to really work it down behind the transom support gussets. On mine, it only went down a few inches past the bottom of the splashwell. Mine also has an external plywood 'pad' under the motor, I redid mine in plywood for now but will probably redo it in either aluminum or stainless steel just for longevity and looks. The hardest item I had to find was the stainless steel carriage bolts which went through the transom into the support gussets. There were 16 total on mine.
I am looking at another one so I may be going through this all over again pretty soon.

 

[Joe_the_boatman]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

I decided to look up some specs on Trex (engineered decking). We all agree that stiffness is the main quality we're looking for in a transom, right? (Its purpose is to support the engine statically and transfer force produced by the engine to the hull).

For stiffness, we need to look at the modulus of elasticity. It appears southern pine (what I'd be using) is approximately 10X greater stiffness than Trex (175,000 psi vs 1,700,000 psi -references are below).

Does it really matter?
If the transom on my boat (which is attached to the splashguard, then to the gunwales by rivets) was to flex, all that force would be transfered to the rivets holding that rear together. Thinking of all the fatigue cycles they'd go through on a typical lake trip (or even trip TO the lake), I believe they'd eventually fail (by stretching or breaking).

On a smaller boat, you're probably fine using this stuff.

References:
http://www.trex.com/universal/technical_info/properties.asp
http://www.southernpine.com/speciescomparisons2x6.shtml

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

i use 3/4 exterior pine ply holds up just fine. best to seal it. i actually use the tongue and grove sturdiply subflooring for a house.

 

[Willyclay]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

The transom on my Lonestar was 1-5/8" inch plywood with no inner skin. It was rated at 110HP maximum by the OBC/BIA. Just below the two lower motor mount bolt holes was an aluminum angle (2"X2"X3/16") that ran the full width inside the transom. It was fastened to the transom with SS bolts in holes drilled through the transom skin and the plywood. There was very little flex eventhough my transom was severely rotted. This was the OEM design, not mods by me. My rebuild moved the angle higher so the lower motor mount bolts penetrated the angle to get increased load support. Good luck!

 

[WhoopinBass]

Re: Pulling out transom on an aluminum boat

I am in the process of redoing an 18' alum. Smokercraft. I pulled the transom out yesterday. I had the same type of issue. I removed the splash tray and the structure that was on either side of the splash tray. It is much easier to get all of the old stuff out of the way. I need to do the deck also, so I just wanted to gut it out and start over. Sometimes you spend more time trying to work around things. I had the overhanging alum. decking as well, but my transom had a 4" seperate piece of wood on either side above the main transom board. It was so rotted coming out is not an issue. I hope there is enough wiggle room to get the new one in.