Stringers are rotten, does that mean the transom is too?

[wesandlana]

I just bought an 84 Glassport. When I bought it, I noticed the floor was soft. We pulled up the carpet and noticed the floor was indeed rotted. The center part of the stringer was as well. The foam was all wet as well.

The foam has pretty much dried out now that we have the boat in a garage and the rotted part of the floor removed on hot days, water would drip out the drain hole in the back.

The stringers are rotten, obviously at least in the middle, probably all of them. We had thought about replacing just this section and the floor for now, as well as some side to side bracing and doing the big job of taking the top of the boat this winter.

My question is this: The transom feels solid. Very solid. I'm a big guy and I torqued (lifting up and pulling down) on the motor (85 evinrude) as hard as I could and didn't notice the transom flexing flex. Is it possible the transom is solid and the stringers in that bad of shape?

One last note. I bout this boat halves with my father-in-law. He is not a fan of drilling though to check the transom now, as it feels really solid and we are taking the top off in the winter.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Stringers are rotten, does that mean the transom is too?

There's a better chance than not that your transom has at least some rot damage.

Drilling into the transon on the inside of the boat won't hurt a thing and if everything checks out ok you can fill the probe holes with a marine sealant like 3M 5200.

The problem with doing the decking and the stringers and not the transom if it's rotten is that you'll have to cut some of the new decking back in the winter to properly access the transom for removal and replacement, this could also compormise some of your new stringer work too.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Stringers are rotten, does that mean the transom is too?

Going to be hard to answer you w/ absolute certainty regarding your transom, remotely via the internet, even w/ pix that would likely help immensely.

Many (seems more like most) soft floors have soft stringers, the vast majority (seems more like almost all) of those w/ soft decks & stringers have transom problems too.

Read thru some resto threads in the forum where you started this thread.

Here's just 1 example of small soft spot being much more involved then expected:
http://forums.iboats.com/boat-restor...ir-579280.html

 

[wesandlana]

Re: Stringers are rotten, does that mean the transom is too?

Thanks for the info, guys.

Obviously there are no guarantees (and I am with you on suspecting some degree of transom rot along with the stringers) but since I torqued on it so hard and did not notice flex, should it be at least solid enough to run the summer?

I will try to get pics, but obviously they cannot be too detailed because the motor is still on and the cap is still on the hull.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Stringers are rotten, does that mean the transom is too?

If there isn't any noticable flex in the transom it might be ok for the summer, it depends on what you plan to use the boat for. If you're just going to fish from it you may not have any problems. If you plan to do water sports and pull tubes, skiers, wakeboards and such stuff like that the stresses will obviously be a lot greater on the transom. It'll also depend on how rough of water you're going to take the boat out into as well.

 

[wesandlana]

Re: Stringers are rotten, does that mean the transom is too?

Thanks again. It will be a fishing boat and will definitely not be pulling any towables or skiers.

The water we are taking it in isn't too rough. The only roughness comes from the wake of other boats. This is on Raystown Lake in Southcentral PA, and there are some really big boats and speedboats on it. I guess we'll take it easy when crossing their wake.