Re: Transom repair
I have done this operation twice...On a fiberglass boat this is the basics of re-doing the transom. First you need to seperate the top and bottom of the boat. To do this remove the rub rail (rubber trim piece) from around the boat. The top and bottom of the boat are connected here (usually by rivets). Drill out all the rivets and with a couple of buddies lift the top off. You may need to undo some rigging frist (steering cables ect). The tramsom will now be exposed. Where the transom meets the sides of the hull, cut out the inner fiberglass wall of the transom leaving about 2 or 3 inches of the inner fiberglass. Next remove all the rotten wood from the transom. Make a cardboard template of the area after the rotten wood has removed. This will give you the size of the new plywood transom. Using the template, cut out marine plywood using the template as you guide. You will need to sandwich or double up the plywood to get the right thickness. This is done by "gluing" 2 or more pieces of plywood together with fiberglass resin. Use screws to temporarily hold the plywood together till it is dry, once dry remove them. Once that is done do a final fitting to make sure the new transom board fits snugly in its new home. When you are happy with that, its time to coat the outside transom glass, all the inside areas and the back of the new transom board with fiberglass resin. If you have holes in the outside (back) glass of the transom, use these to drive screws in from the back to clamp the new piece in. After that is done, fiberglass the inside of the transom, covering the plywood with fiberglass cloth, extending the new glass cloth at least one foot past the point where the transom and sides meet. You want to put 2 layers of glass here. Once you are happy the glass is good, simply reattach the "top " of the boat. Hope this helps.
