Single mom attempting transom repair. Advice?

kcassells

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Hey Welcome Aboard!!! nasty dirty work but something tells me you got what it takes. So I'm tagging along if that's ok? lots and lots of pics and measurements. Save them all for later whan you pc. it all back together. A long or extended small to larger wood bit or metal bit will also work well to grind out the rotted transom wood.
More importantly............ask and ask every question you want. That is how WE all learned here how to do things. Buncha Great people here to help you through it.
Cool!
KC
 

Hunterchick

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Here it is, what you guys think? Good call or what?
 

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Rick Stephens

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Certainly wet, but also not all that rotted, at the top anyway. Wet at the top means soaked on the bottom. You knew that, though.
 

Hunterchick

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Certainly wet, but also not all that rotted, at the top anyway. Wet at the top means soaked on the bottom. You knew that, though.

I did! Actually I feel a bit of relief, I was worried about cutting the top off. I feel justified now, it is actually coming out really easy thus far. I will post a pic when its done getting picked out!
 

sphelps

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The more rotted the better ... Do you have a long spade or mortise bit ... you can drill a bunch of holes down in it and that will help ...
If ya had someone around that can handle a chainsaw that would make quick work of it ...Even an electric one would be good if it had a long enough bar chain ...
 

Hunterchick

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Well, wood is gone. Need to do some glasswork tho, or my seacast is gonna leak out....
 

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sphelps

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Have you ordered the seacast yet ? How much will it take ?
 

redneck joe

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Hey hunterchick good to see you're making progress. I've never done seacast but i do remember reading a thread here that they ended up with a bulge instead of a flat transom. I guess the glass was too thin. Might want to rig a brace on the outside. Shouldnt matter on the inside
 

kcassells

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HC,
Hey your in good company....Mr. Phelps is a seacaste prooooofessional! He's done quite a bit of work with that product. Now that's cool!
 

Hunterchick

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Thank you all! Redneck joe, yes! The fiberglass was really thin toward the deck side of the boat. It split right off with the wood in a few spots. It actually has opened at the bottom to the foam that is in between the stringers (dry foam!!!! Phew). My hope here is that the seacast will seal it? I may not be explaining it clearly, but picture that you have a block of foam and took a few scrapes against it as if with an icecream scoop.There is just no easy way to get to that spot because it is so far down inside the transom.... I might try to smear marine tex over it as best I can...it will be like trying to put peanut butter on a piece of bread thats 15inches down a 2inch wide gap....
 

sphelps

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If the inside skin has broken loose at the bottom where it's glassed to the hull it needs to be re-tabbed back into the hull ..
 

Hunterchick

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This is the transom cleaned out. So happy to see the fiberglass at the bottom finally! Still have to remove the bits of wood clinging to the sides. So my seacast order will go in next week.

If anyone was wondering, I used a drill with a 22" threaded tip spade drill bit that was one inch wide. It chewed up the wood nicely. Getting the shavings out was done with a vacuum and a curved piece of everday curtain rod for the bigger pieces
 

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Hunterchick

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Aha! Kind of thought so @sphelps...gonna have to get that squared away. The openings are not very large, I am just trying to figure out how to get down in there to seal it....
 

sphelps

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Are you sure the skin is broken at the bottom ? Maybe try and get as close up picture as you can of the damage .
Even though your using Seacast the glasswork still must be installed just like you were installing a wooden transom ..
Meaning the deck will need to be cut back about a foot and the foam dug out to install the multi layers of tabbing needed ..
There is a lot of force being put on the bottom of the transom from the torque of the motor ..
 

rickryder

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Great job so far! I think you're going to get this done in no time :) Welcome aboard Hunter
 
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