Cracked Transom Repair on 1991 Skeeter

[Heliguy78]

I've begun rebuilding a 1991 SkeeterBass boat that has seen better days. Not only is it 20 years old, I think that it was left outside the entire time. Every piece of wood was rotted to dust, and every piece of foam was soaked thru. When I got the boat the 150hp Merc was supported by two steel plates, one under the top hanging attachment, and the other between the jack plate and transom. I've spent the last few months tearing it down and removing the rott and bad glass and am about to start building her back up. Starting at the transom, I found about a 3 inch spider crack thru the hull (highlighted in the picture with pencil for visibility) where the steel backing plate had broken through. This is my first boat rebuild and I want to do it right, and would love the advice of all you great guys so I am not redoing work. After looking at some other posts I am looking at laying a layer of CSM followed by a layer of 1708 biax on the entire flat part of the transom to repair the crack and strengthen the hull. Then I am planning on glueing my two pieces of 3/4" marine ply together with gorilla glue, sealing with poly resin, and gluing the new wood to the Biax with PL, and the finishing as normal (filet edges, CSM, and 2 layers of 1708 biax). Just wondering if this method will work or should i be trying something different. Thanks.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Cracked Transom Repair on 1991 Skeeter

Welcome to iBoats!

I would not use PL to glue the Transom wood to the Biax. The transom wood must be precoated with resin and then a layer of CSM too. Check the first link in my signature below for drawings and details on how to do your transom, stringers and deck. PB would be my choice for gluing the transom to the outer skin of the boat.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Cracked Transom Repair on 1991 Skeeter

Was this thing a converted boat ? I see a transom in your pics that is normally found for Inboard motors.

Mebbe its just the angle of the pic but I cant wrap my head around it ..

Do you have any pics of the Outside trans itself ?

YD.

PS. You should try to control your grinding dust a bit better .

 

[Seasonally.boating.jon]

Re: Cracked Transom Repair on 1991 Skeeter

at Yacht Dr. with the PS.

I would use Tite bond III wood glue for glueing the two transom pieces together. I used it not too long ago. When I clamped it up, it got all over my wooden lawn chair and was a pain to get off. When I TRIED to pill it off, wood came with it.

The specs on the Tite Bond III say 4000 psi strength and 57% wood failure.

 

[Heliguy78]

Re: Cracked Transom Repair on 1991 Skeeter

It isn't a conversion, just a bad camera angle. Those appendages that you see jutting out of the back end are just filled with foam so the only part of the wood that will be adhered to the hull will be that center section. I've attached a couple more pics of it and highlighted the area on the outside where that plate broke through. I will take your advice and use PB instead of PL for this, along with the titebond III recommendation, I looked it up, that stuff is pretty tough.

As for the dust, I had to learn from a bad mistake......I had to shut my shop door and turn my exhaust fan off because of a bad storm. All that dust was from about 15 min. of grinding. Now I have hours of clean up.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Cracked Transom Repair on 1991 Skeeter

It's pretty easy to use Painters Plastic and Cheap 3/4" pvc to make a "Tent" over the boat to keep the Dust trapped.