1985 Century 4000 Transom/Restoration......

[aedwards514]

2 years ago I was out on my boat, and all of a sudden my bilge pump kicked on. Looked in the engine compartment and I seen about 2 inches of water. So I started wondering what was causing this leak. Upon doing a little inspection, I realized that the transom was rotten. It sat the rest of the 2012 season and all of the 2013 season because 1) I did not know what I wanted to do with the boat 2)Not sure if I could fix it.

Over the this past winter I decided that I was going to tackle the job of putting in a new transom. I have a past in doing construction and carpentry work, and after reading this forum and many other youtube video's and Google search, I believe I can tackle this task.

Started on it about 2 weeks ago with tearing out seats and other demo work. As you can see in the pictures the transom was way worse than what I had originally thought.

 

[Sparkinator]

Re: 1985 Century 4000 Transom/Restoration......

Go for it man. I found the same thing on my boat, just the transom was only rotten on the bottom section. I let mine set for a year contemplating whether I could do it. I also was a little leary of digging into it, and finding what else was rotten. Fortunately, mine was limited to the transom and a small corner of the floor, (where the battery set).

Hopefully, yours will just be the transom, and it won't keep you out of the water for too long. My son and I rebuilt my boat, and it actually was a lot of fun. (Did I really say that?). :lol:

Good luck!

 

[aedwards514]

Re: 1985 Century 4000 Transom/Restoration......

Yeah, 1 of the motor mounts was completely rotten as well. The floor was actually okay for the most part. Only a small corner was rotten out(like a 3" x 3" corner). So far it hasn't been too bad. Had some minor issue's getting the outdrive off but with a little persuasion, it came off. I am going to work on getting the transom off this week and hopefully this weekend I will be buying the materials to rebuild the transom itself and going to work on that the following week. Should be back in the water by the 4th of July weekend. Hopefully!!!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1985 Century 4000 Transom/Restoration......

Have you core sampled all the stringers as well?

 

[aedwards514]

Re: 1985 Century 4000 Transom/Restoration......

I have woodonglass. I did each string in 3 different spots and they all seemed solid. Lucky for me!!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1985 Century 4000 Transom/Restoration......

Woo Hoo!! 29 yr old girl and no rot in the stingers. Celebration Time!!!!

 

[greenbush future]

Re: 1985 Century 4000 Transom/Restoration......

I owned the exact year and model boat for a handful of years. It was a really nice , very solid boat. Never had to get into the guts of her as you are, also mine was not a trailer boat, just dropped in for the summer and docked. I'll be tagging along to watch you complete this project.

 

[aedwards514]

Re: 1985 Century 4000 Transom/Restoration......

Woo Hoo!! 29 yr old girl and no rot in the stingers. Celebration Time!!!!

Thats what I thought. I was doing an Irish Jigg!!!

 

[aedwards514]

Re: 1985 Century 4000 Transom/Restoration......

I owned the exact year and model boat for a handful of years. It was a really nice , very solid boat. Never had to get into the guts of her as you are, also mine was not a trailer boat, just dropped in for the summer and docked. I'll be tagging along to watch you complete this project.

The boat has been in the family for over 20 years. It has always been on a trailer. I am really excited to get the boat done, as it has been passed down to me from my father!!

 

[aedwards514]

Re: 1985 Century 4000 Transom/Restoration......

**Update** Finally got most of the transom completely down to the fiberglass. Going to start grinding the fiber glass and get ready to make a template for my transom. Unfortunately the old transom was so bad that I couldn't keep any of it for a template. But them old transom was a pretty simple design so it shouldn't be to hard to recreate. I will post pictures soon.