1991 StarCraft Islander 221v - with 4.3 v6 i/o conversion to bracket and total resto

Rich11304

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Peter

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I sure hope so. I'm working on the transom right now. The transom will consist of a 3/4 of Marine BC fir ply, a 1/8" of 5052-h34 aluminum, a 1/2" Marine BC fir ply and a .090 of 5052h-34. All epoxied together. The wood is cut, filled and sanded. I just need to cut the aluminum.
 

Watermann

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You should be able to pull the warp out of that skin like Peter said. Your transom sandwich fixings, I've never seen it done that way before on the forums. The only word of caution I can think of is the ply and AL not becoming one and separating since I don't think glass epoxy adheres real well to AL. Any separation could create a void where water could get in and start rot and corrosion not to mention severely weaken the while transom with the pieces being separated. Why not just use 2 x 3/4" plys laminated together?

Forgot to ask. Did the rub rail bracket on top of the transom get broken or just kinked?
 
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Rich11304

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Waterman - Thanks for your comments. I'm using the aluminum sheeting to reinforce the transom due to the fact that I'll be installing a bracket. Regarding, the possibility of separation, the wood will receive 3 coats of epoxy. The aluminum sheet will receive it's own coat of epoxy (gluvit) and the epoxied materials are going to be glue together. I'm willing to risk it and I love to experiment. The railing is another problem. It looks like I'm going to take it out and replace it with a new one but I'm not going to throw this one out until I get a new one. I ordered a pneumatic rivet gun with the die and ordered some solid brazier head rivets from Grainger. It looks like I'm going to have to learn how to rivet just like Rosie. The welder welded the holes under the tank but he did not want to risk welding the smaller hole that are close to the double row of rivet close to transom because he thinks Starcraft use a material between the two sheet of aluminum to make it water tight and he didn't want to risk melting it with the heat. So I'm thinking of using 2 part JB weld with some 1708 mat to give it some strength or just use gluvit with same mat.
 

jbcurt00

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I wouldn't use any fiberglass of any kind trying to cover the holes. If you can't fix it w/ JB Weld, use a patch panel embedded in the JB, or rivet the patch panel over the JB filled holes.

Sounds like the aluminum/ply sandwich transom should be well glued together, and when you thru bolt the bracket, any new knee braces and the stern tow eyes, it'll be well clamped together at those locations for sure. Not sure how well epoxy will bond aluminum to epoxy coated plywood long term... But w/ sufficient prep it should bond pretty well. With the aluminum layers, I'd consider over drilling the thru holes in the plywood and filling them w/ epoxy prior to gluing the layers together. W/ an aluminum skin, it'll be more difficult to detect any water intrusion, and fix any future damage, so having epoxy plugs to bolt thru should help prevent it.

Since I mentioned it ^^^, what are your plans for new knee braces?
 

Watermann

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I know a little something about corrosion holes having repaired a number of them on my Chief. I like using cover patches on the exterior hull bottom or anywhere below the waterline for the simple fact that if you strike an object while underway (or even hull flexing over a period of time) and it hits the area where just a wad of JB is in the hole you're not going to be having a very good time after that. Now strike the same area with an oversized patch piece of 080 AL that is back buttered with 5200 and solid riveted on. Once the 5200 is cured, gluvit epoxy over the inside of the patched area. It's easy to see which repair would be more likely to hold up over time.

You won't be sorry that you picked up that pneumo riveter :thumb: For the solids, I practiced a few times with the air hammer and bucking bar on some scrap before taking my show live, it's a pretty darn simple process. I also coated all of my below the waterline rivets with 5200 before setting them just for added insurance.
 

Rich11304

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JBCurt00 & Waterman - Thanks for suggestions for fixing the holes. As far as knee braces, this transom is tied up to the stringers and gunwales in four different spots.
I cut all my transom aluminum pieces today and sanded them with 60 grit. The wood was already done. Thickness wise I'm at 1 1/2 inch minus 1/16. I weighted all piece individually. Plywood: 1/2: 28.0lbs - 3/4: 42.6 lbs - Aluminum: 0.125 - 33.6 lbs
0.090: 24.6 lbs.
 

Watermann

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Looking good from here, the ply looks pretty much void free... the expensive good stuff :thumb:
 

Rich11304

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This is a picture of one of the half being glued together. I drilled a bunch of holes on the inside and screwed the pieces together.
I used same pattern for both piece of aluminum so that they will line-up together for the final step when both half are glued together.
 

Rich11304

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This is the transom completely glued together. The black spot that you see is gorilla tape. I'm preparing to flip transom and start epoxy the wood side starting by filling the holes with epoxy.

 

Rich11304

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That's after I removed the tape. One inch and a half of solid epoxy.
 

Rich11304

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In the following pictures. I stood the transom as it would sit in the boat, ran gorilla tape on each side of the top of transom and poured epoxy to make sure the top was totally sealed.
 

Tnstratofam

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That transom looks good. Question did you epoxy the side the aluminum skin is on or is it raw wood?
 

GA_Boater

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Rich - What is the slot in the new transom for? I backed up through the thread and didn't see anything about it except it was in the old wood pics.
 

Rich11304

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Tnstratofam - I epoxied the wood three coats and on the forth coat I coated the aluminum as well and glued them together. All wood surfaces will have received at least 3 coats of epoxy with the edges receiving 5 coats.
 
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