Replacing the transon in a alum.starcraft

Joined
May 2, 2002
Messages
29
I have a starcraft that needs the wood in the transom replaced.Has anyone replaced one before?Also do you just remove the motor and end caps along with some screws and slide the wood out, and how thick is it?Thanks for any info.
 

wippb

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Dec 3, 2001
Messages
171
Re: Replacing the transon in a alum.starcraft

Hey striper<br />I don't know about a Starcraft but I just finished replacing the transom in my Tracker. You will most likely have to remove EVERYTHING that goes through the transom as well as the end caps and top covers. Depending on how bad the wood is you may have to dig it out instead of sliding it out. Buy thinner layers of plywood and build them up to the thickness you need and use epoxy resin glue to glue them together. Then seal the whole works in epoxy resin. Next put everything back the way you found it making sure you seal anything that goes through the hull with either 3M 5200 marine sealant or Rule and stainless screws.<br /><br />Good luck
 
D

DJ

Guest
Re: Replacing the transon in a alum.starcraft

Striper Chaser,<br /><br />Wipper has pretty much nailed it. It is not that bad of a job.<br /><br />More than likely, the wood does not extend all the way to the sides of the boat, or to the very bottom of the hull. The transom wood usually sits in a tray which is riveted to the transom. This tray tends to hold water which speeds up the rotting process, you can avoid this by drilling some drain holes in it. <br /><br />To get the inner skin and wood out, you may have to drill out a couple of rivets, but make sure you understand what they are holding before you do.<br /><br />You can use just about any plywood you want to. Mine worked out to be four layers of 1/2". I glued mine together with waterproof glue and held it all together with some stainless screws (for drying.) I then cut it to shape and coated the whole thing with epoxy.<br /><br />I have digital pictures of mine before, during and after if you are interested.<br /><br />Just post your e-mail address.
 

DeerJerky

Recruit
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
Messages
1
Re: Replacing the transon in a alum.starcraft

Hey DJ, I am going to be replacing the transom in my Chieftain and would love any pictures you might have of your's or any that would give me any idea's on mine. Come to think of it, since I am pretty much gutting the boat with the intentions of turning her into a big walkaround fishing boat, I would not turn down any advice or information you might have that could help me.
I hope I'm not being a bother to you in asking this stuff but It sure would help learning from someone who has already been there.
Thanks in advance for your help.
My email address is: buns@yadtel.net
Don
 

HONKER1

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Apr 1, 2007
Messages
245
Re: Replacing the transon in a alum.starcraft

Hay Striper...The only problem you will have is the fear of doing it. You got a lot of very good advice and support from this website. I wish I had discovered this website before I replaced my transom. The one thing I would like to stress is lots of digital picture. The pictures I took helped with my confidence with the reinstall.
 

iwombat

Captain
Joined
Jul 12, 2006
Messages
3,767
Re: Replacing the transon in a alum.starcraft

If your Starcraft is built like mine it only has the outside aluminum skin. The inside is bare wood tucked into a 1-2" channel at the bottom. Fortunately this makes digging out any rotted wood a job for a shop-vac rather than some other contrived device. There's a pile of screws to remove from inside the splashwell though.

I haven't done mine yet. It's still good for a few more years at least. I have looked pretty hard at what it would take though and it doesn't look like too bad a job other than all those screws.
 
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