[Mark42]

One thing I meant to do since I bought the 1985 1600 Capri Cuddy was to remove the "garboard" drain from the transom and seal the hole with epoxy. It always looked like Bayliner drilled the hole through the transom, then bolted on a brass plate, leaving the plywood exposed to any bilge water.

Today I took off the drain. Everything was coated with silicone from one of the two previous owners. "Not a good sign" I thought to myself. After cleaning off the silicone, I put the garboard drain housing on the wire wheel and turned it from green back to shiny brass, both sides. Then probed the hole with a screwdriver, and all is solid. Took some 80 grit and sanded the hole clean and measured it. The transom is 1.5" thick and dry as a bone. Then I noticed the transom is actually 3/4" fiberglass, and 3/4" plywood. Woo Hoo! There is a 1" diameter hole half way up the transom on the inside. There you can see that the ply is 3/4", and the rest is fiberglass.

I was very happy to see this apparently very hefty construction for a 16 ft boat with only an 85hp outboard.

So I mixed up some epoxy and added just a little thickener and smeared it on the inside of the drain hole, sealing the 3/4' ply well. That should prevent any issues down the road. After the epoxy cures in about 20 minutes, the garboard drain will go back on sealed with 4200.

I also removed the port side transom eye and inspected the hole. Same thing, 3/4" glass with 3/4" ply.

I wonder how many other Bayliners have such a thick fiberglass transom?

[gcboat]

Sounds like you have a battleship there. On my 28 footer I only have 1/2 of glass and the 3/4 in of ply backing. This is on a 1988 model. Maybe I should of shopped around a liitle more.