ooooooops, there went my transom

well, each day that passes, shines a new light on the whole in my wallet.
I awoke to a sunshine day and a intact transom, i will fall asleep inchy, with no transom plywood.
First question
the brass insert, the drain hole for the bilges, what do i use to replace this because its gone now? (preferably one that doesnt leak between the outlet hole and the hull around it).

Question two, PL i hear reference to this product some kind of laminating glue?? Where do i find it what do i look for. This will be in regard to q 3

Question 3
plywood for the transom, do i use one piece 1" 3/8 thick or 3 pieces laminated together, what i remove seemed to be 3 pieces seamed together the grain goeing side to side then up and down and then side to side again, sound right?
Can i get away with regular plywood, or must it be marine grade?? the inside will be coated in fiberglass i would assume, and the boat side laminated or glued to the fiberglass that remains of my transom...


The original culpret of the water entering the transom to rot it appears to be one them add on ski tow bars, (not factory) the bottom wholes where hogged out bad. So now

How do i fix it so it wont do that again to my brand new transom, steel stock inside the fiberglass with steel insert through the plywood so id it does leak it leaks inside the boat instead of inside the plywood to slowly rot it out again.

Any ideas on this matter Greatly appreciated


Sincerely
Dave of the disappearing Boat

Picture included in the pic, you can see the tow bar bolts the right side plywood has been removed on transom left side is still there and you can see the rot coming from the bottom bolt was the same on both side clearly these bolts spend most there time under water while the boat is in the lake, i have to find a solution or i cant reinstall this ski tow bar

Re: ooooooops, there went my transom

i just re done mine on a 1976 17 fish and ski sportcraft i used two pieces of 3/4 treated one horizontal and one vertical i went to west marine and got my pass through it had a brass one where u put plug in on inside now it has a plastic one that has three stainless screws that u put plug in on outside i drilled my hole for it ran a bead of silicone around hole screwed in pass through it oozed out the sides of flange havent had a leak yet as far as ur ski hooks do same with silicone hope this helps

Re: ooooooops, there went my transom

hi bud....welcome to i boats.

ok....first......i dont know how thick your transom was to begin with.....you have to know that. then add as much wood as you have to, too acheive that thickness.

laminate the peices of plywood togeather with fiberglass resin and chopped strand matt.

when installing the new transom, use fiberglass resin and chopped strand matt on the inside of the skin of the boat....then add the transom that has a fresh coat of fiberglass (not cured)

pl...is a type of construction glue....very good and very underrated in boat building.....pl preimum or pl cement and mortor glue...it comes in a tube.
the pl must be fully cured before any fiberglass can be applied to it.

you can purchase new brass tubes or there are pvc tubes.

any hole that goes into the transom must be sealed totally. this can be accomplished with epoxy or fiberglass resin.....for example....any hole drilled into the transom...take the screw out....fill hole with epoxy....and either re drill or insert the screw into the wet epoxy...

all of the transoms i have replaced are because of someone not sealing the screw or thru hull attachment......seal ALL the wood.

read the hull extension thread....there are detailed pics of a transom being built and installed. including any thing you need to know about fiberglass. check the index up front for the transom pages.

cheers
oops

Re: ooooooops, there went my transom

sorry.....
transom wood....

you dont need marine...but if you want....go for it

regular exterior grade fir ply is a standard here.....but start drying it now

Re: ooooooops, there went my transom

Thanks GUys really appreciate your input

Alittle additional info

YOu mention exterior plywood and start drying now, what exactly do you mean, it would need to be completely dried for a period of time prior to laminating together and trimming to size and installing?? how long?

A friend has some 1"1/4 plywood that good and dry had it for six months now in his garage if laminted a 1/4 inch to this then with the 1/4 fiberglass skin and the fiberglass over it, the total thickness would be close to the 1"3/4 i had originally would this be good enough

The problem with the ski bar that simply sealing the holes thru the hull wouldnt solve is it has warped or stretched with force on it over the years hoggin the once round hole out to be elongated thatz why i mention a steel plate to better support it for life. The bottom bolts had literaly worn a one inch long hole from a 1/2" round whole to begin with

Now if i pre cut and fit the new transom plywood, pre drill, then drill the hole out say 1/2 bigger, then fill the holes in the new transom plywood with fiberglass install the new transom plywood, then once installed and cured, drill the original size hole through the fiberglass filled holes, would this be the prefered way??


Brass plugs for bilge hole to outside how do you press them into place on my boat currently it had been rounded outward on either side of the hull, with some kind of press or something, would a new one be similar once installed like a tarp grommet for instance?

Are far as transom thickness, it seems with the fiberglass shell thats there and the plywood together it was like 1" 5/8 (update original transom was
1"3/4) would this not be kinda standard, and if its an 1/8 thicker or thinner when done would this be a bad thing??


Thanks again for you input
Happy Boating

Dave

Re: ooooooops, there went my transom

opalized said:

Thanks GUys really appreciate your input

Alittle additional info

YOu mention exterior plywood and start drying now, what exactly do you mean, it would need to be completely dried for a period of time prior to laminating together and trimming to size and installing?? how long?

any plywood you buy from the store is wet....it needs to be dryed to accept the resin....if it isnt dryed...then it will be a really bad bond between the glass and the plywood....very weak and prone to rot.

to dry the plywood....place it in a low humidity area.....and put a fan on it for a least a week. keep turning the plywood so it doesnt warp

A friend has some 1"1/4 plywood that good and dry had it for six months now in his garage if laminted a 1/4 inch to this then with the 1/4 fiberglass skin and the fiberglass over it, the total thickness would be close to the 1"3/4 i had originally would this be good enough

any combination to the correct thickness will do....but fiberglass it togeather

The problem with the ski bar that simply sealing the holes thru the hull wouldnt solve is it has warped or stretched with force on it over the years hoggin the once round hole out to be elongated thatz why i mention a steel plate to better support it for life. The bottom bolts had literaly worn a one inch long hole from a 1/2" round whole to begin with

it was installed incorrectly

Now if i pre cut and fit the new transom plywood, pre drill, then drill the hole out say 1/2 bigger, then fill the holes in the new transom plywood with fiberglass install the new transom plywood, then once installed and cured, drill the original size hole through the fiberglass filled holes, would this be the prefered way??

yes.....basically...over drill the holes....fill with epoxy...cure...then re drill

Brass plugs for bilge hole to outside how do you press them into place on my boat currently it had been rounded outward on either side of the hull, with some kind of press or something, would a new one be similar once installed like a tarp grommet for instance?

the new replacement wont be double flaired....dont worry about it....again...install as described above

Are far as transom thickness, it seems with the fiberglass shell thats there and the plywood together it was like 1" 5/8 (update original transom was
1"3/4) would this not be kinda standard, and if its an 1/8 thicker or thinner when done would this be a bad thing??


Thanks again for you input
Happy Boating

Dave

Click to expand...

a little is not a problem as long as the cap rail fits back over ituasually an eighth inch is within tollerance

cheers
oops

Re: ooooooops, there went my transom

ok now for the floor, had to cut it out since the rot went most the way to the bow.
It appeared to have nothing more than expanding foam under it, so is home depot lowes, expanding foam in a can gonna work to replace what i have cut out?
under the bow they had just stuck foam strip in all around the tank, are these really needed, they had also done this under the seats, can this be replaced with expanding foam in a can or simply put back what i took out??

there is one beam that runs from the front of the bilges up the center of the boat to the fron, well slightly off center but close, it was fiberglass and appears to have survived the rot, i will know better when i clean my disaster from yesterday up adn look alittle closer. but attached to it at the rear of the boat, as a perimeter to the bilges, or if you will making the bilge area walls was a 2x4 type material, what type of wood do i use to replace this which was mostly rotted out. the wood i pulle dout seems incredibly heavy and dense, but it was very water logged. standard 2x4 cut to fit then wrapped with fiberglass as the center beam is???

Floor plywood seemed to be nothing more than 3/9 in ply, prior to install wrap it top and bottom with fiberglass and mesh??

Floor cavity to bilge area, should there be holes to allow water, to drain down the center of the boat into the bilges??
I was thinking maybe a piece of galvanized 1/2 thin wall pipe drilled full of holes layed right along either side of the center beam then foamed in place so if any water got in this area, it could move back to the bilges i could be a bilge outlet into the bilges typica of the outlet to the outside of the boat.
It would seem though between the foam, and resealing the whole floor area, there woudl or should be no way for water to reenter this area for a good long time????

As always the information provided is Greatly Appreciated, The welcomes to Iboat are always received with Thanks. And always wish the very best of Boating times to all, and a safe adventure when ever you leave the hosue with boat in tow

Thanks Dave