Rotten transom! Repair? Replace?Metal Plate Or give myself a viking funeral?

ok so i know im not the first or last guy to buy his first boat ( that he always dreamed of having) only to find a rot spot on the transom. this is my first boat 1992 180 nitro f/s 150 evinrude fiberglass. So i sit here as im sure many have going through the rollercoaster of problems and possible solutions, hovering somewhere between confusion,depression,and surrender! now the boat seems pretty solid for a now 20 yr old boat but it does have hard starts and some wiring problems and not to mention the rotten spot i found when looking down past my battery into the engine compartment. isaw a crack in the fiber glass with a pea sized hole in the middle of the crack. so naturally i poke it a little and it gave way because the wood behind that spot was literally mush. when i bought the boat 2 years ago from a marine dealer i thought i did the right thing by taking a friend who knew alot about boats and was a marine mech of sorts for 20 years. he ran compression tests on the motor checked the lower unit and wigled the transom among other things and found it to be solid for its age. ive had her out about

6 time s and mostly with an experienced friend. it has sat for 14 montha now and i was hoping to take her to the lake this weekend. just updated tags and stickers about 150.00. now i read alot on the forums here and my transom is not bowed or warped ,it doesnt wiggle easily or loosely, so is there hope? heres the all to common dilema. im a working man and dont have 2 to 3 grand lying around to replace the transom and secondly is it even worth fixing the transom on a 20 year old boat, supposing i could sell enough plasma lol and i didnt end up living in the boat when my wife finds out i secretly saved the money and how much i spent. ive been told the motor is in good condition. so here are my choices as i see them. A. somehow come up with enough dough to have a professional replace the transom or B.scrap the boat and salvage the motor and anything else worthy and find a sound used boat to put it on. C. put a metal plate on it to buy me some more time to worry (and would i be able to pull my kids on atube with this option one of the reasons i bought the boat). D. sell the boat and give up all hope of a working class stiff ever having a boat. or E. have a band play (nearer to thee my god) while i row my self and my boat to the middle of the lake for a viking funeral? im thinking metal plate its the most and only affordable option right now, will the tramson be strong enough to support someone being pulled on a tube? 6500.00 i paid for this boat .opions ,advice , prayers or viking funeral song suggestions? oh and do i chance an outing this weekend? and how hard is it for a guy who doesnt know s&#@ from shinola to fix the transom himself?

Re: Rotten transom! Repair? Replace?Metal Plate Or give myself a viking funeral?

cant say much without pictures. but if you have rot in the transom, then you may have rot in the stringers. all depends on the construction of the boat....
not much to actually replacing a transom, and not all that expensive either...just labor...
there are many threads on here that go into great detail...some from full on complete restorations, to others just doing some repair work...
as for $$...to give a perspective, i will have right at $250 in materials for my transom...that has max dimensions of 88"x36"...and not extremely hard to do...of course, i'm gutting my entire for for a full restoration.

and one last note, welcome to iBoats!!!

Re: Rotten transom! Repair? Replace?Metal Plate Or give myself a viking funeral?

Due to the way the F/S Nitro's are constructed, replacing the transom is not as easy as some other boats. Like mrdjflores said you prolly have wet foam and rotten stringers too meaning you will need to do a full gut job. Might be easier to salvage what you can and find another hull for the motor. JMHO

Re: Rotten transom! Repair? Replace?Metal Plate Or give myself a viking funeral?

sadly im thinking your right ,and since i dont know much about working on a transom , im terrified to try to fix it plus i dont have a covered place to work on it.ive never worked on a transom and everyone i know that has boat experience says get some one whos knows what they are doing or ill be sorry. ive been literally losing sleep over this but have come to this conclusion , im going to seek out some one who knows how to steel plate the tran som to buy me some time to save cash to buy a good condition used hull and then try to switch evrerything over to that hull. i think this my best option given my circumstances. its either that or sell it and take up quilting or something,lol. i will say this , ive gotten into home projects that you think are going to be manageable but turn out to be more than you can handle and i think boats are in the same category.

Re: Rotten transom! Repair? Replace?Metal Plate Or give myself a viking funeral?

no place to work on it, 3k in parts and basic tools, few months of heart ache and a new bass boat from basspro is about 16k on the never never including new motor and trailer ready to run. i wanted to fix my boat but if i could rewind i would have bought the new boat used it till the warrenty ran out on the motor then sold it with a smile. that 3k i spent on stuff would have made a few payments and im sure in 3-5 years the boat will need more money spent on the motor and trailer. i wonder if you can buy a new boat with out any motor etc for a fair price. now if i had the place to work on it and the tools to start with then fixing the boat would be a better option as its not that hard realy just a pain to have to cover and uncover and battle the weather all the time

Re: Rotten transom! Repair? Replace?Metal Plate Or give myself a viking funeral?

so you know the way notros are constructed? then you might be able to help me on this one. i have decicded that metal plating the transom was a bone headed idea on my part, once everyone here explained to me why its dangerous and after reading the forum threads on the subject. But ive found the product seacast. I found a marine shop that will do the labor for 800.00 if i bring my own seacast or 1100 if they supply it. i must say that im thinking of doing the job myself though, to save the 800.00 dollars. now my questions are 1. how hard is it to remove all the hoses electrical and the motor from the transom? 2. where do i put the motor as i have no hoist, my brother says i can build a motor holder out of 2x4s? true or false? 3. how do you cut the top cap off? 4. is sea cast a good product? 4. get old wood out with chain saw and shop vac? 5. how much seacast do i need? 6.is redoing the fiberglass work a difficult task?

Re: Rotten transom! Repair? Replace?Metal Plate Or give myself a viking funeral?

1. how hard is it to remove all the hoses electrical and the motor from the transom?
easy with the right tools which would be a outboard jack. with out you could remove the foot then buy a puller bolt it to the flywheel then undo the motor and swing it to the side to get the steering cable free. so you will need a tree a puller and a come-a-long ($55) not including the tree and about 2 hrs if you have never removed the foot before but as a bonus you get to do the water pump. the wiring is all plugs and cables so take pics and notes as you go

2. where do i put the motor as i have no hoist, my brother says i can build a motor holder out of 2x4s? true or false?

once removed with out the foot the motor can sit on the flat bottom and you can build something with 2 by 4s no problem

3. how do you cut the top cap off?

you cut it with a grinder so you will need a dust mask and a grinder with a cut off wheel ($45)

4. is sea cast a good product?

yes its great for transoms. its not the cheapest pourable either

4. get old wood out with chain saw and shop vac?

hope to hell its real rotten as the nitros have a fiberglass layer inbetween the wood layers so its not going to be a cake walk (long chainsaw and vac hmmm...($150)

5. how much seacast do i need?

the web site for seacast has a calculator. you measure the transom then it calculates the quantity. its going to be about $300 dollars and then you have delivery on top of that

6.how hard is seacast to use.

easy you just wire brush the inside of the transom ($15) then accetone. cut some wood that you put either side then wax the motor bolts and bolt the wood on so the transom doesnt spread under the weight of the seacast then make a funnel to pour the sea cast into the slot in the transom then using a drill mixer ($15) you mix and pour into the slot and push it about to get any air out (nice if you can vibrate it down)

6.is redoing the fiberglass work a difficult task (closing the gap you cut)?

no as theres not going to be much to do other than a 1-1/2 slot that you cut to get into the transom to do the repair and you should be able to put the cut out piece back in so its just sticking it then gel coating the cut. you will need mat,resin,sandpaper,accetone,gel coat,paint brushes,etc etc ($100)

good news is that most bass boats have bad transoms because theres just way to many toys you can add to the back of the boat like fish finders, trim tabs, power poles, etc so the transom ends up looking like a dart board which leads to transom getting wet which sounds bad but at least its not the stringers which would be a 3k job min and seacast will not take on water so its better than wood as long as you never drill all the way into the through it

i dont mean to be negative and if you can borrow the tools you might enjoy doing the transom but if you have to buy tools for this one job then you wont save $800 maybe $300 if you are lucky but you will get the bragging rights that you did it yourself

Re: Rotten transom! Repair? Replace?Metal Plate Or give myself a viking funeral?

I think I mentioned Don's How to's links previously, 1 of the links in that thread is for a good outboard motor stand. If memory serves, there are some additional posts of good stands by others as well.

Might want to spend some more time reading thru some helpful threads before starting to attack the problem(s)

Depending on how your boat's hull & cap are joined will determine what you'll need to use to separate them. I used an angle grinder, a socket set, pliers, razor knives, putty knives and a multi-tool to get mine apart.

Multi-tool:


My hull/cap joint:


Your joint may be different...