Ultrasound for bad transom????

[jmoorepghpa]

I was reading along here and I started wondering why we can't get someone to do an ultrasound on problem areas like the transom. It would have to be a smooth surface. The transom is smooth. We used ultrasound for all kinds of stuff in the navy like steam pipes and pump casings. They use it for all kinds of industrial quality control processes these days and a lot of those are mobile set ups. Why couldn't we trailer the boat in question down to ACME ULTRASOUND and have them give it the once over. I would think they could find anything from rotted wood to seperated fiberglass mat along the stringers etc. etc. I wonder how much that would cost. hmmmmm........

 

[Bondo]

Re: Ultrasound for bad transom????

That sounds pretty Expensive when you can find the same Info with a Hammer,+ Ice Pick........

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Ultrasound for bad transom????

i can see the sign now, " Ultra Ultra Sound, pregnant women, and old boats, our specialty."

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: Ultrasound for bad transom????

Something along those lines would be a moisture meter. A friend of mine is a certified marine surveyor and has one. He was nice enough to check my 18-foot Starcraft when I first bought it and confirmed that the foam and transom were pretty waterlogged - usually a good indicater that you've got rot problems... Moisture meters aren't cheap, but if you can find someone who has one it doesn't take long to have your boat checked...
- Scott

 

[Kajun37]

Re: Ultrasound for bad transom????

jmoore..i'm a navy NDT tech...the xray/ultrasound guys....doing an ultrasound inspection on a transom will not work....due to delaminations that would stop the transmission of sound.....also because of the different materials that would attenuate sound ..wood is not a good "conductor" of sound either...an ultrasound couldn't tell you if it was rotten or not...however..ultrasound is great for metals...IE steam pipes and casings...chinewalker is right..the best thing you could do is use a moisture meter..or infared tomography(which is way too expensive to be practical)

 

[jmoorepghpa]

Re: Ultrasound for bad transom????

That would explain why I've never heard of it being done.......it won't work!
Thought I had a flash of brilliance there for a moment but I should have known better......

 

[Scaaty]

Re: Ultrasound for bad transom????

Never hurts to think...look where a "flash" of brilliance put Edison at..!

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Ultrasound for bad transom????

Actually..they do Scope boats m8s..it shows voided in stringers and laminations..

Moisture meters can "lie" depending on what coatings you have on your bottom ( IE. interprotect or VC17 etc. )

YD.

 

[Eggkr8]

Re: Ultrasound for bad transom????

Jmoore.. I am with Kajun 100% on this. I was in the NDT industry for 10 years as a Ultrasonic Transducer product manager for most of that

Kajun is 100% correct (Kajun.. any chance we know each other?.. small industry.. I was with Pana.. not KKB

There are ways of making it work, but honestly, it ain't worth it. You are better off with a hammer and 'tap' testing. Meaning.. tap around your transom, you want a good solid THUD, not a THUNK

Cheers

 

[jmoorepghpa]

Re: Ultrasound for bad transom????

Ok well what if we took an old portable x-ray machine ............

 

[klos]

Re: Ultrasound for bad transom????

Ultrasound? X-rays?
Hmmmmm...
I wonder if I can claim this on my health insurance.

 

[klos]

Re: Ultrasound for bad transom????

I've got a customer that owns a Carpet steam cleaning company that also does fire / water damage restoration in homes.
He has helped on a few boats with there "shoot through" moisture meter. they also use a piercing meter that is much more accurate but not good for fiberglass boats.

But like YD said these tools can lie, and it cannot detect rot just moisture.