Today, I purchased the plywood, and of course, home depot people have no idea what I am looking for and they do not use the terms MDO, ACX or CDX. The smartest person in lumber suggested a plywood sheet called APA and could tell me nothing about the wood other than it is exterior grade it has new technology against de-laminting. I reluctantly purchased the ply, it was only $28. Should I use this board or did I purchase the wrong thing? Google says that it is equal to CDX.
I am not sure if the current transom is the correct size and shape. This puts me at a stopping point. Can anyone comment if I should trace what is there and go for it? My goal is to fix the boat properly and not spend loads of money. It will eventually end up with a 15hp-20hp motor (hoping by early May), so I am trying to save $$ for that. If the transom replacement is too expensive, the motor purchase gets pushed to next year.
Drag Boat: Not drag racing. More like -- Tie a rope to the rear end of my Sea Ray and drag the 14 foot tinny loaded with 400 lbs of gear (gear placed into water tight bags and tethered/tied onto the tinny in case of it flipping). We boat camp on Lake Powell for 5-10 nights at a time. Currently, we can place 3-4 people into the Sea Ray plus camping gear/ice chest/spare gas. By doing this, the Sea Ray is very overloaded and places quite a strain on the motor and outdrive. I am hoping that dragging the 14 footer, I will not only reduce the strain on my Sea Ray but also increase passenger load into the Sea Ray up to 5 people. So, does dragging a boat like this take *some* pressure off of my Sea Ray? Or am I creating new problems and solving nothing?
In 2-3 months, I hope to have the money to strap an older 15-20 hp (adding yet another 100 lbs to my floating paradise). I will still be dragging the loaded tinny plus motor for approximately 40-50 miles to camp and another 40-50 miles back to lake exit.
It all sounds crazy, I know.