1977 cobia bowrider transom rebuild

[Shwinkyyy]

Transom on 1986 bowrider

So I just bought this boat and... famous words of someone making a huge mistake I'm sure. It is a 19 foot bowrider. After thorough inspection I'm at the conclusion that the transom needs replacing. I am hearing it will cost about 4k if I take it somewhere. my brother in law flips boats he explained that I could strip the wood put in a new board then instead of glassing use a metal plate seal it and then use bed liner. He said it has worked for him a couple times. Opinions please, as I have never done glass work before. I do have pictures but I am having a hard time uploading.

 

[Shwinkyyy]

I put the pictures, in my profile album. I' sure they will tell you nothing though because visually it doesn't look bad

 

[Scott Danforth]

Your brother is not doing you any favors by giving you bad advice.

Transom, stringers and deck will need replacing. If you do the work yourself, estimate $2500. Just read the stickies

 

[mickyryan]

bed liner material has its places but that's not one of them sandwich the wood with glass then use bed liner material if you choose.

 

[Shwinkyyy]

Thank you. That' all I needed to hear. I am new to boats and have been having the worst luck. I didn' think this was a bad purchase. And now I'm feeling a little overwhelmed given that I have never done a transom. And my peers have me worried

 

[chevymaher]

This is my first boat. It needed everything. It is just alot of hard work nothing you cant do. If you want to that is.

 

[Woodonglass]

The second link below might be informative.

 

[Mad Props]

A lot of people on this forum are restoring, rebuilding, rehabbing their first boat... And they were all in the same... well, boat... you are. It can seem very overwhelming, like building a house, but its all made up of simple little steps. If you have some basic tools and a decent head on your shoulders, I have no doubt you can be out on the lake, safely ripping around in no time.

That being said, to be honest, if your transom is bad, then odds are on a 30 year old boat, that the stringers are also bad.. Looks like some itching is in your future grasshopper!

 

[Shwinkyyy]

Transom on 1977 Cobia bowrider

Hello everyone, new boat owner here. So this is technically the second boat i have bought. I have a 19' 1973 Grady white but it is quite a bit of work and the windshield is wiped out. So i purchased a 19' 1977 cobia bowrider for $1,400 the guy also gave me two 115 hp mercury engines that both run, The old tower of power. So given that I am new and still don't know better the cobia needs a transom rebuild. I went to my local marine shop, and they gave me full instructions on the process and they are going to be giving me advice through the rebuild. This will be a brand new experience for me, I have never touched fiberglass before and I have certainly never worked on a boat before, so I am a little bit nervous about making errors, but hopefully listening to the professionals will help me along. Wanted to start this post and upload pictures to show the process and maybe get some helpful advice along the way. Also maybe some advice on how to try to sell the Grady white, it has a 1986 mercury blackmax 150hp that runs. So I am hoping that will help, or I might just rebuild the gray then sell it that way. Still unsure of what to do.

 

[Shwinkyyy]

Sorry for the error everyone it is a 1977 cobia bowrider

 

[Scott Danforth]

start by reading the links in the stickies https://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...at-information

specifically links 14 and 18

we will be here to help.

most likely you have a lot more than the transom to deal with

my guess you have all new stringers, bulkhead and floor in addition to the transom.

put the grady white on craigslist or your local classifieds.

 

[Woodonglass]

Welcome to the Worlds Best Boat Restoration Forum. The members here will give you the best advice you can get anywhere, anytime. We have thousands of examples of Great restorations done by total novice builders. Keep posting pics and questions and you'll be on the water in no time.

 

[Shwinkyyy]

start by reading the links in the stickies https://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...at-information

specifically links 14 and 18

we will be here to help.

most likely you have a lot more than the transom to deal with

my guess you have all new stringers, bulkhead and floor in addition to the transom.

put the grady white on craigslist or your local classifieds.

So the picture below is as far as I have gotten, can I cut right through the deck? Or do I have to be cautious of what's below me?

 

[Woodonglass]

Just determine the thickness of the deck and set your circular saw to abut 1/16" more and then cut it away from the side walls using the short side of the saw. or Carefully use a multitool to do the same thing.. You just want to try and avoid cutting thru the bottom of the hull. If you do it can be fixed but better to try not to.

 

[Shwinkyyy]

Just determine the thickness of the deck and set your circular saw to abut 1/16" more and then cut it away from the side walls using the short side of the saw. or Carefully use a multitool to do the same thing.. You just want to try and avoid cutting thru the bottom of the hull. If you do it can be fixed but better to try not to.

Ok so I'm calling it a day for now. This is as far as I have gotten today. Could you guys please recommend what I should do from this point

 

[Shwinkyyy]

I looked underneath of the floor, and I have found where the stringers are and I see another wall of fiberglass running crosswalks along the width of the boat

 

[Shwinkyyy]

Hello again everyone, so I have all of the inner skin cut out and I had to cut out the lower deck wood. But all in all i feel good about it. I went to my local marine shop today again to make my order for supplies. Since I have never done this before I did explain my inexperience. Real great group of guys, again he gave me full instructions, we discussed the stringers and the floor. He stated he thinks I am ok to rebuild the transom and put her in the water to test her out (never put her in the water). Now I did read the stickies for fiberglassing, because i have never glassed before. But I do have some questions.
1rst is have you ever heard of his process? He explained that i should wet and glass the outer skin, wet and lay the first layer of wood, then wet and glass again, then put the second layer of wood with a final layer of glass.
2nd is I am going to use poly resin, and the glass he is going to sell me is I guess CSM? but he said it will be the "heavier stuff". From what I saw no woven mat just the random direction stuff.
3rd and final question I will probably be glassing in plus 90 degree weather. He STRESSED using shade and some sort of fan.

I want to stress that I am brand new to this so I am nervous about this project, I have my dad and friend helping me this weekend. My dad has worked in auto body so he does have a small amount of experience with glass. I'm picking up supplies on Friday and I will start my job on Saturday. Until then I will be cleaning everything and prepping the back of the boat I know my pictures show the stern very messy and not ready for install.

thank you for taking the time to read all this.

 

[jbcurt00]

Try to keep project topics together under 1 subject/topic, not spread across 3.

merged

 

[Shwinkyyy]

Try to keep project topics together under 1 subject/topic, not spread across 3.

merged

I sincerely apologize, Will not happen again.

 

[Shwinkyyy]

Well the new transom is officially installed. Thankfully the guys at nuwave marine helped me with all my questions. Just going to do 1 more layer of glass then move on to putting that lower deck back together