sludgeguy68
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2010
- Messages
- 111
Hi all, I've begun the process of replacing my first transom on a fishing rig, a 1986 Grumman "Skidaddle" made in Marathon NY. It rides hard but I like its high sides and thickness of the old aluminum, and the PO put a new floor in which saves me some work. I could see the transom wood was getting soft and waterlogged, especially in the "troth" that the transom wood sits in, and want to make sure that doesn't happen again.
After removing the many rivets holding the splashwell together and peeling back some of the gunnels, I could see there were two "loaves" of sprayed-in foam in the corners. After slicing the ends off, I was finally able to access the bolts holding the outer edges of the transom.
The foam wasn't waterlogged, but I could see from the rot patterns in the transom that the sprayed-in foam had created a pocket where water sat and soaked into the corners of the wood. I plan to dig out a channel that directs any water collecting in these corners into the bilge area. I probably cut out a bit more foam than I should've, so I'll try and fit some blue/pink foam insulation blocks to restore some buoyancy.
The transom was quite rotten along the bottom as well, and the troth was completely full of stagnant water. My original plan was to seal the wood into the troth with a bead of 3M along the lip, but now I'm wary of sealing anything!
I'm now thinking of drilling some weep holes along the bottom so water finding its way in there could also drip into the bilge, then gluing some small shims (from an old plastic cutting board) to give me an 1/8" gap along the bottom of the troth, which would (hopefully) prevent the new transom from sitting in a pool of water. Any thoughts?
I plan on gluing ext. grade Aruaco ply with Titebond III and using old timer's to seal, then a few coats of spar before dropping it in. I'll be updating this thread as I move along...
After removing the many rivets holding the splashwell together and peeling back some of the gunnels, I could see there were two "loaves" of sprayed-in foam in the corners. After slicing the ends off, I was finally able to access the bolts holding the outer edges of the transom.
The foam wasn't waterlogged, but I could see from the rot patterns in the transom that the sprayed-in foam had created a pocket where water sat and soaked into the corners of the wood. I plan to dig out a channel that directs any water collecting in these corners into the bilge area. I probably cut out a bit more foam than I should've, so I'll try and fit some blue/pink foam insulation blocks to restore some buoyancy.
The transom was quite rotten along the bottom as well, and the troth was completely full of stagnant water. My original plan was to seal the wood into the troth with a bead of 3M along the lip, but now I'm wary of sealing anything!
I'm now thinking of drilling some weep holes along the bottom so water finding its way in there could also drip into the bilge, then gluing some small shims (from an old plastic cutting board) to give me an 1/8" gap along the bottom of the troth, which would (hopefully) prevent the new transom from sitting in a pool of water. Any thoughts?
I plan on gluing ext. grade Aruaco ply with Titebond III and using old timer's to seal, then a few coats of spar before dropping it in. I'll be updating this thread as I move along...
