99 Monterey 276 Transom Replacement

[Monterey276]

Hi everyone, looking for some advice on what to do with my boat. I just found out this week that the leak coming from the starboard side transom assembly is indeed due to transom rot. I have had this boat for about 6 seasons and have put a lot of time and money into miscellaneous repairs and upgrades. It runs and looks fantastic. So far, the ballpark quote I got for removing everything and then cutting out the old transom and replacing was 20k which seems absolutely insane to me. Has anyone else done this job on a similar boat? What was the cost? Is it worth even doing or should I just sell as is for a project boat for someone. Again it is a 99 Monterey 276 with twin 4.3’s
Thanks in advance

 

[alldodge]

Welcome
Transom is a lot of work and real dirty. While it could be your area that brings it to 20K, but get some other estimates.

Both motors need to come out, transoms removed and all the wood and fiberglass on the inside is removed. If stringers have also been compromised they to need to be cut. If you have a Generator it to may need to be removed

I've replace my transom and it was not fun and was a lot of work

 

[tpenfield]

Bummer . . . oh and welcome to iBoats. We are here to help.

Many of us us fixed transom and structural rot ourselves, because we are not made of $$$$$. Anyway, $20 K is a bit pricey, but figure $2K just to take the engines out and $2K to put them back in.

Usually the rot goes further than first thought. So you probably need to determine if the stringers are wet or starting to rot. Post some pictures if you can.

I've had to fix 2 of my boats . . . a Formula 242SS and a Formula 330SS it was wicked fun (well not really), But I'm glad that I did it and did not spend a king's ransom. More like a duke

 

[kcassells]

Bad day at the OK Corral. Both guys points are right on the money.
If you have skills you can do it yourself and save alot of $$. The rot is like they said and a total rehab.
Ya gots to love the boat to jump into this.

 

[drewm3i]

20K? It will easily be more than that. It's literally 3-4K to remove and replace both engines and drives, forget de-rigging and re-rigging. I run a shop in Maryland. My hourly rate is $135. Many shops here are $155/hour or more. Some shops in Florida are $200/hour or more. It is hard, laborious, grueling, and thankless work. Fiberglass work even more so and their rates are typically higher than mechanical/electrical labor rates, but a lot is job based.

Know it's going to be another 1-2K or so in materials and it is also very likely that other structural members, like bulkheads and stringers, are compromised. This job will take hundreds if not thousands of hours. My rebuild of a Sea Ray of sinilar stature took me over a year and a half, working off an on. It was hellish and not worth it because I had no attachment to the boat. There were nights I worked 8-10 hours, no bueno. For my current boat(s), it would be very different.

If you love the boat, learn and do it yourself. It will take a year or more and you will make mistakes, but also be proud once it's done. If you aren't handy, get rid if it but you won't get much disclosing the condition...like MAYBE $5-7K as-is. You'd get more parting it out...

 

[Monterey276]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I’ve attached a photo of where the leak was coming from, it is a sort of brown stain on the left side. The mechanic is saying this is an indication of a wet transom. Today I went over there and did a very thorough sounding test on the entire transom, both inside and out. I did not hear any difference from the leaking area to other locations. It sounded bright and crisp with no hollow sounds at all. Shouldn’t I be able to hear the difference if it’s as bad as he’s telling me??

 

[Scott Danforth]

Paying for shop labor at $100/hr adds up fast

Do the work yourself and you are in the $3500-$5000 range

Resin price is up 300% over pre-covid costs, so that isnt helping

 

[tpenfield]

It could be just an assumption, so it needs to be verified before putting money and effort into it.

it might be good to get the boat out of the water and take some core samples of the transom, both near the leak and elsewhere

 

[Monterey276]

It could be just an assumption, so it needs to be verified before putting money and effort into it.

it might be good to get the boat out of the water and take some core samples of the transom, both near the leak and elsewhere

Yea, that’s my plan for tomorrow. It is dry docked right now so I going to drill a few holes and see what I find

 

[drewm3i]

Your picture doesn't look too bad. Brown water can be rot...or rust.

 

[todhunter]

A "sounding test" won't tell you if it's rotten or not. Only if it's hollow or not.

 

[drewm3i]

A "sounding test" won't tell you if it's rotten or not. Only if it's hollow or not.

Typically rotten= hollow once it's far enough along.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Sounding test is worthless unless the boat is completely rotted away or you are highly experienced at examining boats. Drilling core samples from inside is a MUCH more reliable way to check for rot.

 

[tpenfield]

Yea, that’s my plan for tomorrow. It is dry docked right now so I going to drill a few holes and see what I find

Probably a 1/4" drill from the inside near the leaking area and a few places higher. Go about 1" deep (the transom is 2" thick). Take pictures and save samples of the shavings, noting if the are wet, dark, mushy, etc.

 

[tpenfield]

Also, if you have access to an infrared camera, those are effective in identifying wet/rotted areas within a hull. Another thing that you can do is use a fairly inexpensive probe type moisture meter and just drill slightly through the fiberglass coating rather than deeper into the transom, so that the probes can touch the core material.



Also an IR temperature probe may be useful as wet/rotted areas of a hull tend to stay colder than surrounding areas as the morning temperature rises.

the list of possibilities includes a failed transom seal or even a loose mounting bolt, which are much less expensive to fix. So, that is why you want to verify what a mechanic may be telling you. (not sure what amount of diagnosis has been done or if a marine moisture meter was used on the hull/transom).

It is best to know for yourself before proceeding with any amount of repair work.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Typically rotten= hollow once it's far enough along.

The difference is 20 years after its too rotten to use will the are ve hollow

 

[todhunter]

Hollow definitely = rotten. But definitely rotten does not always = hollow. Most of the time tests like "sounding" or looking for flex while standing on the drive are crude and don't tell the full story. Rot is a cancer, and these tests only detect the very end-stage of the disease. If the glass is thick enough, it will sound solid regardless of what is (or isn't) behind it. I experienced this in my rebuild.

 

[kcassells]

Let us know how you make out. Pics pics pics

 

[Monterey276]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Just wanted to share the rest of this story. After drilling a couple holes I’ve found that it is definitely wet and at the beginning stages of rot but it’s actually not terribly bad yet. I don’t have any stress cracks or the interior glass beginning to delaminate. I had a mechanic pull the engine and crank down the bolts but that only slowed the leak down temporarily. (Another indicator of it getting squishy in there). He says that there are spots he could see the plywood core between the inner and outer transom assembly and it didn’t look bad at all. My plan for the fall is to wire and plumb in a backup bilge pump totally independent from the primary pump. I’m going to pull the drive off and look for any spots water may be seeping through and put some 5200 around the outside transom assembly. It obviously is going to have to be fixed correctly within the next few seasons but I don’t think it’s as bad as I was initially told. I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos recently about rotten transoms and mine isn’t even close to that. Also, it doesn’t look like too bad of a job, I’ll do some research and be ready to tackle it myself a few seasons from now.

 

[Scott Danforth]

good luck, I would personally fix the transom this winter