Any Transom experts here. I have a Transom Rebuilding Question.

[todhunter]

I used 1 oz of MEKP to 1 quart of resin.

That's about 3%....pretty stout. Surprised it didn't kick really fast on you.

 

[1985 Century Mustang]

That's about 3%....pretty stout. Surprised it didn't kick really fast on you.

It didn't, maybe because of the colder temps here currently, last nite it went to the mid 50s. I just put a heater in the boat, Set it to 70°

 

[1985 Century Mustang]

The transom cured nice. I'm going to purchase empty caulking tubes, I'll use it with the peanut butter resin mixture to get to the hard reached areas to fillet. It should work decent, your thoughts.

 

[Chris51280]

just be prepared to have lots of acetone at hand for cleanup. depending how fast your work time is, it can be a problem. the mixing, filling, assemble with the gun, in my opinion, you already need some smaller wood stir to mix and then fill the tube. why not use that wood stir to fill the voids. It will be full enough and be covered over with 1708. Even little voids will not be the worst. I only know that the resin will stick to anything and once it kicks, forget about cleaning your stuff. your gun will be all caked up within 20-30min

 

[1985 Century Mustang]

just be prepared to have lots of acetone at hand for cleanup. depending how fast your work time is, it can be a problem. the mixing, filling, assemble with the gun, in my opinion, you already need some smaller wood stir to mix and then fill the tube. why not use that wood stir to fill the voids. It will be full enough and be covered over with 1708. Even little voids will not be the worst. I only know that the resin will stick to anything and once it kicks, forget about cleaning your stuff. your gun will be all caked up within 20-30min

I think it will be easier with a caulking gun loaded with the resin peanut butter mix. I have some deeper and hard to reach areas where I need to get in all the slots and gaps., hence making a nice bead using the gun. The gun I think will fillet it in much better also. A stick won't work for me and will become messier I think.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Personally, I'd just slap some PB in there with a 3" putty knife and then smooth the fillet using a large spoon. (Buy one at the Dollar Store.) I suppose a caulking tube would work, but that sounds like a messy pain in the behind to me.

One helpful tip for smoothing fillets: after you have shaped the fillet, but before it kicks off, use a chip brush and brush some catalyzed resin over the fillet. It smooths out the craggies (which cause air bubbles under your tabbing) without sanding. It can save you hours of time getting the fillets smooth enough to be tabbed over.

 

[1985 Century Mustang]

To get the correct and precise angle to drill out the gimball holes, in the new transom, I just purchased this angle finder. I'll let you all know how it works out for me.

This video really helped me out tremendously.

 

[JASinIL2006]

To get the correct and precise angle to drill out the gimball holes, in the new transom, I just purchased this angle finder. I'll let you all know how it works out for me.

This video really helped me tremendously.

View attachment 398400

I have one of those for my table saw. They work great.

 

[1985 Century Mustang]

A little off topic watch this imbecile almost kill his friends on his boat...what an A hole.

 

[todhunter]

I wouldn't waste my money or time trying to load empty caulking tubes. It'll be frustrating, messy, and cost more than the alternative. I highly recommend getting some Wilton 16" decorating bags - probably available at your grocery store. These work so much better than zip-lock bags with the corner cut off, as they have a more acute angle than the 90-degree corner of a zip-lock bag. This makes them easier to hold, they fit into a narrower space, and the PB moves to the tip much easier when squeezing. Plus, they'll cost pennies vs. the caulk tubes.

To load, I would put a new bag in a large cup and fold the opening of the bag over the rim of the cup. Dump in the PB, lift the bag out of the cup, twist the back, cut the tip, and you're ready to go.

 

[1985 Century Mustang]

I wouldn't waste my money or time trying to load empty caulking tubes. It'll be frustrating, messy, and cost more than the alternative. I highly recommend getting some Wilton 16" decorating bags - probably available at your grocery store. These work so much better than zip-lock bags with the corner cut off, as they have a more acute angle than the 90-degree corner of a zip-lock bag. This makes them easier to hold, they fit into a narrower space, and the PB moves to the tip much easier when squeezing. Plus, they'll cost pennies vs. the caulk tubes.

To load, I would put a new bag in a large cup and fold the opening of the bag over the rim of the cup. Dump in the PB, lift the bag out of the cup, twist the back, cut the tip, and you're ready to go.

Thanks I already ordered the blank caulking tubes, 3 for $10 free shipping. If it runs into any issues will definitely try the bags. I really appreciate the info.

 

[1985 Century Mustang]

The empty caul container worked out really amazing. I mixed the peanut butter in a ziploc bag in a coffee container. I then cut a slot on the ziploc, and squeezed it into the empty caulking tube.

 

[Drivewayboater2]

The transom cured nice. I'm going to purchase empty caulking tubes, I'll use it with the peanut butter resin mixture to get to the hard reached areas to fillet. It should work decent, your thoughts.

View attachment 398396View attachment 398398

great Progress. FWIW
I recommend doing some more grinding.( at least 4 or 5 inches ) Fiberglassing over gel coat will not make good adhesion when you get to tabbing in your transom.

 

[1985 Century Mustang]

I'm almost at a finalization, I filleted in the transom today. Tomorrow I may start fiberglassing the transom. I have to keep a heater in the boat overnight and covered to get the resin to dry properly. Temps in Low 60s at nite causing slow drying. Also the rains no help either. We have had our share here in NY.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Should be fine. I 'glassed during the winter in a garage heated with space heaters. You resin will kick off fine. Keep up the progress!

 

[1985 Century Mustang]

Question, I have some areas that didn't cure properly on the peanut butter. Can I spray some mekp over it or use a small paint brush over it so it could harden.

 

[1985 Century Mustang]

I put my first chopstran layer down, and I have some clumps of CSM, is this normal? It's circled in red.

 

[Drivewayboater2]

Not really..did you use a fiberglass metal roller? Using that tool levels out resin, evens out the clumps and gets rid of air bubbles trapped under the csm

I’m no expert but I did a ton of research while doing my transom. couple other things to consider.
you could have started by tabbing in your edges first. Laying a 6” layer of glass all the way around your transom. Then laying the complete layer over the transom. Followed by another layer and another layer. when it’s all said and done you should have at least 6” of csm making the turn from your transom to the hull.


For instance here is a pic of my bulkhead behind the fuel tank. You can see how far I ground away the gelcoat revealing the original polyester resin.



Here’s another of my transom




Can’t tell in your pic. You should have sanded and ground away the gel coat as i mentioned in post 113. fiberglass resin doesn‘t adhere well to gel coat. You need to have the best bond on your new transom.

 

[Chris51280]

did you apply resin to the wood first and let it soak in? let it dry first. then apply the csm with resin. the wood sucks all the resin out of the csm