Bent Transom on Lowe FS175, HELP!

[michaeloberg]

Hello,

In the past month I picked up a 2007 Lowe FS175. I noticed when I went to install a transducer plate on the starboard side of the rear of the boat, I couldn't find for the life of a me a flat 4x8 inch piece of aluminum on the boat in the area I wanted to put my transducers. So I ended up not thinking much about it, and mounted them without the transducer plate (Picture 5).


Then as I progressed to making the boat my own, I was looking at adding a panther kicker plate for my 9.9 Mercury ProKicker. I was planning on mounting the plate to the port side of the boat and noticed one of the bolts for the main engine all the way loose (Picture 1).
.

This led to the discovery of what I would call a bow in my lower transom, first picture (3 is port side, picture 4 is starboard side).

As you can see the port side is much worse but still noticeable on the starboard side as well. Now thinking back - this is why I had issues finding that surface area to mount my transducers. Would this be caused from that lower motor bolt not being tight on the port side? Or do I have major problems? Aren't Lowe boats free of wood in the transoms?

Here is the area I want to mount my kicker plate, looks flat and no noticeable issues.



I am absolutely sick to my stomach because I am not sure if this is a major issue or just need to tighten my motor bolts. The boat overall is is fantastic condition. Low hours, one owner and checks all the boxes for myself (fishing) and my wife and kids (pleasure boating). I love the wide beam and was about $25k less than the new Lund Crossover we were going to buy. I added $6,000 in electronics alone, not to mention a bimini top and every Railblaza track accessory they have.



Please be gentle and break it to me easy, can I still use this boat or is it to bad?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[The John]

May be worth a trip to your trusted local dealer to see if there is damage to the transom. If so it could be fixed, but I wouldnt want to be out on a body of water and have an issue.

 

[Scott06]

I dont think it is an issue as long as the wood if there is any inside the transom or what ever structural items are intact.
on a welded hull it would not surprise me if there were areas where there is moderate distortion from welding. Materials like aluminum and stainless tend to warp when welded.

Remember these are production built boats not show pieces.

i thought the fiberglass hull on my sea ray was fairly straight until i cut and buffed it. With a shine you can see all the factory waveyness in the fiberglass.

 

[Grub54891]

A friend of mine had a similar issue. What you can do is loosen the top channel, just take the screws out without removing the motor. Take a very long screwdriver or stiff wire, push it down through the screw hole. If it keeps going alot further than the screw length it means the wood is rotted. You may be able to see the wood from inside the boat, and prod around in there also. My friends boat looked very nice like yours, but the transom wood was rotted. I said I could replace it, wich involved removing the motor, the top cap, corners, and side gunnels to get goid acces. He to it to another person I know well, and they did as I suggested, now you can't tell it was ever worked on, turned out nice. It's not the end of the world. A few grand or less depending on the labor and materials. Then you will have a rig to be proud of.

 

[michaeloberg]

A friend of mine had a similar issue. What you can do is loosen the top channel, just take the screws out without removing the motor. Take a very long screwdriver or stiff wire, push it down through the screw hole. If it keeps going alot further than the screw length it means the wood is rotted. You may be able to see the wood from inside the boat, and prod around in there also. My friends boat looked very nice like yours, but the transom wood was rotted. I said I could replace it, wich involved removing the motor, the top cap, corners, and side gunnels to get goid acces. He to it to another person I know well, and they did as I suggested, now you can't tell it was ever worked on, turned out nice. It's not the end of the world. A few grand or less depending on the labor and materials. Then you will have a rig to be proud of.

From what I can tell is there is no wood at all in 2007 model year Lowe boat. According to the documentation I can find, all transoms are reinforced aluminum and the motor has a specific area where it is bolted to. The level when I put it next to the motor is 100 percent flush with the transom and when I look into the inspection hole in the back near the motor, there is nothing underneath this reinforced area of the boat, just aluminum sheeting. So now my thinking - it's all good, just concaved from being a 14 year old boat and possibly not using a proper transom saver. Waiting for ice to melt so I can take it out on the water. Does anyone know for certain if that is the case with 2007 Lowe boats, no wood in the transom? I certainly cannot find any.

Attached here is a picture with information from the product brochure from 2007 - Transom:


Here is kind of a split of the boat, you can see that inspection cover in front of the outboard, in there I can see all the way to the very bottom of the Hull. No wood that I can see unless it is sandwiched in there somewhere:



Here is a link to the brochure, the transom information is found under the Stringer bass boat section but assume this applies to their entire lineup? Thoughts?

https://www.loweboats.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2007-Fishboats.pdf

 

[Grub54891]

While there is a possibility there is no wood there. I find it hard to belive. Never saw one without. The thickness of your transom exceeds that .100 spec they show. Take out one of them screws and poke in there.

 

[ahicks]

Get the boat where you have good access to the back of it and stand on the area of the motor right above the prop while watching the transom. Maybe bob up and down a little. If you see a lot of/excessive flexing, there is little question your transom need some attention.

If you have DIY tendencies, do some research, and maybe have at replacing that plywood. It's a great DIY project with a pretty high success rate.

I had to have a little welding done to the last one I did to finish it up (an "all welded" hull). Got a little "schooling" from the welder in the process. The welder suggested that rather than go through all I had to do digging out all the old crap (mostly dust) out of there and replace it with the correct thickness of ply, I should have just removed the entire transom and let him build another - containing NO WOOD - for not a lot more than what I had spent putting it back to original. THAT WILL BE how we're going to do the next one for sure.... -Al

 

[Scott06]

From what I can tell is there is no wood at all in 2007 model year Lowe boat. According to the documentation I can find, all transoms are reinforced aluminum and the motor has a specific area where it is bolted to. The level when I put it next to the motor is 100 percent flush with the transom and when I look into the inspection hole in the back near the motor, there is nothing underneath this reinforced area of the boat, just aluminum sheeting. So now my thinking - it's all good, just concaved from being a 14 year old boat and possibly not using a proper transom saver. Waiting for ice to melt so I can take it out on the water. Does anyone know for certain if that is the case with 2007 Lowe boats, no wood in the transom? I certainly cannot find any.

Attached here is a picture with information from the product brochure from 2007 - Transom:
View attachment 333573

Here is kind of a split of the boat, you can see that inspection cover in front of the outboard, in there I can see all the way to the very bottom of the Hull. No wood that I can see unless it is sandwiched in there somewhere:View attachment 333576



Here is a link to the brochure, the transom information is found under the Stringer bass boat section but assume this applies to their entire lineup? Thoughts?

https://www.loweboats.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2007-Fishboats.pdf

The best way to verify there is no wood is to call lowe directly, otherwise from two different people you will get three different answers...

the .100” is the thickness of the aluminum sheet not the transom thickness...there will be areas where it is reinforced with bent up aluminum making a thicker sandwich Of material

 

[ahicks]

The best way to verify there is no wood is to call lowe directly, otherwise from two different people you will get three different answers...

the .100” is the thickness of the aluminum sheet not the transom thickness...there will be areas where it is reinforced with bent up aluminum making a thicker sandwich Of material

Or heavy wall alum. tubing...

 

[michaeloberg]

Or heavy wall alum. tubing...

I called LOWE today and they did verify there is wood in the transom of all of their Deep V boats. He mentioned that it is not a traditional piece as you would see from gunnel to gunnel in other boats and that it is just in the reinforced engine pod. He said the bend in the lower transom of the boat is because the previous owner likely didn't use a transom saver. He stated that because the reinforced part of the engine pod is straight not to be concerned but did say to invest in a good transom saver. For curiosity's sake, I took some pictures of what the inside of the "Engine Pod" looks like:

Inspection Hole:


Lower Engine Bolts from the Inside of the Reinforced Engine Pod:



Picture from underneath and inside of the Engine Pod, looking back up towards the rear deck. Notice you cannot see any wood at all in there - it is sandwiched between this enclosure and under the cap for the transom.


Any finally the plumbing:



Thanks for all of the help guys! Appears all is well but will be buying a transom saver and adding a kicker and plate

 

[Grub54891]

I knew there was wood in there. As I said before, my friends boat was as pretty as yours. But that wood was rotted. I'd still make sure its OK. Its easy to pull a screw and check

 

[roscoe]

I would also pull that motor mounting bolt that was loose, and check the wood in there.
That bolt should have been tight, and sealed with 3m 4200.
Water could have easily gotten in there.
May have done damage, maybe not.
Looks like the boat sat in dry storage most of its life.