Do i have wood in my 99 Stratos cracked transom

[Hunter_1987]

I recently purchased a 99 stratos 285 pro elite with a 175hp evinrude on it. It looks like the transom is cracked at the top right on the outside by the cap and it has some vertical cracks on the inside of the transom where the bolts are as well, but no cracks on the outer skin of the transom where the motor bolts on at all. My question is does anyone know if this model boat has wood in the transom or not because i was told it was all composite, and does anyone think this would be a good candidate for just pulling the motor cap off and gutting it with a chainsaw and seacast the transom or would it be better to decap the whole boat and do it that way?? I think the cracks got there from use not rot, i need to get this fixed asasp because it is already flexing on me. Thanks..

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Do i have wood in my 99 Stratos cracked transom

late 1990's didnt have wood......that doesnt real help does it. pull one motor bolt and take a look to see if its wood

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Do i have wood in my 99 Stratos cracked transom

I recently purchased a 99 stratos 285 pro elite with a 175hp evinrude on it. It looks like the transom is cracked at the top right on the outside by the cap and it has some vertical cracks on the inside of the transom where the bolts are as well, but no cracks on the outer skin of the transom where the motor bolts on at all. My question is does anyone know if this model boat has wood in the transom or not because i was told it was all composite, and does anyone think this would be a good candidate for just pulling the motor cap off and gutting it with a chainsaw and seacast the transom or would it be better to decap the whole boat and do it that way?? I think the cracks got there from use not rot, i need to get this fixed asasp because it is already flexing on me. Thanks..

What do you mean by 'Flexing' .. is your trans flexing ?

If it was a composite trans..then what composite ? I would say it would be hard to chainsaw a fully composite trans.

As suggested above..find out if you indeed have a composite trans or wood core trans..then we go from there ok ..

YD.

 

[Hunter_1987]

Re: Do i have wood in my 99 Stratos cracked transom

Ok, from what i've been told by numerous people my transom has no wood in it plus i pulled a bolt and couldnt see any so it looks like chainsawing it out to seacast it would be next to impossible. Anybody have any ideas on what would be the best way to go about fixing this? The crack is on top of the transom by the right side of the cap and i have two vertical cracks on the inside of the transom by the bolts, no cracks on the outside skin around the motor.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Do i have wood in my 99 Stratos cracked transom

ive seen this on other bass boats where the hp of the motor twists the transom then it cracks at the top a foot to the left side it gets worse when it cracks both side then starts cracking the inner transom. not sure if its the skin or the transom itself when you look at the crack. i think the problem with stratos and others (rangers) is theres no surport between the stringers and the transom they only meet at the bottom few inchs of the transom and then there not glassed for surport. i think this is a bass boats way of max storage as the rear is always full of batterys, fuel tank, oil tank etc etc. what ever the material is theres a tool that will cut it. the big question is what is the correct way to fix it.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Do i have wood in my 99 Stratos cracked transom

You might be able to just grind out the cracks and reglassing the repairs.

Got any pics ?

YD.

 

[Hunter_1987]

Re: Do i have wood in my 99 Stratos cracked transom

No i dont have any pics yet sorry. The boat is currently at the shop getting a flooding problem on the engine fixed. From what i talked to the Stratos reps about it looks like my boat has what is called a flex core transom on it, which means no wood and its not solid fiberglass either so maybe it would be something that could be dug out and Seacast poured in Idk? I'm afraid if i just glassed the cracks that it wouldnt be a long term repair. One thing i didnt mention is that this boat has a hydraulic transom jack on the motor which sets it back a good ways from the boat, does anyone know if these puts xtra stress on the transom or not?? Thanks

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Do i have wood in my 99 Stratos cracked transom

the power, weight etc all put strain on the transom and to be honest the transom was never thick enoght in the beginning when maxed out with a v6. if you dont use a trailer surport when towing thats also a huge strain on the transom.. 3m web site for nida-core use to offer a free sample for testing and if you phone seacast they might do the same thing so you can test the bonding limits of a new product to the old one. i dont see a problem cutting it out. the problem i see is that you will not fell or hear a diffrence once you hit the outer skin thus risking putting a hole in the skin. pictures of the area will help to decied what tools could be used and how much area you have in front of the transom to play with.