Hey guys, I've always wanted a bass boat and recently stumbled on an elderly woman who sold me her Bomber Sportsman by Fiberking (unsure of year) w/ trailer for $100.00. The boat has a 50HP 1974 Johnson outboard and I recently took it to the mechanic at the marina who advised that the compression was good and he was able to get the engine to turnover using the electric start. The actual boat was dirty as hell and had been sitting for a good 10yrs without being used. Well, I cleaned the boat as best I could, ripped the carpet and rotted seats, and gave the boat a once over (although the pics would suggest otherwise). I'm clueless when it comes to boats as I've never owned one, but came to this website to try to educate myself on repairs.
I found the transom to be rotted out from the top to about 8 inches down. Today I removed the engine and top plate and begin digging in at the rot. I referred to this website and attempted to remove the skin on the interior of the transom to no avail. Using a skill saw and grinder w/ cutting plate, cutting the transom from the interior turned out to be extremely difficult as the wood seemed very dense after the rot stopped. In order to cut the inner skin, I cut the splashwell off and I'm not sure if this was supposed to be done. Anyhow, I was unable to properly remove the inner-skin so I researched a little bit more and found that although not suggested, you could cut the transom out from the back and glass it all back in? I also heard some hollow spots toward the rear and hacked up some of the deck like an idiot...
Well because I'm impatient, that's exactly what i did. I've attached pics and am begging for help! Is this is a lost cause? I just need this boat to be functional as I will be using it to fish on ponds, lakes, and rivers. Does all the transom wood have to come out? Did i cut far enough?
Anways...any insight would be greatly appreciated
Zac
I found the transom to be rotted out from the top to about 8 inches down. Today I removed the engine and top plate and begin digging in at the rot. I referred to this website and attempted to remove the skin on the interior of the transom to no avail. Using a skill saw and grinder w/ cutting plate, cutting the transom from the interior turned out to be extremely difficult as the wood seemed very dense after the rot stopped. In order to cut the inner skin, I cut the splashwell off and I'm not sure if this was supposed to be done. Anyhow, I was unable to properly remove the inner-skin so I researched a little bit more and found that although not suggested, you could cut the transom out from the back and glass it all back in? I also heard some hollow spots toward the rear and hacked up some of the deck like an idiot...
Well because I'm impatient, that's exactly what i did. I've attached pics and am begging for help! Is this is a lost cause? I just need this boat to be functional as I will be using it to fish on ponds, lakes, and rivers. Does all the transom wood have to come out? Did i cut far enough?
Anways...any insight would be greatly appreciated
Zac
