Removing a non-rotted transom

[Reinell-Terry]

Just wondering if anyone has advice on removing a non-rotted transom without damaging the hull? Some damn fool (me) installed the transom without glassing it first. I'm worried without glassing it, it won't stand the test of time.

 

[Scott Danforth]

lets start from the beginning

what type of boat?

what were the steps you did, and what were the steps you didnt do?

 

[Reinell-Terry]

It's a 1974 Reinell tri hull. I replaced the transom, stringers and floor without glassing anything. The plan was to just use it for the season then offload it. I kind of fell in love with it so want it done right. I have removed the floor and stringers because they were already swelling from water damage and want to do it right from the hull up.

 

[Scott Danforth]

did you bond it to the hull and just not tab it, or did you not bond and not tab, or did you not bond, not tab and not glass it in? again, exactly what steps did you do

because if you just set stuff in the hull, its not attached to the hull. therefore added nothing to the structure of the hull.

 

[Reinell-Terry]

Apologies, I did not glass it before installing it. I did bond it to the hull with PL glue. Then tabbed it in with epoxy resin and boat cloth. Just along the edges, I did not cover the entire face of the transom with glass.

 

[Scott Danforth]

PL isnt strong enough to bond the transom to the outer skin.

you will have to pull out what you have and start over

 

[Reinell-Terry]

Oh that was my plan, just trying to figure out how to get it out without damaging the outer skin. 5 years ago there was a restoration on here of the same boat from d0b. I had planned to use it as a guide for mine but all the posts are blank now.

 

[Scott Danforth]

you may find that the PL isnt adhered.

on any post that you find with blank posts, flag them, and the Mod's can try to resurrect them. however if the pictures were done on hosing sites like webshots or photobucket, there may not be any way to resurrect.

 

[Reinell-Terry]

Will give that a try, thank you

 

[southkogs]

Reinell-Terry I see the topic you're talking about. We're working with it, but it's gonna' be a slow go based on the last one I had to fix like this.

 

[GA_Boater]

Reinell-Terry It is also a very low priority job since it is from 8 years ago. We have more pressing problems to work on. The photos I did see are the money-grubbing Photobucket pics, which we can't recover. Also it isn't a couple of posts, almost 180 are needing work.

You tore it apart once, so do the same thing. If you are trying to save the wood in the transom, that might be a lost cause if you PL'ed the plywood to the outer skin. What you could do is tab in and cover the exposed wood with cloth. Other than using resin to bond the wood to the outer skin, that's what Reinell did when the boat was built. They didn't wrap the wood with cloth and resin, which I assume you would like to do.

One thing to think about is waterproofing any holes through the wood for bolts, etc. classiccat has a method of doing that where he over-bores and tapers the holes and fills them with strengthened resin that we call peanut butter, then drills the holes to the proper size through the peanut butter plug.. That maybe hard to do if you can't get the wood out.

Is your boat an outboard or I/O?

And welcome aboard.

 

[Reinell-Terry]

There is really no need for the missing messages, it would just save me asking the same questions that had already been asked.
I dont plan on saving the old transom, i really want to do everything properly this time. I was planning to cut a new transom and cover it with CSM before installing. My worry is damaging the boats fiberglass when removing it.
I think i understand what you're saying in regards to the overboring. I saw a video where he did that for the drain. I hadn't thought of doing it for the motor bolts as well. Its a good idea.

 

[Scott Danforth]

you laminate the two pices of 3/4" ply together with tite-bond 3 to make the core

you put in place and mark all your thru-hull locations

you pull out, then you cut out the key-hole and use a 2" hole saw, drill the center of every thru-hull out

you then use a tile trowel and a full bucket of PB, and you smear the inside of the hull skin and the back side of the transom core. you then put in place and clamp with the clamps you had to make to clamp in place (in the stickies)

as you squish out the PB, you make your fillets, etc. you can also fill the 2" holes you made prior

once the PB cures, you remove your clamps, fill in any areas with PB that you need, and then you tab in your transom

then you skin your transom on the inside

then when that is done, you drill your stuff thru from the outside.

No need to cover with CSM prior. Just need to follow the steps in the stickies.

 

[Reinell-Terry]

Thanks for the advice. For the 2" holes, you fill those with the PB as well?

 

[GA_Boater]

Back to outboard or I/O? You don't want to hole saw 2" holes around a keyhole.

Don't worry about asking questions, that's why we're here.

 

[Reinell-Terry]

It's a johnson outboard. The keyholes are for the trailer tie downs?

 

[GA_Boater]

No - Keyholes are for I/O's. That's why I asked. Sorry if I missed it in an earlier post.

The peanut butter bungs are for any hole through the transom. All they do is eliminate metal to wood contact in case moisture gets around a bolt. I Just threw it out there for consideration.

 

[82rude]

Is there a reason im not catching here that you cant simply coat the inside transom with 2 part epoxy.My inside transom has survived 15 plus year with only cheap paint and I defy anybody to find any rot anywhere.

 

[gazza2007au]

Easiest way to remove a solid non rotted transom is to use a electric router with the correct bit lay the router on its side set the correct depth and just hog it all out

 

[Reinell-Terry]

82rude The wood on the transom is swelling from water absorption. If I am going to do it right I'd rather start fresh and do it all right.