To pod or not to pod?

[junglerat007]

I have a 17 foot Marlin Glasscraft, with a semi rotten transom. I got the whole boat and motor for free. Spent 500$ on getting the motor tuned and working. It had a blown stator and the guy before me had used Dryer cable from a house to power it from the battery. Now I see that the transom is getting a little rotten. Have thought about getting another boat, but all the ones in my price range will probably be in similar shape. The boat has no other problems and can out perform a lot of other newer boats with bigger motors. Have done a circle around a striper while it was full out with a 90 hp Yamaha 4 stroke. I have an 88 65hp commercial evinrude. I have been toying with the idea of taking the low transom I have, that constantly is taking water in because of where the cables come out. I want to raise the transom to the top of the gunwales and pod it. I have been looking at building a fiberglass pod and putting the motor 18" back and a bit higher. Some have said it would be fine. My Father an engineer tells me the boat wont work right due to it flipping since I have moved the pivot point back and it will do catwalks or worse. I want to believe that a pod will solve all my problems. From the water splashing in to repowering down the road with out redrilling my transom. Might be able to get an aluminum pod but that is a dream. Would like to cut out the low transom gut, ie the part above where my gas tanks are and have 12 more inches in my boat. Would put a bow mounted gas tank in or maybe an in floor, depends what is available. Thoughts or guidance would be appreciated. PS someone out there please prove my Dad wrong.

 

[sphelps]

Other than a rotted transom what are the problems you are trying solve ?
Some have had success with a pod and others have not . Pics would be helpful .. I was tempted to do the same thing to mine but I chickened out ...

 

[junglerat007]

No Title

In the photos you will see the space I want to recover and the shallow transom I want to get rid of. Would like to reinforce the transom through over engineering and laminating 3 3/4' plywood making it super strong and then mounting a pod on the back. This will give me more room in the boat and hopefully less water coming in the boat. Bilge pumps are great but no one wants there battery dying because of it. This fix should raise the transom over a foot and help me move the motor back. That way when it comes time to repower the boat I only have to fix the holes in the pod and not the transom.

 

[junglerat007]

No Title

In the photos you will see the space I want to recover and the shallow transom I want to get rid of. Would like to reinforce the transom through over engineering and laminating 3 3/4' plywood making it super strong and then mounting a pod on the back. This will give me more room in the boat and hopefully less water coming in the boat. Bilge pumps are great but no one wants there battery dying because of it. This fix should raise the transom over a foot and help me move the motor back. That way when it comes time to repower the boat I only have to fix the holes in the pod and not the transom.

 

[zool]

Hi jungler, I suppose you could skip the pod and build yourself an almost full transom , smaller splashwell,and use a jackplate...you might be able to compromise with your dads pivot issue, and solve the engine height thing.

http://forums.iboats.com/filedata/fetch?id=7060533&d=1335814255

 

[sphelps]

This is what I was thinking of doing with all the main support poured with seacast .

I still wonder sometimes how it would have worked out ...

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

IMO...Build a full transom, make the splashwell smaller (but be sure to include knees for transom bracing), and use a jackplate. Also... you should be just fine with only 2 layers of 3/4" marine plywood for the transom.

 

[jigngrub]

I suspect you have more problems than just a rotten transom.

When you tear out your transom you'll probably find you have saturated foam adding weight to your boat that makes the boat sit lower in the water and the reason your boat takes on water.

You may also find you have rotten stringers to go along with the transom and wet foam.

 

[Woodonglass]

In all my years and all my research on this subject, I've never seen a pod on a boat under 18ft. There's prolly a good reason for that. I didcouraged Sphelps from doing it on his boat and I'm going to do the same on yours. Your Dad being an Engineer has an innate sense about these things. You'd do well to "Key In" on that! Wisdom is something to be respected!! A New Transom and Splashwell Design with a JackPlate makes MUCH more sense for a boat of your size and design than a Pod. You'd do well to trust your good ole' Dad on this one!!!!!