Transom Fell off my 2007 21 foot Suntracker Fishin Barge HELP! Need Ideas to remount

[Mrsuntracker]

We left to go to the lake and when we got there i went to unstrap the boat and much to my surprise the transom,gas tank and motor are just held on with two bolts in the front and the yellow strap under the transom! Wow! I called several boat places and they do not do this type of repair. Also went by a metal fabricator and they would not take on this scope of work! Well i guess that just leaves me and hopefully the help from others on here to rebuild this sad pontoon. Thanks for any help

 

[smokeonthewater]

Find another metal fabricator.

Pull the outboard yourself and anything else that will ease the process.

This is not a big job but needs to be done right.

 

[Mrsuntracker]

Thanks I plan on checking some more shops and we took the motor off at the lake before we came home. The marina down at the lake lifted it with a tow truck and even put it on a factory stand to bring home! I feel like I can fix this myself by just adding a ton of new braces way better then the factory set-up. I am just not sure what to squeeze up there yet!

 

[Mrsuntracker]

will post more pictures

 

[NYBo]

This is NOT an area you want to jury-rig. Have the braces properly welded. Welding aluminum is more difficult than welding steel.

 

[Mrsuntracker]

Yeah I will only do this work if I feel 100% confident. Everything is just bolted in no welds holding transom to struts. The welds that broke are light welds on the top of the flange? and they broke because the bolts did not go threw the c channel on the bottom side. I will take a picture of the channel underneath tomorrow.

 

[H20Rat]

I feel like I can fix this myself by just adding a ton of new braces way better then the factory set-up. I am just not sure what to squeeze up there yet!

Unless you are a master aluminum welder, you should absolutely not think about this one! That isn't a hard repair for a good machine shop, if you clear as much out of the way before at least.

 

[Mrsuntracker]

By no means am i welder but my thought was to bolt some type of l-channel to whats broken and then add some type of square or channel to the areas in between the supports. and bolting in the same manor as factory but using thicker/better material and more bolts. In my opinion the factory struts are not even close to what i think should be holding up what my guess would be 700#s

 

[oldjeep]

That reminds me, I need to look at my dads fishin barge again. They don't use any washers on those motor pods and the aluminum is thin. When you fix it I'd use a piece of flat at as a "washer" to further spread out the load.

 

[Silvertip]

We left to go to the lake and when we got there i went to unstrap the boat and much to my surprise the transom,gas tank and motor are just held on with two bolts in the front and the yellow strap under the transom! Wow! I called several boat places and they do not do this type of repair. Also went by a metal fabricator and they would not take on this scope of work! Well i guess that just leaves me and hopefully the help from others on here to rebuild this sad pontoon. Thanks for any help

Little confused by your yellow strap statement. You didn't know the strap was there? And by the looks of the prop, the transom probably came loose when the engine hit a rock. I don't think we are getting the full story here. Did someone else operate this boat before you hitched up to it.???

 

[JimS123]

Trackers are not the cadillac of boats, but if that came apart by itself (didn't hit a rock, etc) there was something seriously wrong with the build. I would be on the phone to their customer service and demand they look at the boat and fix it.

 

[Tnstratofam]

Were you using a transom saver? Or are they a bad idea on a pontoon?

 

[oldjeep]

Trackers are not the cadillac of boats, but if that came apart by itself (didn't hit a rock, etc) there was something seriously wrong with the build. I would be on the phone to their customer service and demand they look at the boat and fix it.

Not the first picture posted of that type of failure on a tracker pontoon. Someone posted an identical failure last year.

 

[oldjeep]

Here is the one I was thinking of.
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/gene...s/597495-transom-broke-off-suntracker-pontoon

 

[Bamaman1]

This is the second such failure I've read about with this same brand in the last week.

The easiest thing is to order and install a new transom: http://www.u-fabboats.com or USAPontoon.com Just Google pontoon boat kits and you'll find a number of suppliers of pontoon boat parts.

 

[smokeonthewater]

The yellow straps are the stern tie down straps... The prop is beat up from bouncing on the road while towing...

O/P all of the cracked parts need to be replaced if you wand to do a bolt on repair.

 

[jbcurt00]

We left to go to the lake and when we got there i went to unstrap the boat and much to my surprise the transom,gas tank and motor are just held on with two bolts in the front and the yellow strap under the transom!

The yellow straps are the stern tie down straps...

Are they MrSuntracker?

 

[Mrsuntracker]

Little confused by your yellow strap statement. You didn't know the strap was there? And by the looks of the prop, the transom probably came loose when the engine hit a rock. I don't think we are getting the full story here. Did someone else operate this boat before you hitched up to it.???

I use the yellow straps to tie down my boat. I always criss cross them like that. The boat was in tow when the transom fell off. It was not in the water all the damage to prop and scag are from the pavement.

 

[Mrsuntracker]

That reminds me, I need to look at my dads fishin barge again. They don't use any washers on those motor pods and the aluminum is thin. When you fix it I'd use a piece of flat at as a "washer" to further spread out the load.

I would do so in a hurry! In no way to me is there enough support for the motor

 

[oldjeep]

I would do so in a hurry! In no way to me is there enough support for the motor

His only gets towed a half mile twice a year, but after that last thread I saw on this, I try to remember to inspect it periodically.