Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

[riskyboater]

So I finally fixed my engine after the starter jammed. The engine had a great warm up run and great compression numbers. I was excited for boating next weekend. I decided to change the outboard drain hole fittings on my 1998 Sunbird Neptune 212. Unfortunately my heart sunk when I took them off , stuck a screw driver into the wood and water started coming out.

The wood is hard, but soaked with water, I can't punch a hole with a screw driver. I started drilling holes from the top and itd the same thing, water started coming out through the drill bit. My fiberglass guy checked it out, and he is giving me 50/50 On lasting through the summer. He is highly recommended, he works on all of the boats in my boat yard. He said that for 1200-1500 he can rebuild it with composite materials.

I am wondering should I Git-Rot it now and run the summer. Or just fix it .???

Thanks for your advice !

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

Fix it

You can't probe EVERY part of the transom, so are the parts you aren't able to probe better or worse then the water logged mess you've found so far.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

What Setup are you running? Pics would help. How do you Boat? A lot of Tubing and skiing or just cruising? Any idea what caused the transom to get wet? Have you done a "Flex" Test to see how much the transom flexes. Generally speaking it needs to be replaced ASAP cuz the middle of the Lake is a VERY UNFORGIVING location and the costs involved with a sunken boat can be very pricey!!!!

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

,
I am wondering should I Git-Rot it now and run the summer. Or just fix it .???

Thanks for your advice !

Git-Rot is of no value in this repair.

If the wood is solid with no rot, then it could survive for a while longer, but we can't see or inspect it to tell you if that's the case, so most will error on the side of safety and say to replace it.

 

[riskyboater]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

Setup: 21Ft with 150 Johnson.

I decided to replace it, since I do alot of lake tubing and I do go out fishing at the Channel Islands. I have a 4 year old that comes with us to the lake so I decided that her safety is my top priority.

Cause of the damage: Plain and simple - BAD construction. No proper sealant in those drain tubes and the lower drain had wood exposed, so every time there was even a little amount of water in the bilge that water was soaking into the wood. Same with drain tubes, the wood was not sealed with epoxy and the sealant slowly deteriorated.


My fiberglass guy said that he can do the transom out of few different materials.
Any advice on composites ( No Wood!) would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

What do you think your fiberglass guy is going to find when he removes a portion of the rear deck to access the transom? Good stringers and dry foam (if your boat has foam)? I'm thinking if the transom wasn't constructed very well, the construction on the stringers isn't going to be that sporty either. We see a lot of shoddy factory stringer workmanship on this forum... and we see a lot of rotten stringers when the transom is rotten too.

As far as materials go, I don't trust composites. Most have to be sleeved at the engine mounting bolts to prevent crushing... and this is going to be as strong as wood, I don't think so!

I suggest Kiln Dried Pressure Treated CCA Plywood, it won't rot even if it gets wet and has a lifetime warranty:
3/4" Marine Treated Decking

You get the strength of wood and the no rot of composites and it's much cheaper than any of the composites, it's like a boat restorers dream come true.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

Composite Transoms are very pricey! As you noted the transom did not fail because it was made from wood. It failed because it was not maintained properly. My transom is 50+ years old and still going strong. If wood is encapsulated in resin and then cared for and maintained properly, it will last indefinitely. It's your boat and your call Seacast, Arjay, and NidaCore are the top 3 composites. Contrary to other comments the composites are very strong and pretty much crush proof. Tests show they are much stronger than equivalent plywood/fiberglass construction.

 

[redneck joe]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

would the 'replace or not' answer be the same with an I/O versus an outboard?

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

would the 'replace or not' answer be the same with an I/O versus an outboard?

Of course not. IO vs OB is a choice. Safely boating with your 4 year old, or anybody for that matter, isn't a choice - It's mandatory.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

Contrary to other comments the composites are very strong and pretty much crush proof. Tests show they are much stronger than equivalent plywood/fiberglass construction.

Ah yes, sleeving around the motor mounting bolts because the material is too strong... I should've know.

 

[riskyboater]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

Well I just talked to Tom from hydra sports and.... I am not going to sleep tonight. There is a big chance that the wood stringers are affected too. But the good news is that has boat had so many that he said we should be able to perform repairs ,if need be, without ripping the floor apart.

 

[redneck joe]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

Of course not. IO vs OB is a choice. Safely boating with your 4 year old, or anybody for that matter, isn't a choice - It's mandatory.

I was thinking more along the lines that the OB is mounted so that much more stress is applied to the transom, whereas the IO is mounted to floor stringers and that is what takes the bulk of the force?

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

I was thinking more along the lines that the OB is mounted so that much more stress is applied to the transom, whereas the IO is mounted to floor stringers and that is what takes the bulk of the force?

It's still of course not. An IO might not fall off the back like an OB, but the transom can leak like a sieve. MerCruisers and Volvo Pentas hang on the transom for support so in a drastic situation, a big hole can let water in. You might get away with running an IO longer, but if you ignore it you aren't protecting your passengers - The first rule of boating.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

Well I just talked to Tom from hydra sports and.... I am not going to sleep tonight. There is a big chance that the wood stringers are affected too. But the good news is that has boat had so many that he said we should be able to perform repairs ,if need be, without ripping the floor apart.

Hmmm...Not quite sure I understand this statement! How can stringers under the deck be repaired without removing the deck? I'll be staying tuned to see how this is explained.

 

[riskyboater]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

Woodonglass,

I think what he was saying is that if the small part of the stringer is wet, where its connected to the transom, that part can be repaired without ripping the floor. That how I understood him. I am by no means a boat building expert.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

Here's my problem...It's been my experience and from what I've seen here on the forum in the past 4 years that if a transom needs to be replaced, the stringers do to. Partial Stringer replacements do occur, but rarely. I'd be very skeptical and would need to have visual confirmation of this before I put my family at risk. How is he planning on replacing the transom without removing the deck? Is he going to cut the outer skin? This is one method of doing it but NOT one that I recommend or one that is commonly recommended here on the forum. Where are you located? Removing and replacing a 3 foot section of the rear deck would be my absolute bare minimum starting point to confirm ALL was well below deck. Especially with that big 150 hanging off the back.

 

[riskyboater]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

Yes, he was going to cut the outer skin. The boat has alot of removable panels on the back.



P.S. Not my picture, just took it of the internet for reference.

I was thinking of just opening up the stringers and seeing if they are ok. If its all rotten all the way up to the front, I will just take everything off of it and trash the thing! I can probably find a decent hull for a good price. If the stringers are ok I will fix the transom.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

Here's my problem...It's been my experience and from what I've seen here on the forum in the past 4 years that if a transom needs to be replaced, the stringers do to.

CONCUR !

Partial Stringer replacements do occur, but rarely. I'd be very skeptical and would need to have visual confirmation of this before I put my family at risk. How is he planning on replacing the transom without removing the deck? Is he going to cut the outer skin? This is one method of doing it but NOT one that I recommend or one that is commonly recommended here on the forum.

I think the reason sectioning off the back part of the "cap" is not commonly done is because most people find more rot in the stringers the further forward they probe. Also re-attaching the sectioned off piece in a seamless manner is nor easy.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

I was thinking of just opening up the stringers and seeing if they are ok. If its all rotten all the way up to the front, I will just take everything off of it and trash the thing! I can probably find a decent hull for a good price. If the stringers are ok I will fix the transom.

If you like the boat and are reasonably handy, this is a DIY capable project, as dozens here have demonstrated.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Transom - Repair or wait till fall ???

If, BIG IF, you decide to go with this guy, I'd get plenty of references, I'd personally Speak with these references. I'd personally lay Eyes on the boats that he's done to see the quality of his work. I'd have EVERYTHING down to the finest detail in Writing. And finally I'd do regular spot checks of all the work being done to ensure what he said he'd do was being done. Once again, I'm NOT a big fan of an Outer Skin removal to replace a transom. If he's going to use composites it's really not necessary.