Have a Sears Gamefisher flatbottom jon boat that I would like to get on the water. From the pictures you can see that the transom plywood has completely rotted away. There was a keystone shaped piece on the outside of the transom and about a 5" strip of plywood running along the top of the inside of the transom. It appears that the plywood was held in place by, some sort of, long rivets. I'm assuming that I will have to remove the rivets, even for the bottom bracket on the inside, and replace them with nuts, washers and bolts. My first question is what type of bolts should I use to attach the wood to the transom. I've seen different types (carriage, pan heat, etc) mentioned thru various other websites. Second, I assume the head, of the bolt, goes on the outside of the transom. Third: the bottom of the keystone shaped piece of plywood would be below the waterline. Including the bolts. Won't water infiltrate between the plywood and transom? Should I seal around the edges with silicon or something similar? And lastly, can solid wood be used instead of plywood? If properly sealed. I have leftover stair treads that are 1 inch. It seems like it would be a lot less trouble to use this rather than gluing two pieces of 1/2 inch plywood together. Thanks in advance
