Transom wood??

drewmitch44

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Jun 26, 2005
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Im buying the wood for my transom today and i dont know what thickness to get? Also i see some people use 2 pieces of 3/4 and thats is it, and some folks use 3 pieces, combination of 1/2-3/4-1/2. What should i do? I am going to have to hang a 115 yamaha on it. I dont know if its better to use 2 or 3 pieces. I dont think that i will be using PT ply just cause i dont have tome to dry it. I know to rotate the grain from piece to piece but not sure how thick the transom can be. I have used the search feature but there is a LOT of threads that are 7-8 pages long and after reading through them they dont have the info i need so i decided to just ask the question here. Thanks a lot for any help you guys can give me!
 

Bondo

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Re: Transom wood??

Ayuh,.....

Most boats have a 2" transom,... How you get there is up to you.....

Btw,...
There's No Reason to alternate the Grain of Plywood,.... It's Already Done for you.....
 

drewmitch44

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Re: Transom wood??

Thats right! If its 4-ply each of the ply's are different. I forgot that. Thanks a lot! 2 Inches though thats what i was trying to find out! Thanks a lot. Is there some transom's that is greater than 2"? Im just trying to get the best transom that i can get whyle i have everything ripped apart. Thanks a lot! That 2" is what i was looking for!
 

Bondo

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Re: Transom wood??

Ayuh,.... Most I/Os Require 2",... + or - 1/8".....

And,....
You'd be hard pressed to get the Clamps of most Outboards over anything Bigger......
 

drewmitch44

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Re: Transom wood??

Is that the thickness of the wood or the thickness of the wood, inner skin, and outer skin all combined? Im wondering what thickness the wood needs to be. I have to buy the wood today if im going to get started on it tomorrow. Im off tomrrow and i would like to get started on it. Im just now sure what thickness i need the wood to be. So im not sure if you mean the whole thing needs to be 2" or the wood needs to be 2" and then the cap inside glass and outside glass add to that 2"?
 

Bondo

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Re: Transom wood??

Ayuh,.... I'm talking Totals,.......
 

drewmitch44

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Re: Transom wood??

ok well i guess i got a lot to figure out then. I was just kinda of wondering what people commonly ues for their transom's. I guess ill try 3/4-3/4 to give me 1 1/2. Just was wondering if there was a way to get more strength than just 2 pieces of 3/4 ply. Thanks a lot bond-o im guessing that the clamp on most outboard is set up for 2" then. Thanks again.
 

tashasdaddy

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Re: Transom wood??

you can get more strength by running the grain on one piece the opposite of the other piece.
 

lundnisswa

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Mar 2, 2008
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Re: Transom wood??

I will be cutting transom halves soon.

Could you explain how to get the grain to go in different directions when the Transom is wider than four feet, not much choice on how to cut the halves.

At best a person could place the pattern diagonally on one piece, and parallel on the other, or am I missing something here?

Thanks
Lund
 

peacekeeper6

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Apr 25, 2005
Messages
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Re: Transom wood??

i just did this and just got the glass together last night. It was quite easy, i just cut the pieces the only way i couldfit it on the board and it seems stiff as a rock. i woulnt worry much, i just used 2 3/4 inch pieces fits great.
 

Coors

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Dec 8, 2006
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Re: Transom wood??

Every ply in the plywood runs in a different direction- therefore the name plywood.
 

catfighter

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Aug 11, 2009
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Re: Transom wood??

you can get more strength by running the grain on one piece the opposite of the other piece.

I believe this is correct. a 4-ply piece of plywood has 4 long-grain sheets with 3 short-grain pieces in-between; both sides have the grain running long-ways. Therfore, if you're going to stack your pieces (and you can get one piece of transom out of 48" of board), then it's best to alternate the way tashasdaddy says.
 

andgott

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Sep 2, 2009
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Re: Transom wood??

I had to use 3/8" because I had a pretty extreme curve to the transom that needed to be replicated, and thicker ply just wouldn't do it. My transom was just about 1 1/2" (it's only a 16 foot boat), so I'll be using 4 layers of the 3/8 to get there. I've already got 3 in, one more to go!

Have fun!
 
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