Transom,Quick fix of...?

[delvel]

I do not have heated storage to do a winter restoration...therefor I want to do a patch job that will get me in the water befor winter sets in. If I like the boat I'll put more effort into it. I'm using a 73' 40HP evinrude(don't think it will over stress the boat)

The wood in the transom has some shallow dry rot at very bottom stern to hull joint( I can't push an ice pick in to deep befor it hits solid wood) the rest of the wood seems pretty solid except where some one did a patch job on the starboard inside upper corner adjcent to splash well. They also put a longitudinal board that ran under splashwell the whole width of the inner transom.

The glass all around the transom to hull seam is solid with no cracks. My thinking is to do an overlay patch of the exposed areas on outside the transom, bond a new inside longitudinal board under the transom reinforced to deck and splashwell, and patch over the inside upper starboard transom area and add a 1/4" piece of aluminum reinforcement to engine mount area.

Boat only had one drain plug on port side so alot of water just sat on starboard side( I'm going to install a starboard side drain plug. (which I also need advice on how to do).

I know the correct way is to put in a whole new transom...but have any of you guys done a quickie fix like I'm proposing ? What results can I expect?

[Helmar]

I am sure there has to be a way to do this but I can't think of any that would be easy to Undo when its time to replace it.
If you glass in the rear, then you have a mess to clean or try to grind off to give you a flat surface to start the lay up from the inside.

What I am seeing for the repair right now is one has to have a flat surface to repair the fiberglass transom.

On jobs like this were the glass is split, broken or whatever, one would have to put in the first transom panel. This would be clean the transom fiberglass as flat as possible, then glass the first panel and lay it in, Screw the transom to the first panel from the outside to get it to stick to the wood. Fair and fill the voids with a thick mix of glass resin, and then the small amount of filler needed to fill the screw holes.
Then start laying up the other transom panels to get up to 2.5 or more inches screwing each one to the first panel.

I guess you could glass the crap out of the back of her with glass matting and a thick mix of glass resin and when its time to replace the transom, then use a sawsall to cut out the thick areas that you had to fill into the voids in the wood.

Your going to need a pretty flat surface to start your first layup on is pretty much what has to happen.

I am sure others have some ideas...

band aid

Joe is right, don't put anything permanent on there that you will regret when ripping into the job later, to do it correctly.

Watching a Nascar race you will see that every damaged machine can go 200mph with duct tape holding it together. Throw some over your transom wounds, place a length of of 3" steel channel or angle under the clamps of your 40 horse on the inside and hit the water. You will not win any beauty contests, but you will feed your enthusiasm to get her done next spring.

Greg

[Marty Loken (Norseboater)]

Let 'er rip...

Greg's right--just make it structurally safe for now with an easily-removable fix and let 'er rip. With the approach suggested you won't tear the transom off the boat with a little 40hp...and you can do the complete job later, after finding out how much you like the boat.

- Marty

[ricphoto]

wholeheartedly agree with Greg and Marty...

Having just gone through a boat that I repaired the stringers, transom, new floor, new steering, new helm, foamed the bilge THEN hung the engine and went for my 1st test ride...and went oh sh*t!!!

what did I get myself into...she didn't ride anything like I had "expected" and boy was I depressed...

Luckily a few good people from here calmed me down and showed me that there were NEXT steps after that...dialing in the boat/motor load etc...we did some of that today and there was a remarkable difference (to the positive ;-)...now I'll return to the project with more enthusiasm and a more directed approach...

guess what I'm saying is follow their advice and cobble it together for now (safely) and find out if that's a boat you want to spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on...save yourself some of the anxiety I just went through and find out if you like the way it feels as well as the way it looks...

credit card bills are much easier to pay when you're sure that you are going to like the end result...

;-p

...Ric

[delvel]

The "Handy-Man's" best friend...Duct Tape!

Joe is right, don't put anything permanent on there that you will regret when ripping into the job later, to do it correctly.

Watching a Nascar race you will see that every damaged machine can go 200mph with duct tape holding it together. Throw some over your transom wounds, place a length of of 3" steel channel or angle under the clamps of your 40 horse on the inside and hit the water. You will not win any beauty contests, but you will feed your enthusiasm to get her done next spring.

Greg

After careful analysis I've decide to go for door # 3. Keep it simple and safe and get it into the H2O.

Thanks "Norseman" for your story it helped me clearify just what I'm trying to achieve here.

I've patched up the cracks now I'll mount engine and give it a spin.
If I like it, perhaps I'll pray for a heated garage and make a winter project out of it. If not there is always "Spring".

Thanks, I'll keep you all posted as progress continues.
Delvel1

[Helmar]

Now hide it with some white spray paint and your good for the season