It's actually very common for the wood to rot away and the thin glass cover to deform.

The '84 deck was already at a self-bailing height. No reason to raise it.
Your going to be a lot lighter without the cap so you will sit higher in the water also.

Also, without the cap, your gunnel height is already going to be 4" lower so raising the deck puts you at knee caps I imagine...

Thanks for the advice skunk. I might ditch the idea of the bracket even though this will be a mainly spearfishing boat. Since im doing everything myself I would hate to mount it wrong and ruin the ride. Im running strings across the hull and measuring down to the existing stringers in order to record the height for the new ones. Is this a good idea or is there a better way?

Thanks,
Z

Got some work done on the boat yesterday. Pulled the back part of the cap last night and grinded the gelcoat that was on the inside part of the transom. Its funny how the factory gelcoated one side off the inside transom and not the other. Ill be putting another layer of 1708 on the insde because the outter skin seems very thin and their are some parts where the skin has been piereced exposing some wood.

Well the transom was rotted in most spots. Im going the pourable transom route for this project (Brand Recommendations are greatly appreciated). Im guessing its easier to remove the wood when its rotted. Ive also heard that a chainsaw is the best route for removal?

My buddy has this same boat and I cant remember if his came with a 25" transom or a 20". I measure this one and its 20". Im assuming that's why it has that notch on the transom. Ill be raising that also.

Thanks,
Z
Attachment 6434

Attachment 6435

Attachment 6436

search tags for transom repair.
Just did this last season....see Youtube links in my signature.

Electric chain saw...YES!!!! Highly recommended!!!

the name out there for pourable are Arjay/Nidacore/CarbonCore. best as i can tell Carbon Core is the latest name for the same product. Could not find anyone selling the other two.
They were in Virginia but gave me a name of a distributor in NY. See other posts for details.

There is another product called Seacast I think? Thicker material with chopped glass in it. They were in Florida....$$$$$$shipping.

from Youtube videos, I thought the CarbonCore poured better.

Awesome! Thanks so much! Video was very helpful!

Thanks,
Z

Skunk, I just watched the video, awesome job. Don't know how I missed it before. I'm sure I'm looking a transom job in the future, this is a big help. I was thinking of cutting mine across the deck at the rear of the rod boxes. My fuel tank is located right by the splash well. But then, I'd have to paint the whole cap. I like you idea better

Thanks again

Definitley you don't want to cut the deck.

In hind sight, you could do the job without going thru the lids. Just keep all cuts inside the motorwell. A little less room but doable.

What kind of numbers are you getting with your 140 suzuki Skunk?

Thanks,
Z