Thoughts on my flexing transom
 

So I have had my '89 V for about a year now. When I bought it I tapped around on the transom and it sounded solid but I don't have a practiced ear for just how solid it should sound. In the spring I mounted trim tabs so I drilled into the transom and the wood was what I would call damp. It was darker in color that what you would expect but the moisture that you could detect with your fingers in the drill shavings was barely perceptible. At the time I said to myself "Oh well, its an old boat and I shouldn't be surprised. Hopefully its not too bad". I haven't given it much thought all season and it hasn't given me any reason to give it much thought.

So anyway, today we were trolling as slow as possible. I have a 200HP 1995 Merc EFI and although it rarely stalls at that slowest of slow speeds, it certainly isn't smooth. I was looking at it and assumed that the bouncing was mostly the motor mounts but I figured I would take a closer look and I now see that the transom is flexing slightly. I took a video which is at the following link. The camera shakes some so at some points the flex looks worse than it is. This is the first time I looked at it so I don't know if it has gotten worse in the year that I have owned it. I was thinking that I would measure deflection from neutral to full load by placing a ruler on top of the transom while the other end is butted against the front of the splash well but I may be done for the season as of today so that may have to wait until next spring. What do you guys think based on the video?

Assuming its not getting rapidly worse, I kind of want to keep an eye on it and live with it until I re-power in a few years. I don't run the boat particularly hard and have lived flex in other hulls over the years but would welcome your opinions.

Thanks as always,
John

Video here:
https://youtu.be/wg6yr0TZrc0

Definitely need a trasom job. Could always do the big metal plate thing to get you by.

I'm no expert but that looks like it's flexing pretty good.

That's a great engine. I have the same one. I love it. I would feel sad if your's ended up at the bottom. Reinforce it at the very least. (Big metal plates) But really, wet wood is never a good thing and flex is even worse. It may hold for the next ten years, or it may go tomorrow morning while fishing. Why take the chance?

I just scrapped (another) boat that I bought that had a transom that let go while the boat was being trailered home. Why the engine didn't wind up in the middle of Interstate 80 is beyond me. Still, that guys loss was my gain. I got an engine and tandem trailer for free after selling all the other things I stripped from the boat before scrapping it.

Two guys died last year in NJ when the transom on their boat let go and the boat sank. The moral of the story is don't let maintenance slip. If something needs repair DO IT!! Enough said.

I wouldn't let that go too long. Even reinforcement won't get you by forever and problem is that with a plate your transom will just keep rotting and rotting until it breaks loose. Not a good situation. I'd fix it.

I was afraid you guys would say that - but of course you are right. I'm still torn between a plate until I repower and just replacing the transom the right way this winter. I'm not sure that I want to tackle a transom rebuild myself though. I doubt I could do a decent job from the outside and doing it from the inside seems like more work and complexity than I want to get involved with. As much as I hate to not do it myself, I think I better look into having a pro do it. Does anyone know someone good in the NY/NJ/CT area?

I can't really tell from the video.
Are you sure that its not just the metal trim that is moving?.

With boat on trailer can you flex the transom by standing on the motor?

I would definitely at least have a Transom Saver on the top bolts on any 30 year old boat. That will keep the bolts from pulling thru.

Take a look at skunks transom rebuild video. It's going to be my tutorial when my day comes

So I took Skunk's advice and put the motor up as far it would go and bounced with my full weight on the skeg. I'm no expert and as much as I want to remain in denial about this it looks pretty bad IMO. According to the ruler it only deflects around 1/16" of an inch but it still seems too flimsy for 200HP.

I looked at Skunk's excellent videos (thanks for the tip Phat) and I'm pretty sure I don't want to tackle that kind of a project outside over the winter. Again, if anyone knows of a pro transom guy local to the NY/NJ/Ct area please let me know. Baring that, I may go the plate route and hope it tides me over for a few years but no way can I just leave it as is.

Here are a couple vids of me jumping on it. Thoughts?

https://youtu.be/BmS3VGQKPQs

https://youtu.be/XXwN7eKPUi4

Yeah man, fix that, lol.

I would do the whole thing, not the plate. I'll bet if you drill it anywhere near where the engine mounts you'll pull out dirt, which is probably whats keeping the glass from cracking.