My Transom Rebuild

[CaptJ]

Yet another rebuild. I was fortunate that I have a friend in the industry and the only material I needed to pay for was the marine grade plywood ($150 a sheet). My friend gave me all vinylester to work with; resin, fill, faring putty, had the gelcoat matched and four types of cloth...i may have enough to build a boat. And yes the cloth was fine after getting it wet and dying it in the attic.

I was able to get away with using one sheet. I started in the beginning of the year but my buddy who has done a few ended up with a hernea so he was out of commission for a while.

Since my buddy couldn't help, I found someone on craigslist to help with the repair, I didn't want to f it up and even think about a redo. Guys name is Rob and he is very knowledgable, been in the industry for many years.

We started by cutting the back of the transom, leaving approximately 4 inches along the bottom and both sides. Then the outer fiberglass skin had to be pried off. Not easy work. We used some chiseled 1*3s and banged down from the top. it split.

These are geat boats but the fast bang'em out production quality shows when you pull'em apart. I didn't expect to find so many areas not tabbed together. Well I dont plan on pulling the clam shell apart so I tabbed everything together for extra stength.

One thing different, most people here seem to always reuse the outer skin. Rob did not like he idea and seeing as we have so much material, opted to rebuild it fresh with new cloth...

well here are some pics
First pic is with all the wood removed from the boat. I used an electric chain saw in the bottom channel, it took along time to get it out, but I got it ALL out.

Seond pic is the outer skin, yes I spent the time to clean it because originally I was going to reuse it. the pic has wood on it, but now it is down to the glass. Maybe a good coffee table top?