New member, new V20 owner

[Cali-V]

A little up-date with some good and some bad.

I pulled the fuel tank, not fun but not as bad as I thought it would be. The worst part was the tank had about 30 gal. of a funky gas and water mix that I had to pump out. The tank is in good shape. Just a cleaning and a new sender and it is good to go. I do not want to re-install it with foam, I was thinking about maybe 4 laminated 3/4" Ply peices running from stringer to stringer and lam'ed to the bottom to support the tank (Cut outs in the center to let water drain). Maybe some 5200 on the supports and 2 2x4's on top to secure it?

Now back to the transom.
I still have not taken the motor/outdrive off. I did drill a few holes to check the thickness and condition of the wood. Most of the wood is dry, even fresh pinkish-yellow, however I did drill a hole just bellow the outdrive seal and the classic "wet soil" came out. I am thinking this could be a good thing because now I am set on complete transom replacement rather than trying to strengthen the weird two piece core from the factory. I am thinking of cutting out the inner skin and old wood and leaving the outer skin. Then building up 4 layers of 1/2" ply/epoxy sandwich, one at a time (to follow the curve) then glassing the inner and tying back into the stringers and patch holes on the outer. A lot of work I know but this would give a nice solid transom to hang the bracket and O/B off of.

Any thoughts?