Seacast Transom Repair

[mauryc]

Just my .02 again. Seacast markets the heck out of their stuff so people naturally see it more and think its the standard. The boat manufacturers use the Arjay and Nicacore pourables. I doubt any boat manufacturer uses Seacast. DRJ, if you have the small transom (like the one in tsubaki's post), I guarantee you'll use much less than I did. Just guessing, I'd say you'd use around 10 gallons. Do what I did, measure the transom and lay it out on grid paper and use 1.75 inches as your width. The smaller transom means you have the luxery of probably reaching the limits of the entire inside of the transom with an 18" chainsaw. I had to resort to the metal pry bar method which was labor intensive, and would be moreso if your wood wasn't completely rotten. I was lucky, my wood was shot. Finally, if you can't get the middle piece of fiberglass out, leave it in there. You want all the wood out. It will make it difficult to shopvac the pieces out but pour around it. Once you coat it with resin, the pourable compound should adhere to it fine. Call around - you may be able to pick up the Nidacore or Arjay locally and save shipping.

Maury

[drj]

Originally Posted by mauryc

Just my .02 again. Seacast markets the heck out of their stuff so people naturally see it more and think its the standard. The boat manufacturers use the Arjay and Nicacore pourables. I doubt any boat manufacturer uses Seacast. DRJ, if you have the small transom (like the one in tsubaki's post), I guarantee you'll use much less than I did. Just guessing, I'd say you'd use around 10 gallons. Do what I did, measure the transom and lay it out on grid paper and use 1.75 inches as your width. The smaller transom means you have the luxery of probably reaching the limits of the entire inside of the transom with an 18" chainsaw. I had to resort to the metal pry bar method which was labor intensive, and would be moreso if your wood wasn't completely rotten. I was lucky, my wood was shot. Finally, if you can't get the middle piece of fiberglass out, leave it in there. You want all the wood out. It will make it difficult to shopvac the pieces out but pour around it. Once you coat it with resin, the pourable compound should adhere to it fine. Call around - you may be able to pick up the Nidacore or Arjay locally and save shipping.

Maury

well I did my calculations and I was able to find out that I am going to need about 15 gallons. I tottally agree with you that seacast is marketed more heavily and my first thought was that the arjay and nidacore weren't available to non boat builders but then I checked out the supplier you said you got yours from and it turns out I am within range of their same day delivery service. That it my concern now that I won't be able to get all of the wood out because it is only rotted right where the motor is but where I drilled first the chainsaw had no problem handling. mauryc do you happen to know the item number of the drills that you mentioned from harbor freight. I got some auger bits and they seemed to work well but I couldn't find my bit extension so I want to try to get the same drill bit you said worked well for you. thanks guys for all your help and for answering my questions.

[mauryc]

25'' LONG x 1/2'', 9/16'', 5/8'' WOOD BIT SET

ITEM 33450-3VGA

As far as the quantity, I'm not knocking your calcs, but if your transom is as thick as mine, there is no way you'll use 15 gallons unless you spill a third on the floor. I had calculated 16-17 for mine but only ended up using about 14. I guarantee my transom has more surface area than yours (if you have the older style transom). On the other hand, you'd hate to start the pour and come up short. If I recall correctly, I ended up calculating about 3900 cubic inches of void using 1.75 inch thickness.
maury

[Airslot]

I've had this question in my head for a long time now...

If only the center section were rotted, and you removed all the roted wood, leaving a very rough jagged surface on the remaining wood, could you just pour that section?

Or would that leave you with a "3 Piece transom"?

[mauryc]

That just makes me nervous. I'd feel much better with a uniform pour that I know has adhered to the skins.

[drj]

I learned indirectly from the people at seacast that it will bond well to wood. I like the arjay now that I looked into it more. I could be wrong but the seacast and arjay are not the same. Seacast uses fiberglass strands and arjay uses ceramic. Do you think arjay will bond well to wood like seacast supposedly does?

[mauryc]

I wouldn't chance it - and I wouldn't chance Secast bonding to wood either. If you're going to leave wood in the transom (which I don't recommend), soak it well with resin and make your pour when the resin is still green. In fact, coat it once and let it set then coat it again. This should go a long way toward proper adhesion. Arjay and Nicacore pour like latex paint. From what I've seen, seacast pours like chunky vomit. I used a rubber mallet on my transom to release any air pockets, but it wasn't necessary. That stuff filled every void with ease. Make sure EVERYTHING - even the smallest hole is sealed. It will run everywhere.