Is the transom bad already?

[Shrek]

Here are the pictures of the cracks.

[phatdaddy]

no bueno

[THEFERMANATOR]

I see that the transom has been beefed up with knee braces, and it appears that the knee braces have not bonded well to the transom and delamintaed.

[Shrek]

So then the big question is this: Fix it or scrap it.

I had a glass guy that is highly recommended locally come by and he said that he can patch it with aluminum ($300) which will buy me this summer, but he said that is it. He said that is is probably a minimum of $2500 to redo the transom and if I want to close the transom it's probably closer to $4000. Then I have to buy a bracket for the motor and on and on and on. So I figure that it's prolly a 6K repair unless I go basic and just do the simplest transom rebuild and put it back as it is.

I'm very good with my hands, but the fact is that I do not want to do this. I'm willing to pay someone else to do the repairs. The question is whether it makes sense. This past winter, I saw tons of boats on CL which were priced right because they either needed a motor or trailer or both. Should I wait for something like that to come along? I have an awesome motor and trailer and all of the peripheral parts that I have are also in great shape. The only issues of course are that financially it is probably a wash between that and rebuild and then with another used hull, I take the chance that the whole thing is rotten too. Then I'm even further in the hole.

So how hard is it to separate the hull from the liner?

[draglink]

Do you LOVE the boat? Is the boat in good condition otherwise?...floors etc? If so then I would def put in a new transom.

If you spend $$ on a different used boat that 'seems' solid, who knows what could pop up in a month or so. Once you replace the transom correctly you should be good to go for years!

[Hedge]

2500-4000 for a transom seems really high to me. I think you should shop around.

[Shrek]

If anyone has a better price within a few hours drive of New Orleans, please share it. What should I expect to pay for this repair?

As to whether I love this boat, I haven't had it long enough to decide whether this is the boat that I want for the long term. It rides well but I sure wish that it didn't ride so wet under so many conditions. The floor is largely in good shape. The gas tank hatch and fish box hatch needs to be recored. On the plus side, I just finished a comprehensive rewire of the boat.

[draglink]

Originally Posted by Hedge

2500-4000 for a transom seems really high to me. I think you should shop around.

Yeah maybe a little high for around here also...usually here transom prices starting around 2K then right on up from there