Transom and floor repairs

[Stillrunning]

Originally Posted by bacchus60

I am thinking about pouring the transom as after reading the threads I think I can do this; however I am still left with the floor issue.
Stillrunning how hard is it to seperate the top from teh hull. This boat is in immaculate condition other than the transom and floor. So the debate is pour the transom and cut the floor or seperate the top from the hull????????

We just disconected and labled all the wires that run through th floor to the CC. Disconnected the steering and throttle cables and then removed the CC. You will also need to disconect any gas lines and lighting wires that will be an issue. We then removed the motor and rub rail. Under the rub rail you will find all the screws that hold the two sections together and they need to be removed. We then hooked a rope to the upper deck and rigged a pulley up in a big tree limb and down to my buddies truck. We also went around and popped the two sections apart as they had been caulked together. He just then started to raise the inner section as I watched for any other things that may be connected. After it was high enough to clear the hull we pushed the trailer and hull out of the way and lowerd it back down. One thing to remember is to make sure you use a branch strong enough to hold the weight as that was our first mistake. LOL You then have access to the transom, flooring and you can inspect stringers. Taking the boat apart only took us one weekend but your boat is a different year so all this could be totaly wrong for your boat. I also replaced most of the wiring at the same time but my boat had sunk and need new wires. If your thinking about doing this and would like to talk PM me your # and I'll give you a call.

[reelapeelin]

Pouring the tranny sounds like a good way to go...the soft spot in the floor sounds like a candidate for the Git-Rot repair...a 12" x 24" area?...it requires drilling 1/8" holes on 2" or so centers in the thoughs of the non-slip pattern in the soft area...allow the core to DRY THOROUGHLY and then inject Git-Rot into the holes...it'll set up , then do small gelcoat dabs on each hole and yer done...Google up Git-Rot and rearch the exact hole placement...it may be the way to go...good luck either way ya choose, give us pictures as ya go...

[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by reelapeelin

Pouring the tranny sounds like a good way to go...the soft spot in the floor sounds like a candidate for the Git-Rot repair...a 12" x 24" area?...it requires drilling 1/8" holes on 2" or so centers in the thoughs of the non-slip pattern in the soft area...allow the core to DRY THOROUGHLY and then inject Git-Rot into the holes...it'll set up , then do small gelcoat dabs on each hole and yer done...Google up Git-Rot and rearch the exact hole placement...it may be the way to go...good luck either way ya choose, give us pictures as ya go...

I prefer KWIK-POLY as it is cheaper and has given me much stronger repairs than git rot. It does cure with quite a bit of heat though when it kicks(not enough to effect the gel coat), but I have found that this dries the wood out a little better.

http://www.kwikpolyllc.com/

[bacchus60]

OK Via drill and chain saw I have got most of the rot out and now down to good wood (about a 14" semi circle all the way around the engine mount). Do I need to get all the little woods bits off the inner and outer skins. I am planning on using Quik Poly to saturate the wood that is left before I pour the Arjay. Any good tips? I will post link to pics tonight.

[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by bacchus60

OK Via drill and chain saw I have got most of the rot out and now down to good wood (about a 14" semi circle all the way around the engine mount). Do I need to get all the little woods bits off the inner and outer skins. I am planning on using Quik Poly to saturate the wood that is left before I pour the Arjay. Any good tips? I will post link to pics tonight.

The ARJAY will have to bond to fibergalss, which means ALL of the wood has to come out. The ARJAY will not bond to wood from what I understand and it will fail if you don't get it all out.

[mauryc]

Bacchus, where are you located? That's a good Mardi Gras name you have there. I pured with Arjay but I got ALL the wood out per the manufacturer. Find my old post with pics, etc. Spend the extra time and get the inside of the transom clean.

Maury

[bacchus60]

It has taken a long time to get this done mostly because the winter weather in Bermuda has been terrible this winter. However saying that I got most of the wood out of the transom using 3 different chainsaws, a 16" electric, a 18" gas and a 20" gas. Unfortunately I could not get it all but was down to good wood for the most part. This took longer than I anticipated; to those that got all the wood out you are superstars, I don’t know how you did that. I then used QuikPoly (thanks to THEFERMANATOR), this stuff is amazing it pours like water soaks into the wood and makes it bullet proof. I just poured it into the transom and then used a long handled brush to spread it all over the wood that was left, it took about a gallon of the stuff. I used the QuikPoly for two reasons; one to make the wood that was left stronger but also as I believe that the Arjay would bond better to the resin saturated wood better than the wood itself. Then it was on to the Arjay pourable compound. This stuff was also easy to work with (Get several cheap funnels), as noted from others it is a two man job. I did block up every hole, I used a mixture of silicon and then taped it with Gorilla tape; even with all of that though we had a hole we didn't know about nor could we reach. We used a hair dryer to get the leak area to set up faster and then pulled the entire leaked compound out, it was easy. Just a note here initially I only ordered 5 gallons but ended up using 10 so the point being make sure you measure and calculate exactly what you need. So now the transom is rock solid. I will have a link to pictures shortly.

Does anyone know where I can get floor hatches made; a couple of mine are cracked?

[nymack66]

Tough find, You may have to build it ?

[bacchus60]

Hello all, Does anyone know if you can apply gelcoat directly to the Arjay pourable transom. I have finished and now jut need to make it look good.

[nymack66]

No you will need to apply Polyester Resin (not epoxy based) first, then Gel coat. Do a search on here I post an entire write up on resin ..