Is the transom bad already?

[macojoe]

i am betting its junk!! but if you want to ck, just drill a few 1/4 inch holes from inside and if you get wood great, if you get dirt its junk!

BS has a boat that has a 1/2 inch plate inside and out on his transom as big as the back of the boat and it is solid as a rock!!

lots of transom rebuilds on here look in the search and find them you have options on how to do it

good luck!!

[willy]

Find out how far the wet or rotted wood extends by doing what MJ said first.
If is bad out past the cracks more than just around the engine bolt holes do not do the metal plate remedy. A metal plate will only be as strong as what it is bolted to.
It is way to risky.
Sorry about your trouble and I hope you get her repaired one way or the other soon, but whatever you do, do not go on the water again with it like that, God saw you and yours in safely, say thank you and act accordingly.

[draglink]

I would say it depends on how bad the flex is. My transom had some flex in it but no cracks. The PO had put an aluminum plate inside the splashwell, almost all the way across. I added a huge plate outside just for peace of mind- I figure I can get at least 3 seasons out of it (found the source of water intrusion and sealed it). I have NO FLEX at all and the thing is solid as a rock now.

I painted and trimmed the plate outside to match the hull

[Destroyer]

Draglink, I gotta admit that's a really purrdy repair. Nicely done!!

RW, actually I think that adding a stiffiner plate would be a good idea, as long as the wood it's going into is solid. In fact, I'd do what several others have said and add one inside and outside the transom...make a sandwich of the broken area.

[draglink]

Thanks Destroyer! I dont think anyone who doesnt know I put it there even notices.....the key was the aluminum trim I put on to match the original transom. Also I was pretty lucky, when drilling the holes for the bolts I got some good wood coming out

[bgreene]

We're talking cracks....... I was thinking more like spider cracks.....hair thin lines where the gel coat flexed a little.

For cracks, as in openings in the transom - I totally agree - it's compromised and requires significant repair.

[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?