transom and other stuff

[macojoe]

I love different opions!! ;D

I would go with the Seacast!! But as Seakindly said I would get all that I could out!! Then pour some resin in there to seal the wood up!

Now as for the center of gravity thing, Yes it is going to change!! Make sure that you get a stainless marine type bracket!! With Floation.
Mine is a 28" set back and has worked out great! For me as I was converting from I/O.
the boat will handle different, I think I have a larger turn radius then before. The Bow does rise higer then before and I am thinking of getting trim tabs to push it down when needed!
In a chop I am getting hit more in the mid section rather then cutting thur with the V
as for the rising of the transom for this?? well i don't think I would do it unless you are having water problems from drifting thur rips and things. Nothing like a full transom for that! I being a old I/O have not got a self bailing deck!! So this is goo for me.

So lets see:

Seacast Yes
Reasin in transom YES
Bracket NO

[macojoe]

Drill a few holes were you think it might be rotted!! Only take a few min. and this will tell you all!! If you get good clean wood you are set!
I rember when I had my 17 footer I saw no movement when lifting? I could rock the boat with it but not move the transom

I'm drilling some holes tomorrow, I'll post what I find.
As far as a full transom, I guess I'm just tired of taking waves when trolling with a following sea. Doesn't take much following sea to take on water either. 2'ers'll do it.

I like the idea of bolting another downrigger on the full transom also. And a swim platform would be great.


Mike

Well I took the caps off the wings of the transom (port and starboard) Took a screwdriver and basically pull nothing but mush out.
Drilled 4 holes directly across the transom at about water level and I think 1 hole produced wood that wasn't saturated. Other than that it was worm dirt!

Good new is that every place I exposed, the wood seperated from the skin completely clean! Probably can't expect that on the whole thing I'm sure.

Either way, transom is crap, done. Only decision now is whether to repar it as is or make a full transom with stainless bracket.

LOC derby in 25 days!!

Mike

[macojoe]

Well do you first have a bracket you can get used?? If not that Stainless bracket with swim platform is around $1500 Add to that new shift cables throttle cables and sterring cable (whole new steering is cheaper then cable) Longer fuel and oil hoses!! Now you are $1700+
This doesn't include the cost of the Seacast and other stuff you need for the project.
On top of the fact that the center of gravity thing will makethe bow rise thus having the water break in the mid section of the boat rather then cutting with the bow. So to fix this you will need Trim Tabs if you already don't have them at another cost of $600
Don't get me wrong !! I love the way my boat came out and i love the bracket!! But it was a nessary thing for me to do. And anyone converting like I did i would tell them to go for it in a heart beat!!

So I guess it is up to how much you want to spend??

Keep us informed!! Good luck

Pictures take pleanty pictures!!! Step by step to post for all to see!! you are going to be are go to , How to rebuild a transom guy!! ;D

CB's solution is the tried and true method. It has the advantage of complete accessibility and inspection. It has the disadvantage of you being left with another wood transom that may eventually rot. Also, the v20 transom has a curve to it. 70wellcraft stated that his transom had been pieced together by 4" x 4" squares of plywood glassed together. He joked that wellcraft must have had a deal with a plywood scrap yard, but I think the real explanation is that the plywood pieces were used to create the curved transom.

I think I would remove as much of the wood as I could without disturbing the glass. How easy or difficult this will be will depend on the extent of the rot. If you can get it all out without heroic effort than I would go with the seacast solution or some other material. Would 5200 do?

On the other hand if the wood removal task became too arduous, I would cut out the back skin of the transom leaving about a 2 or 3" border. Then I would get every microscopic speck of wood out of there and off of the removed glass. Next, I would cut a 4 or 5 inch border out of marine plywood using the removed glass as a template. Then I would glass it up a la CB's suggestion. At this point you can fill the void with seacast or 5200 or whatever and you will have a new transom with a minimum of wood that will not be drilled into for motor mounts etc. You will only be drilling into wood to mount a transducer. Your new transom will probably outlive you. ;)

[chumbucket]

The small squares of wood were also to prevent rot from migrating too far into surrounding wood. Back then, they didn't have the better grades of marine plywood that is available today. I redid a transom a few years ago that was curved also. It just has to be done in multiple layers of plywood, saturating each layer with epoxy resin. When completed, I can almost guarantee that the transom will outlive your ownership of the boat.
I'm not saying not to use the Seacast. It looks like a good solution. Just mor logistics to be concerned with if you are truly considering making the boat a full transom. Now you're talking molds to build up the top of the transom glass layup and so forth. I think 5200 would be much too expensive for that type of project.

Ok here's what I've done so far.

Decided to got he seacast route. Not for any other reason except I'm not real comfortable hacking the back off my boat.

Spoke to seacast again and I decided to chainsaw the wood out from the top.
I guess when you spend your Saturday chainsawing your boat with your brother over a couple of beers you officially qualify as "White Trash" but I'm going for it.

We quit about 7:00 PM and have about 80% of the wood out. I was a little surprised how easy it was. Not that it was easy but the mere sounds of it was a little scary.
Dropped the motor and all the stuff included, removed the cap, stainless plates and everything else bolted to the transom including all three drain tubes (2 scuppers and the bilge drain).

Got a 25" bar for my chainsaw, built a scaffold so we were at a decent height to work. Didn't poke any holes in the skin and it still maintains it's curved shape. Getting all the wood out is not to bad as long as you take your time and trim the sides with the saw, right down to glass.
I'm not going with the bracket and full transom.

Problems so far:
1. I need to fill the wings with seacast but because the transom is under the gunnels, I'm going to have to cut the gunnels and patch them up later.
2. the skin developed holes over time where the stringers (not sure if you call them that with an outboard set up) extend to the transom. Going to have to go into the bilge and glass the hole up before the seacast is poured in or it will fill the bilge before it fills the transom.
3. What exactly do these "stringers" do? My deck is solid as a rock and they don't seem to do much to support the transom. There is some rot at the end of them but I don't plan on ripping the deck off to fix them. Mistake???

The original V 20 setup is for a 20" shaft with a cutout transom at the outboard only, mine is set up for a 25" shaft which means someone filled the transom cut out. I'm going to glass the cut out back up to the new height as per Seacast instructions.

I've got pics of the process so far and I'll post them if I can get setup in the Gallery again.
I don't know how this boat hasn't sunk yet. The plywood was about 90% rotten. At some points it actually looked like mud. Worm dirt would have been a good part of it.

We'll see what tomorrow brings, but I should be ready by the end of the day to glass the cut out and get ready for the seacast.
I'll keep you posted.
Thank you everyone for your ideas and support.

Mike

mike,
you did the right thing by replacing the transom, don't stop by not repairing the stringers.........they do alot for the integrity of the hull.....they do help support the transom. also help the hull from flexing to much. i guess the best way to explain is they are like rafters in a house. if the rafters are bad the roof falls in......everything in a boats hull are tied in together for a reason,strenght and integrity...
i don't think i would stop at the transom, you said you were concerned about the saftey of the boat, that is why you were replaceing the transom. this is just my opinion. if your not sure check with a couple boat repair shops........
good luck with your transom.......... ken

ps measure twice, cut once. :)

mike,
forgot to tell you to go to gallery, ken's v20 1971.
you can see whats under the floor, img 08
ken