transom question

drilled some holes in the top. took a philips screwdriver with about a 4" shaft (all i could find) and pushed it in. buried to the hilt with no resistance. so i drilled a couple holes from inside the boat and at about 2" down hit wet, not rotten wood. 4" down, same thing. 6" down, solid wood. i dont understand how i can go from the top 4" and hit nothing but, go from the side and hit wood at 2". unless the wood is just rotted worse in the middle. i only drilled in about an inch or so from the side. didnt wanna tear things worse than they already are. this sucks guys. i dont need this right now. i been thinkin bout selling this boat to make some bills round here. now i cant even do that.

[Stinky_Hooker]

The reason is the wood does rot in the middle worse.

Chill bro, its not the end of the world. Caulk her up, run it this year and as I told you last night bring her over for a winter project after the first of the year. We will get that transom straight in no time. 8)

[macojoe]

There you go!! Use it and stink fix you right up in the winter!!

Do you have that stupid alum cap?? Thats were the water has been getting in, and rotted from the top down.

Stink get rid of it like you did yours!

[THEFERMANATOR]

There is another temporary fix you can do pretty easily. Leave those holes you drilled open to vent for a few days and go and get a product called "git rot". You can use that to help strengthen it up for a temporary fix to get you through the season with a little more peace of mind.

http://www.boatersworld.com/product/...tives-thinners

kinda scared to run it now. i hit solid wood at 6" from the side but, if it rots worse in the middle....

and yes, it has a cap but, its a plastic one. not aluminum. got a few cracks in it. also, one of the engine mounting bolts seems a little loose. plus, this machine went under water in katrina! i dont know. i got a bud that used to be a dam good boat mechanic before he had a stroke last year. he said he will come over and look. but, being paralized on the entire left side of his body.... i know he wants to feel like he can still do some things, and thats cool but, realy.....

thanks guys. i know what i gotta do. just dont know how. but, after katrina i adopted a new motto. fix it first, complain about it later.

[macojoe]

well another thing you can do for now is take the motor off, get rid of the plastic cap, dig out the roted wood, drill holes in the good wood below, and add dowles, then add a new 2 X to the holes you will drill into that to match the ones you put in the transom. resin it all in, and you will be fine till winter!

The reason the top bolts are lose is that there is no wood there anymore.

[Stinky_Hooker]

I just got off the phone with him. He is slighty encouraged I think. We will see. ;)

ur messin with my mind aint ya? i'm not crazy! you moved it.

right?

[macojoe]

fix it up and fish!! No time for surgery!! There are fish to catch!! ;)

[Blue_Runner]

Twisted this might help some, wish I had pix but I don't.

When I had my '72 V20 I had to have the transom done because the idiot that repaired the transom before I got it repaired it from the outside (that's not the idiot part) but did not bond the skin back to the new wood so there was a gap between the glass and the wood. *As you'd imagine the torque of the motor caused a crack to form. *Well when he opened it up all the wood was good - no rot at all, but along the top, bottom and sides the previous fool had left big gaps. *When my man fixed it he "glued and screwed" the skin back on but not before filling all the gaps on the top and bottom.

Maybe you have some gaps too which is why your screwdrive bottomed out so easily? * BTW I had about a half inch of flex in mine too.

Repair cost me $800 but I could have done it my self with a grinder if I was willing to eat a bunch of fiberglass dust *;D

I think you're fine til winter. Just take it easy and keep an eye on it. The ol Stinkmiester will have you dialed in in no time for a small fraction of what I paid ;)