wood under motor mount question?

what is the best or fastest way to fix wood under motor mounts?i thank the wood under mounts is rotten the lag bolts pulled free.is there a way to fix without removing everythang.

If you're talking about the stringer, then you may have a bigger issue than just the area under the engine mount. Is this a separate piece of would that you can actually see under the mount or is it under fiberglass and is the joist sort to speak that goes forward and aft on each side of the engine?

i had an old lund wood rot, engine was a bouncing..i put a pile of 2 part epoxy in the hole then new lag, worked good for 4 yrs then sold boat cheers $8 fix....

If the spots are isolated???.Pour it through the lag bolt holes.
Big cans of Git Rot Boat Life Git Rot Penetrating Epoxy .It goes in thin permeates the wood and sets up hard like fiberglass.
I have used it on a floor and stringers in one of my boats.

Post some pics and I can tell if it might work.Profile???You might be close to someone who can help.

I removed a whole section of flooring from in front of the engine to around the engine. I had to replace the front and side mounts completely. Look for where water is getting in otherwise you are waiting your time. I removed all of the deadwood and dried out everyhting completely. I then alminated the correct height 4" x 6" pressure treated wood. I refiberglassed around them. When I put the floor back in used 5/8" plywood and treated it with a green preservative whose name escapes me right now. Only treat the bottom side else the fiberglass may delaminate your floor.

Use a saw very carefully because you can saw into the stringers or the bottom of your boat. I set the saw to a low depth until I was sure where I was. Also marking everything before cutting so it is parallel will make it easier to reinstall the plywood flooring and redo the fiberglass. Mine turned out great and it is a forty year old sea swirl. I learned a lot form the experience just be patient and take your time.....

Git Rot is great for certain applications, and may be OK here depending on how deep/bad the problem is. If it's mush, Git Rot won't do a thing...or you can just get a big can, pour it in, then sell the boat!

i was afraid of that.guess i have some work ahead of me.
thanks guys.

Note to self...don't buy anything from WoodieMan.

If the boat was built right, the wood will have no effect on either the motor mounts or the overall structure of the boat. It should be there simply to make a shape over which the glass is laid. Too bad many boat builders don''t get this simple concept and you end up with stringers that are merely 2x lumber tabbed to the hull. I hope that's not the case for you.
You'll have to somehow take the weight off the engine mounts so that you can remove them temporarily (ideally you will want to remove the engine). When that's done you will have more room to get into the stinger. If there is enough room, you should cut out the stringer under the mounts with a sawzall in a v type notch: \___/. If it's rotted this will be rather unpleasant. Next you'll need to dry out the remaining wood as best you can. Probably at this point plan on just leaving the stringers open until spring.
When the wood has dried out then you can prep the area with repeated soaking of the wood with West epoxy thinned 50% with Xylene. Let it set up between soakings. Eventually it will be sufficiently hard that you can start glassing over the wound. Use alternating layers of cloth and mat and build up about 3/16ths to 1/4 inch thickness. This will encapsulate the stringer so that it won't get any water in it again. Now to refill the void. I'd make up a pretty thick putty made of wood flour and milled fibers. Make it about like Play Doh. Fill in the void until it is back to the original shape of the stringer more or less. The closer to the shape you get the less you have to sand off later. After the putty kicks and you sand it to shape then cover the whole business with several layers of mat and cloth building up a nice pad for the mounts. Sand and paint.
The nice thing about the wood flour is that it takes fasteners well. You should be able to drill new holes for your mounts and have them be more or less forever.

An alternative to the wood flour putty fix is to simply carve a piece of new wood to fit into the notch. Use white oak or mahogany. Pre treat the wood by doing the thinned epoxy thing as above. Give it several treatments until the wood has soaked up all the epoxy it will take. Then bed it in a peanut butter consistency wood flour putty before glassing it in.

Not really....Why would you use wooden lag bolts if the fiberglass was the complete answer. If the wood is waterlogged and is falling apart, the only thing that is holding that high torque engine is the fiberglass box. Good luck....

Haha, captnlazy, I was being sarcastic. Not something I would ever do. Note the name I use...I know my way around wood on boats; there's a right way and a wrong/dangerous way!

Sad thing is...there are people out there that would.

mercedglen said:

Not really....Why would you use wooden lag bolts if the fiberglass was the complete answer. If the wood is waterlogged and is falling apart, the only thing that is holding that high torque engine is the fiberglass box. Good luck....

Click to expand...

Yes, exactly. The fiberglass should be carrying the load, not the wood. Lags do a fairly good job of keeping the engine mounts from moving since the load on them is from the side (shear load) and not pulling them out. Lags are cheap and easy to install. Better engineering solutions for engine mounts require more engineering.