transom repair.

hi all. i have a fiberglass boat and the transom is in need of repair. this spring i did a fast fix with hydrolic cement i took a lot of the rotted plywood out between the fiberglass and pored cement in it to make it some what solid. i then reinforced with two 1/4 in plate aluminum and through bolted them. it seemed to work out ok but it really is not the fix i want. i took off my motor and took off the 1/4 in plates .i allso cleaned out the cement. there is sill alot of rot to be cleaned out.after i clean it out to were it seems solid i was wondering the best and strongest fix. the two back corners are my main concern. will a epoxy resien bond to the corners and be strong. i plan on using 1/4 in plate again but this time i am going to fab a pice that covers the back transom from corner to corner vs just were the motor is as this was a fast fix to get on the water. i am putting a 60 hp on this 1973 14 ft columbian fiberglass. so the motor is a little over rated . so i need a good strong fix as i will be pulling tubes next summer. any feedback will help thank you.

A friend of mine used a pourable transom repair mix that really worked out well. Here's the website for the product, http://transomrepair.com/catalog/. Check it out and look at the directions.

Probably not the right section for this subject (just a guess)...... I would use doubled up 3/4" plywood and repair the transom the right way. It should be tied in to the stringers and yes epoxy is the strongest bond. Being a 1973 I would suspect the stringer's might need work too ...... check them.

There are pour-able transom materials such as nida bond or seacast but they might sticker shock you even with nida bond being the less expensive (I warned you!). Google them Might be too much money for a 1973 boat.

I tried the same a few years ago with an old 17' Wellcraft center console with a 120 Johnson. Took a chainsaw to the top of the transom to remove all the wood between the outter and inner fiberglass and then cut 2 pieces of 3/4 marine plywood to fit in perfectly. Globbed a lot of West epoxy between the boards and on the outside and pounded them into place in the transom. Screwed some boards on to act as clamps and let it sit. Got more epoxy and glassed (with mat) to cover the top and some in the bilge to strengthen the bottom. Transom was solid as a rock. Boat was fine until one day came back and noticed a lot of water in the back. Five minitues later I had to put the boat on a bank to keep the engine from going under since it was taking on water. Drained the water from the hull and put it on a trailer to find an 18" crack in the bottom since the stringers were rotted. Got very lucky since two nights before I had 4 others on board to go to dinner.
The 120 is now on a 19' Baja and I gave the Wellcraft away for free as a project boat (pretty sure it is still sitting untouched in the yard where I dropped it off).

If you have a rotted transom, you probably have rot somewhere else. If this is going to be a family boat, be safe and go through everything or buy another hull. (I might have a 19' Baja for sale if you're interested)

yes you are not kidding when you say the product is pricy.i looked at the seacast product and a how to do it movie on there site.it seems to be what i am looking to do for a good fix .not a bandaid as i had before. my qustion is you mention the word stringers are they the 2 back corners.i have not dug that deep yet. today i will see how bad it is.allthough as i was cleaning out the transom the outer corners did not seem to be as bad. say the outer corners are rotted can i just drill and bore out the rot and poor this seacast in the same poor as the middle transom.does this stuff bond as a full cast and how strong will the corners be.if i find that the rot does not go the full depth i was thinking of using some long screws to work as rebar .or am i better off just pooring without.i will dig into the stringers corners and see what i have.allso can i just use a resin to poor this vs the hi price product that is probably the same .because a marine name they dig in your pocket or is this stuff that good. seems to me a epoxy resine would do the same . even this is not cheep butt not 100 dollars and change for 1 gallon.any clues

Carefully cut the outer skin of fibreglass off the transom, about 2" from the edge.------------------------Dig out the rotten plywood----------------------epoxy in new plywood-------------------Glue the skin back on.----------------Fill in the " cut " and paint.---------------If you use " baltic birch " plywood it will be stronger than new !!

The above is a method found in a book from the " Goudgeon Brothers " --------------Recognized for their expertise in " West system epoxy " and building / repair of wooden and fiberglass boats.---------------Anyone attempting to do major fiberglass boat repair ( structural and cosmetic ) should get a copy. -----------Do the job right the first time.

The "stringers" are the boards under the floor that run front to back.Big,big job that you are getting into,lol.Have fun.

Good advice here so far, and with a rotten transom to have no rot in the deck and stringers would be very rare, since they usually go first. If you're going deep enough to replace a transom, you need to remove the top cap and check the floor out well to. With the top cap off you can get to the transom from the inside without disturbing the outer skin of the boat. I've replaced several transoms over the years and have never had a rotten transom without rotten wood other places as well. As racerone said.....Do it right the first time. Some pictures of the project would help alot on detail repair help.

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48tony said:

yes you are not kidding when you say the product is pricy.i looked at the seacast product and a how to do it movie on there site.it seems to be what i am looking to do for a good fix .not a bandaid as i had before.

Click to expand...

I used the Seacast product on my 1981 18' runabout 7 years ago and it's holding up extremely well. For my project I needed to replace the floor at the same time, so I went extreme and drilled out the gunwale rivets and lifted the top deck off the hull. The inner fiberglass skin on the transom was shot so I removed it, made a template, and laid up a new skin. Then I cleaned out all the rotted wood, glassed in the new inner skin, then poured the Seacast core material. I have a '79 Evinrude 140 hanging on the back and have been through some pretty rough water. At this point I don't see any evidence there is any weakness to the transom.

KJ