Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

hello there folks,

is it true that the bestv (strongest) transom repair to is come in from inside the boat instead of the outside?

Whew....
 

that's asking a loaded question !!! [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

as I discovered when I did my seafari this past summer, I think schools still out on that

but - I will throw my two cents in that, what's more important, is the type of resin used - epoxy or polyester, and the workmanship, care, and surface preperation taken when doing the job. I would also take the opportunity to study the existing structure, and improve it where possible.

It is completely possible to not only repair the transom, but to make it stronger than it was to begin with.

Also, give strong consideration, not only to how you expect to power the boat initially, but longer term - and also - if there are any other mods you might wish to make that relate to, connect to, or are adjacent to the transom structure.


Good Luck !!!

Bill

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

Personally I would agree with your statement of doing the transom from the inside. These are a few reasons why I think this way.
1. by going in from the inside you can build up the outside wall of fiberglass from approx ¼” to 3/8” easily which is the thickness of most transom outside walls now a days.
2. you can easily laminate each layer of your coring material and fill in all gaps around the coring material and the hull with thickened epoxy to help create a bond around all sides.
3. you can increase the thickness of the inside wall of glass to ¼ or more.
4. you can glass several layers of glass supports all around the hull helping to re enforce the transom to the hull.
5. you can build knee supports from the bottom of the hull to the transom for additional support.

Personally my objective was to make my boat Bullet Proof by doing things Better than the original lamination schedule. By taking this fundamental approach I personally believe you can take any SeaCraft hull (no matter which year you got) and make it Better than any year original hull lamination.

FellowShip [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

point well taken, obviously there are many oppurtunity to reinforced the transom coming from the inside. have any seacraft member used composite material with polyester resin to repair a transom? i would prefer to do it without wood. thanks

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

There are a lot of guys now a days that have turned to composite material. If I had to do it all over again today I probably would use the stuff, but when I did mine in 2001 the newer materials had only been on the market for a few years. I did not want to be their Bata testing group. As for polyester I would never use that for anything but New Construction. Epoxy has Far More Bonding Qualities for repair work than does polyester.
FellowShip [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

I think, if I was to replace my whole transom, I would take the whole thing out and replace it front and back. I would do it just for delamination reasons. I still believe the best way to be sure is to epoxy front and rear. And build up a much stronger transom. If you get any delamination you would be back to square one in a few years.
I've never replaced a transom, but I've made a few. I think I'm kind of alone on that line of thought. I've repaired transoms on wooden boats and I've always been acused of overkill but I never repaired on twice.

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

i could not use epoxy and i plan to gelcoat the entire boat. thus i would have to stay with polyester resin.

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

whats up EDloc don't know to much about fiberglass work but have a close friend i that buisnes that would be happy to answer any questions you may have if your interested ican e-mail you his number. He has a older boston whaler 26' guardian we removed the looper 140's it came with he closed the transom I built him a bracket and we installed a pair of 01 225hp johnsons, its like a new boat.

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

Ha Edloh;

If you are going to do the transom from the inside why would you think you can’t use epoxy???? Also if you use West Systems epoxy their info says you CAN gelcoat over their epoxy.
FellowShip [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

Edloh-

As Fellowship states and as I have done you can gel-coat over epoxy. There are certain prepararions you have to do but it can be done without a hitch.

Gel-coat to epoxy = mechanical bond

Gel-coat to Poly = chemical bond and I think mechanical if the poly is dry?

Get the west sytems book on repairing fiverglass boats it is avail anywhere that sells west systems and has good pointers no matter what type of method and our material you use

Edloh -
 

as the others have mentioned, with West Systems epoxy, you can definitely put polyester based gel coat on over it.

Keep in mind that when bonding to the existing boat structure, you are only acheiving a secondary bond, and that epoxy is considerably stronger at this, than polyester.

The primary bond (chemical) only occurs when the previous surface being bonded to is not yet fully cured - obviously, all the existing fiberglass structure in your boat is fully cured.

With the epoxy (at least with west systems) after it fully cures - about 4 days, with a good sanding, and an acetone wipe, polyester gel coat will readily adhere.

suggest, as Trayder mentioned, you get the West Systems book - it's cheap, readily available, good info.

Bill

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

I HAVE SEE PEOPLE REPAIR TRANSOMS BOTH WAYS BUT I PREFER TO REPAIR THE TRANSOM FROM THE INSIDE OUT AND BEEF THE INSIDE W/ XTRA WOVEN / PLUS YOU CANREPAIR THE STRINGERS WHICH ARE USEALLY IN NEED OR REPAIR I CHARGE FOR THE WORK I DO SO I WANT TO GIVE THE CUST WHAT I THINK IS THE BEST REPAIR ..

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

gents,

i read somewhere in the past on the incompatability of the epoxy and polyster resin. maybe they were referring not to used poly resin behind epoxy. well then, we have a plan!

scotthawk, drop me an email at nissan200@earthlink.net

other question, i have 20" transom now and so are my twin 175, plan to keep them for another 3-5 years. then i thought of going with CR pair of suzuki 140/150. found out that suzuki do not offer CR in 20" length. they said that it would not matter if i have hydraulic steering. what do you guys think? maybe built up the transom to 25" and hand an adapter plate to the back for the current 20? suggestions?

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

There is another epoxy that is designed to be gellcoated. System 3 epoxy's make's it.

http://www.systemthree.com/p_sb_112.asp

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

In an ideal world, it would be nice to re-do the transom to 25-30 inches when you are re-powering.


reasons are:

1: Maufactures are offering fewer and fewer engines with 20" shafts

2: General consensus is the higher the transom the better off oyou are safteywise.

we do not, unfortunatly, live in a perfect word there fore you have some choices

1: redo the transom to 25 - 30" and get aftermarket shaft extenders for you current engine (costwise 300-500 per engine more)

2: re do it to 20" now and use jackplates later

3: Band aid you current transom with a SS ort alum plate and do it up when you re-power

Non-counter engines will be fine with Hyd. steering but the boat will tend to skew of slightly in one direction.

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

What you want to do in build your transom up to 30” from the Center Line. In that way you can either use one 30” shaft 225-250 motor or two 25” shaft motor’s. You can have the two that you have converted to 25” shaft motors for some $$$.
FellowShip [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

took the engines out and the wood around the holes are fine except for one. one of them is a little rotted out i know it is old, Trayder's suggestion to band aid it with aluminum plate till repowering might not be a bad idea.

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

FELLOW-SHIP

Just so I'm sure I understand the process you described: if I wanted to rebuild and raise a transom from 20" to 25" (for example) from the inside as you described, after the old wood is out, I'd taper the inside edges of the existing glass along the old 20" height line, install a temp backing board on the outside, infill the old engine cutout with glass so the face of the new glass surface is flush with the inside face of the existing transom's outer glass skin, then increase the thickness of the entire glass outer skin, then start the laminations of the core material, correct? I think you are also saying that you would not prefabricate the whole core on the bench, but would do it in-place, layer by layer, so you could insure the better bonding around the edges, correct?

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

Ha Decobbett;

Ya that's what I would do and ya again layer by layer. I know it takes more steps this way but the end results is what you are looking for not speed. Now if it was someone elses boat you are getting paid for well that's another story.
FellowShip [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

Hey Edloh, Both West and system three are good fugusides. If you have a solid transom with just localized rot, soak the inside of the hole with one of the slow cure mixes. Then drill small holes 1/8 in. and get some seringes from the place you buy your epoxy from.
Radiate outward in circle till you hit fresh wood. The holes only have to be about 1- 1 1/2 in apart.
Soak all the holes out a couple of times with a slow cure mix. Then push some small wooden dowles in the holes. make sure the dowles are shorter then the hole. and don't go through the transom. Also make sure that no air is behind them. Tap in slowly. That will force the epoxy into the surounding wood.
The layers of glue on the ply wood stop the epoxy from getting through, so you have to get the right depth.
Then fill the holes and cover.
I have made about fifty repairs that way that were suposed to be temporary that became permanent.
Even saved a motor mount on a stringer in a big hatteras. just to get through the season, but so far has lasted fifteen years.
I did a demonstration in a wooden boat repaire course one time for a club of restorers. I took a severly rotted board and soaked it with west. I junped on the board (350lbs) and it wouldn't even bend. When the board was hardened after a week, a file could hardly get through the surface.
One thing to remember. Fresh water causes dryrot, saltwater kills it. Rain and washing are the biggest causes. Everybody protects the wood from the water side. Protect from standing water first. Also do not park or moore next to a rotted boat because the fungus spores will travle boat to boat. Ever notice the boat that gets taken out more has less rot problems then a boat that stays parked in a yard for years. Boats stored in doors stay rot free.
BigMike

Re: Transom Repair 23' Outboard
 

bigmike,

thank you for the suggestion. this might buy me time till i repower.