Boom!! R.I.P. Excel
 

Well 2020 sure has been a crappy year! First - COVID-19, then Ken's hip, now my trusty Yamaha 225 2-stroke blows up! Maybe a fried/chewed up piston will be covered on my extended Yamaha factory warranty? lol!

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You have my deepest heartfelt sympathy....:)

Please keep us posted when you will have memorial service.
If you start a "go fund me page" that is where I will draw the line..:rolleyes:

gonna be hard to find one that fits your transom like that one did

strick

My condolence, I know you loved the ole gal. Time for a heart transplant.

NO!!!!! Say it ain't so and just two weeks out of factory warranty!!!! Dang Jim that's bad timing!! :)

Wait, wait.......more like twenty years out of warranty! Gotta admit you can stretch a dollar pretty far!!!

Guys, Thanks for all the kind words! Now that the shock has worn off, I'm coming out with the Phase II renovation plan that includes a new poured notch 30" transom and new or newer OB. It's been 1985 since I blew up my last motor - boom style. So its time. After looking through my Engines "Last Will and Testament" I see that she was an "organ donor" and wishes to have her salvageable parts sold on Ebay! CDI-Computer, Carbs, Lower Unit, props, Throttle Postion and Crank sensors, Ignition coils, starter, T&T, etc. So over the next weeks I will be tearing the motor down and putting pieces and parts on Ebay. Next up is the demo of the original 43 year old transom. I got a lot of rotten wood in there and its all coming out. I figure cut off the skin this fall and the let the wood totally rot over the fall/winter, then complete the demo in the early spring. So by mid Spring 2021 I'll be ready for a new Composite Poured transom (SeaCast, Arjay, or similar). Then the $$ fun part starts -- Repower!
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SeaCast Pour
 

Hey Jim-
I completed my SeaCast transom redo July 2019. If I were to do it again would probably go Arjay. Think you have my cell. Give me a call if you care to discuss my experience. Hate to say it, but your engine choice got smaller with ETEC out of the picture.

Jim - 30” is the way to go. I even went up an inch to 31” for some additional vertical adjustment when I did my transom. If you’re going to cut the skin off to get at the core, you might consider going in from the inside. Depending how your deck hatches are oriented, might be less glass work. Also easier to get the tank out and drain your stringers. Just my 2 cents.

Pull the transom cap and leave the skin.

Use an electric chain saw to dig out the core. Low n slow.
You will save a ton of time fairing.

Condolences on the blown motor, good luck with the transom rehab and repower projects! Sorry for the thread drift here - my Sceptre is an I/O to outboard bracket conversion, and I expect that at some point the transom is going to need to be redone. I kind of like the pourable core concept, but because of the distance from the transom top (no transom cutout for motor) to the bottom of the V, I haven't been able to visualize a method for removing the wood. Any ideas?