[Ed]

Hi Don-

I know you have a ton of experience restoring boats and transoms and obviously you have a business that sells beautiful brackets which promote a "bolt on" application. I also can definitely see why adding a bracket distributes the load over a greater surface, especially on a new boat.

However, I still think that "blindly" recommending that one simply bolt on a bracket to an existing 10, 15, or 25 year old transom without doing anything else is unwise for the following reasons:


1) Liability and safety- many people who visit this site don't have a ton of experience (or are continually learning, like myself) with this stuff and I would hate to see someone loose their hard earned money (or their life)because of a bracket/transom failure.

2) While many older transoms appear to be okay on initial inspection, often upon closer inspection they are in dire need of replacement due to water intrusion/rot, termite/worm damage, delamination from hull, etc. Overlooking these potential areas of concern and slapping a bracket in my mind constitutes a band-aid approach.

3) Finally, if you are going through the expense of adding a bracket to an older boat, in my opinion, you're better off spending the extra money/taking the extra time on rebuilding the transom so that you can start off with a clean slate.

Call me overly cautious.....but this is how I was taught to do it and I would just sleep better knowing that I spoke my mind.

-Ed-