Quote:
Originally Posted by kiwi
It may be too late now, but does anyone suggest doing anything to stiffen underneath the motor fasteners? I recently read how some repairs drill large holes in the transom wood prior to laying the fiberglass, fill with thickened resin, then glass over the top to create a stiff cylinder for the bolts to squeeze. I could still do something like this from the outside...
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That is a good idea. It helps beef up the bolt holes and keeps the wood from crushing down. It also gives the wood a thicker barrier to help keep water out of the wood. I was going to drill my 1/2" holes to 7/8 then refill with thickens epoxy so they could be re drilled to 1/2". That would stiffen the holes up and seal them well. I saw a post here showing some one doing this but can't find it now. I didn't do this but probably should have. I just coated the slightly larger holes with epoxy and redrilled. I did add a piece of 3/8" thick by 4" wide aluminum flat bar down the entire length of the bracket mounting lip on the inside of the tramsom. That helps a ton. I had a 17' skiff with a rotten transom that ran a year with a piece of 4" channel across the back threw bolting the motor. It was the only thing holding the motor on. Once I pulled it to replace the transom you could grab the motor and move it 4-6" in and out flexing the rotten transom. With the channel it was much stiffer. The things I Don as a kid to be able to fish.....The outside skin had two cracks a foot long either side of the 1980 70 hp from the flexing. It's amazing that motor didn't end up on the bottom of the sound.