Many details are omitted to keep this story shorter. As a daily user of CSC, thanks to all who provided tips directly or indirectly with particular thanks to Dirtwheels, Flexpat, DonV, NoBones, Bigshrimpin, KMoose, and my longtime friend Bushwacker.
After watersports season last year I confirmed my ’76 Seafari transom was compromised. There were no fiberglass cracks, but the aluminum trim cap was askew, flexing was apparent while bouncing on the AV plate, and moisture in the wood chips from my exploratory drilled holes. Over Thanksgiving the ETEC 150 HO was removed and installed on a wood engine stand. Then wood removal began for a Seacast pour. The wood removed easily in a few areas, in others it took hours and hours with the drill, chain saw and scraper/chisel made from a sharpened 3” wide, thin steel bar. Next was repairing/replacing the chain saw damage to the fiberglass. I also raised the transom 2” to 22” (engines and boat guests are heavier than 43 years ago). I stayed with 22” to avoid a longer driveshaft, hydraulic steering, and jack plate. I also raised the engine about .75” inches and found that position duplicated holes drilled years ago by Brown & Hauptner Marine in PBG, Fla. Frank Brown was Moesly’s race mechanic and Mark Hauptner drove some of the race boats. Sure wish my ETEC installer had followed their lead, as this is the fourth time the engine has been raised since the original installation.
Due to a vacation trips to Fla and Israel plus SC winter weather the transom rebuild took much longer and more work than I expected. It was completed and ETEC reinstalled (with final painting postponed) just before our grands annual July visit. My efforts were well rewarded by the huge smiles on the faces of the boy 5 and girl 7 when each solo kneeboarded for the first time!
So far I am pleased with the results and appearance of this intensive, long-term task. Many of you have done much more extensive and expensive projects resulting in better than new condition (like Bill V’s Billsseacraft and KMoose). Frankly, my intent was more like the ’68 Corvette I had for 30 years; have it nice enough to enjoy it, but not compete in any Saturday classic car shows at the burger stand.
Some points to ponder if redoing a transom:
1- I might not use, but would consider other methods of getting to and removing the wood, maybe Dirtwheels’ termites! Maybe cut out the aft fiberglass sheet, remove the wood, reattach aft sheet and then a Ceramic pour (using 2” x 4” braced plywood to support the aft sheet during pour).
2- While I believe I achieved a satisfactory Seacast pour, the 7.4 amp drill was smoking and nearly caught on fire while mixing the end of the first thick pour. For the second and third pours I used two drills, switching to the cold drill as the mixture thickened. I recently have seen some samples of Arjay Ceramic which appear much more homogeneous than Seacast. When I was looking for someone to paint the transom, a local boat restorer told me he had used Seacast, but switched to Ceramic because it poured more smoothly thereby less likely to have voids.[IMG][IMG]
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