Transom is OUT - do preventive maintenance

[abl1111]

After beating the hell out of my hands and arms for two days, the transom is out.

A few tid-bits:

I was blown away by how easy it is for water to, over time, get in and rot a wood transom. I would recommend everyone doing some preventive maintenance and completely pull out every thru-hull in the transom and re-seal, or do that epoxy-thing - you know drill out larger an fill w/ epoxy and re-drill etc. It will save you aggravation , $ and work in the long run.

All the drain tubes coming form the fish boxes and the bilge are very suspect. On mine, they were either pitted badly, or leaking already. Two bolts that held a power steering ( an i/o ) bracket did a lot of damage.

To remove major sections of the transom, I used (2) tools; ( note: I did this from the inside ) a circular saw and a Sawzall w/ a wood blade. I would cut 12" square sections, cutting just the wood transom and being careful NOT to penetrate the fiberglass skin, and then wedge a long 'Wonderbar' between this pc. and the fiberglass transom. Then drive another thick wedge in, until I would hear it splitting away from the transom. Then remove this pc. The rest is all hammer and chisel to remove the sticking ply.

It is a bitchy job, but I removed my transom in 8-10 hours total working time. Now, to the next step - preparing a new transom....