Wet Transom Too

[Rich]

Time to tear up the Transom. I've decided to tackle it from the outside. I'm going to follow Dunk's procedure. Here is what he has to say:
(got this off of www.wmi.org)

The easiest way to do it is to cut the outer glass skin off the transom and save it. With a pencil mark a line around the perimeter of the transom about 1 1/2"-2" from inside the edge. Do this just around the bottom and sides, the top comes off all the way up. If the wood is wet or rotted you won't have any trouble getting the glass skin off. Dig out all the wood. Now you are left with and empty transom with 2" deep border around the bottom and sides. Doing this retains the strenght around the outer edge and you don't have to worry about tieing the transom to the rest of the boat.
I don't recommend building the transom off the boat because if the transom has any curve to it you'll never bend it to match. Clean the inner transom with a grinder to expose fresh clean glass and coat it with epoxy resin. I like to use 1/4" luan plywood then a layer of roven woven(RW) between each layer of ply. 1/4" luan plywood will just about soak through with epoxy, it's bone dry when you buy it. Cut as many layers as you'll need to fit the transom pocket before you start. Leave the section where the engine bolts higher than it needs to be, you cut that to the right height at the end of the job. You'll also need the layers of RW cut to size. 4 layers of each will give you about 1 3/8" thickness, figure what you need from that. Start with RW against the inner transom, then ply then RW then ply. You want to soak all the plywood a couple times before you start laying it up. Dry unsoaked plywood will pull the resin out of the RW before it sets up. If you are cutting the plywood to fit tight at the sides you may want to bed it later by layer with a putty mix of epoxy and cabosil. This will fill the side pockets full. The bottom will fill with excess runoff resin. Once you have as many layers as you need drill holes and bolt the whole transom together though the inner existing transom. 1/4-20 nuts and bolts with washers. You don't need to over tightem then either, that would just squeeze the epoxy out from between the layers. Most plywood you buy has a curve to it. Cut your transom sections so when put in place the ends curve toward the bow of the boat. This way most of the bolting you do is in the center on the transom. You should be using the slowest setting epoxy you can find. It soaks into the wood better and gives you plenty of working time. Once it starts to set pull the bolts and fill the holes with epoxy/cabosil putty. Don't over build the transom so you can't fit the outter skin back on flush. Fill all corner and edge voids with the putty. Grind the inside of it for a good bite. Mix up more cabosil and epoxy putty and layer it accross the entire transom and put the skin back on. This is where you have to figure out how to hold it in place. I've use 2 x 3's across the transom with ropes tied to the ends up thru the bow eye and back the other side. 2 x2's or 2 x 3's will bend around the transom allot easier than 2 x 4's. After that fill the crack around the planel as flush as you can and walk away from it and let it set as one big lump. After that it's not a bad idea to run some figerglass tape around that seam with epoxy resin. Sand and paint to match. Cut your transom then cap it with a couple layers of glass tape and epoxy resin.

Keep you posted.

[ May 29, 2002, 03:20 PM: Message edited by: Rich ]