glassing new transom

[thehermit]

dcobbett,

Any progress pix to share? I am about to cut the outer skin off my 1970 20' and am taking the approach you and Hammer have taken. How did you piece in the core??

[dcobbett]

TheHermit
Yes, I have made some progress. I'll put some pic's together and try and get them posted this evening.

[thehermit]

dcobbett,
What did you do with your original transom eyes? How did you cut them out or get to them? Thanks. TH

[dcobbett]

TheHermit,

I managed to get a crow's foot wrench on the nuts through the louver openings. Took a while, but I got them out in one piece without bitch'n up the threads and I hope to reinstall them.

Here's is a follow-up on the transom work.

When I laid out the joint lines for the first layer, I tried to have as few pieces as possible, making sure each piece could be wedged and forced against a firm surface of existing glass/liner material. I also wanted to avoid joints along what I thought would be potential stress lines. Same ideas with the second layer, but I also wanted to one large central piece in order to keep the transom as flat as possible.

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I used Mas epoxy (slow hardener) throughout. I’ve used it before and it has no odor or blush (at least from what I’ve seen. I’m working 100% outdoors so I mixed the epoxy in my cellar (cool) during the hot weather and poured it into roller pans as soon as I brought it outdoors.

My initial lay-up was 4 layers (outer skin plus inside the splash well) alternating 1708 and 1808.


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I used black duct tape to define an area that I wanted additional glass on and repeated that lay-up, this time bringing all of the fabric up and over the transom cutout and tying it into the sidewalls of the well. After it had cured, I could set up off of the tapeline and run a 45^ bit in a router to cut off the waste. I still need to take the hard edge off of the outer edge of the 45^ cut line, and I’ll probably try and work in a small fillet where the bevel meets the transom face.

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I also need to get inside, under the splash well and form a fillet around the perimeter of the Penske Board, then glass the surfaces and tab into the sides and bottom of the hull. I’m also planning to add a knee between the small, centerline stringer and the inside face of the new transom.

[RS]

Nice work Dan. Glad to see you're making significant progress.
Hope this hasn't cut into your fishing too much.

[thehermit]

Nice! Just what I neeed to see. If I read it correctly it took 4 layers of 1708/1808 to bring the cutout up to the original thickness of the hull. One question though. Did you consider making the initial transom cut up to the cap, including cutting the cap on the top, to allow dropping a piece (core) down into the transom in one whole piece? Do you think that would work?
Thanks

[Lenny]

Wow befor you know it you will be dropping an engine on that bad boy Nice work

[dcobbett]

TheHermit,

Yes, 4 layers was pretty much the same as the thickness of the original exterior skin.
And, yes, I did think about cutting off the cap pieces, but didn't 'cause I figured that would have been more work than doing the entire project from the inside. Also, it was a real tight fit getting the second layer of Penske Board into the outer edges/corners. In hind sight, I really don't know if I could have slid a one piece transom in from the top, especially in light of the hydraulic pressure created by the thickened epoxy, etc.

[thehermit]

dcobbett,
Thanks for sharing the hind sight. I wondered about sliding down the final piece from the top. I wouldnt want to compromise the epoxy between the two core pieces. I will likely be using marine plywood for the core.
Hermit

[71kidcasper]

dcobbett, I hope that I am not asking a stupid question, but why did you build up the transom more in the isolated area in the center. I am not questioning your work cause I think it looks great. I just didn't understand it. I'm doing the same job on my 71 20.