Transom Repair 23' Outboard

[oldbluesplayer]

as the others have mentioned, with West Systems epoxy, you can definitely put polyester based gel coat on over it.

Keep in mind that when bonding to the existing boat structure, you are only acheiving a secondary bond, and that epoxy is considerably stronger at this, than polyester.

The primary bond (chemical) only occurs when the previous surface being bonded to is not yet fully cured - obviously, all the existing fiberglass structure in your boat is fully cured.

With the epoxy (at least with west systems) after it fully cures - about 4 days, with a good sanding, and an acetone wipe, polyester gel coat will readily adhere.

suggest, as Trayder mentioned, you get the West Systems book - it's cheap, readily available, good info.

Bill

[OFFSHORESYSTEM]

I HAVE SEE PEOPLE REPAIR TRANSOMS BOTH WAYS BUT I PREFER TO REPAIR THE TRANSOM FROM THE INSIDE OUT AND BEEF THE INSIDE W/ XTRA WOVEN / PLUS YOU CANREPAIR THE STRINGERS WHICH ARE USEALLY IN NEED OR REPAIR I CHARGE FOR THE WORK I DO SO I WANT TO GIVE THE CUST WHAT I THINK IS THE BEST REPAIR ..

[edloh]

gents,

i read somewhere in the past on the incompatability of the epoxy and polyster resin. maybe they were referring not to used poly resin behind epoxy. well then, we have a plan!

scotthawk, drop me an email at nissan200@earthlink.net

other question, i have 20" transom now and so are my twin 175, plan to keep them for another 3-5 years. then i thought of going with CR pair of suzuki 140/150. found out that suzuki do not offer CR in 20" length. they said that it would not matter if i have hydraulic steering. what do you guys think? maybe built up the transom to 25" and hand an adapter plate to the back for the current 20? suggestions?

[warthog5]

There is another epoxy that is designed to be gellcoated. System 3 epoxy's make's it.

http://www.systemthree.com/p_sb_112.asp

[Trayder]

In an ideal world, it would be nice to re-do the transom to 25-30 inches when you are re-powering.


reasons are:

1: Maufactures are offering fewer and fewer engines with 20" shafts

2: General consensus is the higher the transom the better off oyou are safteywise.

we do not, unfortunatly, live in a perfect word there fore you have some choices

1: redo the transom to 25 - 30" and get aftermarket shaft extenders for you current engine (costwise 300-500 per engine more)

2: re do it to 20" now and use jackplates later

3: Band aid you current transom with a SS ort alum plate and do it up when you re-power

Non-counter engines will be fine with Hyd. steering but the boat will tend to skew of slightly in one direction.

[FELLOW-SHIP]

What you want to do in build your transom up to 30” from the Center Line. In that way you can either use one 30” shaft 225-250 motor or two 25” shaft motor’s. You can have the two that you have converted to 25” shaft motors for some $$$.
FellowShip [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[edloh]

took the engines out and the wood around the holes are fine except for one. one of them is a little rotted out i know it is old, Trayder's suggestion to band aid it with aluminum plate till repowering might not be a bad idea.

[dcobbett]

FELLOW-SHIP

Just so I'm sure I understand the process you described: if I wanted to rebuild and raise a transom from 20" to 25" (for example) from the inside as you described, after the old wood is out, I'd taper the inside edges of the existing glass along the old 20" height line, install a temp backing board on the outside, infill the old engine cutout with glass so the face of the new glass surface is flush with the inside face of the existing transom's outer glass skin, then increase the thickness of the entire glass outer skin, then start the laminations of the core material, correct? I think you are also saying that you would not prefabricate the whole core on the bench, but would do it in-place, layer by layer, so you could insure the better bonding around the edges, correct?

[FELLOW-SHIP]

Ha Decobbett;

Ya that's what I would do and ya again layer by layer. I know it takes more steps this way but the end results is what you are looking for not speed. Now if it was someone elses boat you are getting paid for well that's another story.
FellowShip [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[BigMike8o9]

Hey Edloh, Both West and system three are good fugusides. If you have a solid transom with just localized rot, soak the inside of the hole with one of the slow cure mixes. Then drill small holes 1/8 in. and get some seringes from the place you buy your epoxy from.
Radiate outward in circle till you hit fresh wood. The holes only have to be about 1- 1 1/2 in apart.
Soak all the holes out a couple of times with a slow cure mix. Then push some small wooden dowles in the holes. make sure the dowles are shorter then the hole. and don't go through the transom. Also make sure that no air is behind them. Tap in slowly. That will force the epoxy into the surounding wood.
The layers of glue on the ply wood stop the epoxy from getting through, so you have to get the right depth.
Then fill the holes and cover.
I have made about fifty repairs that way that were suposed to be temporary that became permanent.
Even saved a motor mount on a stringer in a big hatteras. just to get through the season, but so far has lasted fifteen years.
I did a demonstration in a wooden boat repaire course one time for a club of restorers. I took a severly rotted board and soaked it with west. I junped on the board (350lbs) and it wouldn't even bend. When the board was hardened after a week, a file could hardly get through the surface.
One thing to remember. Fresh water causes dryrot, saltwater kills it. Rain and washing are the biggest causes. Everybody protects the wood from the water side. Protect from standing water first. Also do not park or moore next to a rotted boat because the fungus spores will travle boat to boat. Ever notice the boat that gets taken out more has less rot problems then a boat that stays parked in a yard for years. Boats stored in doors stay rot free.
BigMike