Transom Troubles
 

Got my transom cleaned up and did a closer exam. Here's the visible
problem;

http://home.earthlink.net/~jamesgangnc/before1.jpg

The plywood is all solid around the opening. I had previously soaked
it a bit with some thinned epoxy when I was fixing the floor a few
years back so that probably helped keep it in good shape. Original
reviews of this boat praised the fact that the plywood was not taken
all the way down the transom and a small step is created above the
drain. That probably helped as well.

But it looks like the outdrive compressed the plywood a bit and the
lower section finally cracked. It's hard to see in the picture but on
the sides starting about in the middle the gelcoat actually bends
slightly into where the outdrive mounts. Pushing and tapping on the
broken part also reveals that it has delaminated where the crack is
and roughly inside where I have outlined it in this picture;

http://home.earthlink.net/~jamesgangnc/before3.jpg

I have no idea where it delaminated farther out but right under the
outdrive it appears to actually be the first layer of the plywood
rather than just the fiberglass. So I'm thinking I'm going to cut all
this away and build it back up with fiberglass cloth and epoxy. Since
the actual point where the outdrive sits is solid I'm going to work
towards that level rather than try to get it back to the original
thickness.

Transom Troubles
 

On Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:34:16 -0800 (PST), wrote:

http://home.earthlink.net/~jamesgangnc/before3.jpg

I have no idea where it delaminated farther out but right under the
outdrive it appears to actually be the first layer of the plywood
rather than just the fiberglass. So I'm thinking I'm going to cut all
this away and build it back up with fiberglass cloth and epoxy. Since
the actual point where the outdrive sits is solid I'm going to work
towards that level rather than try to get it back to the original
thickness.

Sounds good although I'd be a little concerned about the first layer
delaminating. That happened on that Chris Craft Crusader I was going
to restore. When I started on the glass, the whole top layer came off
the transom and I found some rot further along that I planned. I
ended up stripping the entire top layer of glass and wood when I found
it.

Just a thought.

Out of curiosity, from your picture it looks like the bottom holes on
the mount are sort of oblong shaped - is that an artifact from the
angle of the picture or are they really oblong?

--

"I intend to live forever. So far, so good."

Steven Wright

Transom Troubles
 

"Wizard of Woodstock" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:34:16 -0800 (PST), wrote:

http://home.earthlink.net/~jamesgangnc/before3.jpg

I have no idea where it delaminated farther out but right under the
outdrive it appears to actually be the first layer of the plywood
rather than just the fiberglass. So I'm thinking I'm going to cut all
this away and build it back up with fiberglass cloth and epoxy. Since
the actual point where the outdrive sits is solid I'm going to work
towards that level rather than try to get it back to the original
thickness.

Sounds good although I'd be a little concerned about the first layer
delaminating. That happened on that Chris Craft Crusader I was going
to restore. When I started on the glass, the whole top layer came off
the transom and I found some rot further along that I planned. I
ended up stripping the entire top layer of glass and wood when I found
it.

Just a thought.

Out of curiosity, from your picture it looks like the bottom holes on
the mount are sort of oblong shaped - is that an artifact from the
angle of the picture or are they really oblong?

--

"I intend to live forever. So far, so good."

Steven Wright

The holes are round so I think that's just the camera angle combined with
the shadows in the holes. Turned out it was not the plywood delaminating,
the delamination was at the fiberglass/plywood intersection. The glass was
thicker than I expected, about 3/8" or so. I've removed some of it and
still need to feather the edges. The plywood is in so so condition. A bit
punky on the top layer with one softer spot on the left side. To be
expected after 18 years I imagine. I'll post another picture after I finish
grinding. I'm once again remembering why grinding in the garage is not such
a smart idea, dust EVERY FRICKING WHERE. Have to drag it out on to the
driveway before I feather the edges. I'm going to go ahead and remove the
area under the lower third of the outdrive as well. Now that I think about
it more, creating a joint right at the bottom edge of the outdrive is not
such a smart idea.

Transom Troubles
 

"jamesgangnc" wrote in message
...


The holes are round so I think that's just the camera angle combined with
the shadows in the holes. Turned out it was not the plywood delaminating,
the delamination was at the fiberglass/plywood intersection. The glass
was thicker than I expected, about 3/8" or so. I've removed some of it
and still need to feather the edges. The plywood is in so so condition.
A bit punky on the top layer with one softer spot on the left side. To be
expected after 18 years I imagine. I'll post another picture after I
finish grinding. I'm once again remembering why grinding in the garage is
not such a smart idea, dust EVERY FRICKING WHERE. Have to drag it out on
to the driveway before I feather the edges. I'm going to go ahead and
remove the area under the lower third of the outdrive as well. Now that I
think about it more, creating a joint right at the bottom edge of the
outdrive is not such a smart idea.


You are probably aware of this, but I thought I'd pass it on anyway.
If the plywood isn't so bad that it needs to be cut out and replaced,
saturating it for a while with automotive type anti-freeze before doing the
fiberglass repair is supposed to kill the organisms that would continue
the rot and prevent it from rotting further.

That's what I've read anyway.

Eisboch

Transom Troubles
 

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"jamesgangnc" wrote in message
...


The holes are round so I think that's just the camera angle combined with
the shadows in the holes. Turned out it was not the plywood
delaminating, the delamination was at the fiberglass/plywood
intersection. The glass was thicker than I expected, about 3/8" or so.
I've removed some of it and still need to feather the edges. The plywood
is in so so condition. A bit punky on the top layer with one softer spot
on the left side. To be expected after 18 years I imagine. I'll post
another picture after I finish grinding. I'm once again remembering why
grinding in the garage is not such a smart idea, dust EVERY FRICKING
WHERE. Have to drag it out on to the driveway before I feather the
edges. I'm going to go ahead and remove the area under the lower third
of the outdrive as well. Now that I think about it more, creating a
joint right at the bottom edge of the outdrive is not such a smart idea.


You are probably aware of this, but I thought I'd pass it on anyway.
If the plywood isn't so bad that it needs to be cut out and replaced,
saturating it for a while with automotive type anti-freeze before doing
the
fiberglass repair is supposed to kill the organisms that would continue
the rot and prevent it from rotting further.

That's what I've read anyway.

Eisboch
I did do that when I replaced the floor. The interior stringers were in
fair shape as well as some of the other under-the-floor structures so I
soaked everything I was not replacing in anti-freeze. The antifreeze step
added a lot of time to the repair as I then had to wait a month or so for
the anitfreeze to dry enough to start in the rest. You do learn patience
when doing boat fiberglass repairs. After the antifreeze dryed I spent a
week or so soaking things down with epoxy thinned with alcohol. I wonder if
that's not pretty toxic as well. I'm leaning towards going straght to the
saturating with epoxy/alcohol as the first step on this one. The boat lives
on a trailer in a garage so the exposure is more limited than many. We're
into water sports so it only goes out in the summer. Teenage "only
daughter" is headed to college next year so I'm thinking our boating will
fall off a bit as the next 4 or 5 years go by. In hind sight I probably
should have replaced the boat instead of fixing the floor but at this point
I might as well keep it going. One lesson observed is that these runabouts
are really mostly built to last 10-15 years or so.