I ground off the section of fiberglass below the outdrive down. And
feathered it out a bit. The plywood is a bit punky but still
resembles plywood. I dug out a couple spots that were softer that the
rest of the area. It's fairly dry since it has been 3 or 4 months
with the boat in the garage but I've got a fan blowing on it right
now.

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

I'm going to leave the fan on it for a few days just to dry any
residual dampness. Then I'll soak the exposed wood with an alcohol/
epoxy mix. Follow up with some filler/epoxy to build the plywood back
out to the original level. Then lay 4 or 5 layers of glass/epoxy on
top of that.

On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:08:11 -0800 (PST), wrote:

I ground off the section of fiberglass below the outdrive down. And
feathered it out a bit. The plywood is a bit punky but still
resembles plywood. I dug out a couple spots that were softer that the
rest of the area. It's fairly dry since it has been 3 or 4 months
with the boat in the garage but I've got a fan blowing on it right
now.

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

I'm going to leave the fan on it for a few days just to dry any
residual dampness. Then I'll soak the exposed wood with an alcohol/
epoxy mix. Follow up with some filler/epoxy to build the plywood back
out to the original level. Then lay 4 or 5 layers of glass/epoxy on
top of that.

Oh man - does that look familiar. It's almost exactly what happened
with the Chris Craft Corsair I tried to rebuild.

If you don't mind a bit of unsolicited advice, get a small soft rubber
hammer and sound out the rest of the transom. I'm sure you know the
sound of dead wood vs good wood. The reason I say that is there might
be some top-down rot in that transom that you haven't discovered yet.
I know when I found that problem, I was concerned that it wasn't the
only place and boy was I right.

Having said that, the repair looks really good - for what it's worth,
you're doing a good job with it.

In case your interested, I decided to cut the whole transom out of the
Corsair and replace it. When I did that, I discovered that the
fiberglass capsulated stringers had rotten through - as in all that
was left was some little pieces of wood and a lot of wood compost
under the fiberglass. :) So I pulled up the floor and found that
the glass had gone soft all the way to the hull - that was that. Cut
the hull up and took it do the dump. :)

On Jan 15, 12:20*pm, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:
On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:08:11 -0800 (PST), wrote:
I ground off the section of fiberglass below the outdrive down. *And
feathered it out a bit. *The plywood is a bit punky but still
resembles plywood. *I dug out a couple spots that were softer that the
rest of the area. *It's fairly dry since it has been 3 or 4 months
with the boat in the garage but I've got a fan blowing on it right
now.

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

I'm going to leave the fan on it for a few days just to dry any
residual dampness. *Then I'll soak the exposed wood with an alcohol/
epoxy mix. *Follow up with some filler/epoxy to build the plywood back
out to the original level. *Then lay 4 or 5 layers of glass/epoxy on
top of that.

Oh man - does that look familiar. *It's almost exactly what happened
with the Chris Craft Corsair I tried to rebuild.

If you don't mind a bit of unsolicited advice, get a small soft rubber
hammer and sound out the rest of the transom. *I'm sure you know the
sound of dead wood vs good wood. *The reason I say that is there might
be some top-down rot in that transom that you haven't discovered yet.
I know when I found that problem, I was concerned that it wasn't the
only place and boy was I right.

Having said that, the repair looks really good - for what it's worth,
you're doing a good job with it.

In case your interested, I decided to cut the whole transom out of the
Corsair and replace it. *When I did that, I discovered that the
fiberglass capsulated stringers had rotten through - as in all that
was left was some little pieces of wood and a lot of wood compost
under the fiberglass. *:) *So I pulled up the floor and found that
the glass had gone soft all the way to the hull - that was that. *Cut
the hull up and took it do the dump. *:)

Thanks :-)

I did a floor/stringer repair on this boat about 4 years ago. The
transom checked out ok then and the rest of it seems pretty solid now
when you bang around on it with a mallet. I think this area is
marginal because it's at the bottom and has had the crack in it for a
while. Overall it's probably not perfect but I think it's in better
shape that what you ran into. Had the transom been gone back when I
did the floor I believe I would have gone the same route you did. As
it was, that work was far more than I thought it would be and I'd
probably not do that again.

When I did the floor repair I used those composite deck surfacing
boards as stringers. I also left the foam out. The foam was clearly
trapping water in places when I pulled the floor up. I now have drain
holes across the stringers at the rear and again about 2/3rds of the
way to the bow. I put access holes with those round screw in covers
in floor in the back under the sun deck so I can check the stringer
drain holes periodically.

The boat has spent most of it's life in a garage when not in use and
I'm pretty religious about drying it out. I open all the covered
storage spaces and the sun deck after I put it in the garage. I even
have three of those little 12" round fans that I will stick in it when
I think it's gotten wetter than usual. I keep the inside storage
spaces sprayed regularly with lysol to prevent mold.

On Jan 15, 12:28*pm, wrote:
On Jan 15, 12:20*pm, Short Wave Sportfishing



wrote:
On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:08:11 -0800 (PST), wrote:
I ground off the section of fiberglass below the outdrive down. *And
feathered it out a bit. *The plywood is a bit punky but still
resembles plywood. *I dug out a couple spots that were softer that the
rest of the area. *It's fairly dry since it has been 3 or 4 months
with the boat in the garage but I've got a fan blowing on it right
now.

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

I'm going to leave the fan on it for a few days just to dry any
residual dampness. *Then I'll soak the exposed wood with an alcohol/
epoxy mix. *Follow up with some filler/epoxy to build the plywood back
out to the original level. *Then lay 4 or 5 layers of glass/epoxy on
top of that.

Oh man - does that look familiar. *It's almost exactly what happened
with the Chris Craft Corsair I tried to rebuild.

If you don't mind a bit of unsolicited advice, get a small soft rubber
hammer and sound out the rest of the transom. *I'm sure you know the
sound of dead wood vs good wood. *The reason I say that is there might
be some top-down rot in that transom that you haven't discovered yet.
I know when I found that problem, I was concerned that it wasn't the
only place and boy was I right.

Having said that, the repair looks really good - for what it's worth,
you're doing a good job with it.

In case your interested, I decided to cut the whole transom out of the
Corsair and replace it. *When I did that, I discovered that the
fiberglass capsulated stringers had rotten through - as in all that
was left was some little pieces of wood and a lot of wood compost
under the fiberglass. *:) *So I pulled up the floor and found that
the glass had gone soft all the way to the hull - that was that. *Cut
the hull up and took it do the dump. *:)

Thanks :-)

I did a floor/stringer repair on this boat about 4 years ago. *The
transom checked out ok then and the rest of it seems pretty solid now
when you bang around on it with a mallet. *I think this area is
marginal because it's at the bottom and has had the crack in it for a
while. *Overall it's probably not perfect but I think it's in better
shape that what you ran into. *Had the transom been gone back when I
did the floor I believe I would have gone the same route you did. *As
it was, that work was far more than I thought it would be and I'd
probably not do that again.

When I did the floor repair I used those composite deck surfacing
boards as stringers. *I also left the foam out. *The foam was clearly
trapping water in places when I pulled the floor up. *I now have drain
holes across the stringers at the rear and again about 2/3rds of the
way to the bow. *I put access holes with those round screw in covers
in floor in the back under the sun deck so I can check the stringer
drain holes periodically.

The boat has spent most of it's life in a garage when not in use and
I'm pretty religious about drying it out. *I open all the covered
storage spaces and the sun deck after I put it in the garage. *I even
have three of those little 12" round fans that I will stick in it when
I think it's gotten wetter than usual. *I keep the inside storage
spaces sprayed regularly with lysol to prevent mold.

man, and dry as you keep the boat, that is, when not in use, I'm
really surprised it ahd any rot at all.

On Jan 15, 7:51*pm, Tim wrote:
On Jan 15, 12:28*pm, wrote:





On Jan 15, 12:20*pm, Short Wave Sportfishing

wrote:
On Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:08:11 -0800 (PST), wrote:
I ground off the section of fiberglass below the outdrive down. *And
feathered it out a bit. *The plywood is a bit punky but still
resembles plywood. *I dug out a couple spots that were softer that the
rest of the area. *It's fairly dry since it has been 3 or 4 months
with the boat in the garage but I've got a fan blowing on it right
now.

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

I'm going to leave the fan on it for a few days just to dry any
residual dampness. *Then I'll soak the exposed wood with an alcohol/
epoxy mix. *Follow up with some filler/epoxy to build the plywood back
out to the original level. *Then lay 4 or 5 layers of glass/epoxy on
top of that.

Oh man - does that look familiar. *It's almost exactly what happened
with the Chris Craft Corsair I tried to rebuild.

If you don't mind a bit of unsolicited advice, get a small soft rubber
hammer and sound out the rest of the transom. *I'm sure you know the
sound of dead wood vs good wood. *The reason I say that is there might
be some top-down rot in that transom that you haven't discovered yet.
I know when I found that problem, I was concerned that it wasn't the
only place and boy was I right.

Having said that, the repair looks really good - for what it's worth,
you're doing a good job with it.

In case your interested, I decided to cut the whole transom out of the
Corsair and replace it. *When I did that, I discovered that the
fiberglass capsulated stringers had rotten through - as in all that
was left was some little pieces of wood and a lot of wood compost
under the fiberglass. *:) *So I pulled up the floor and found that
the glass had gone soft all the way to the hull - that was that. *Cut
the hull up and took it do the dump. *:)

Thanks :-)

I did a floor/stringer repair on this boat about 4 years ago. *The
transom checked out ok then and the rest of it seems pretty solid now
when you bang around on it with a mallet. *I think this area is
marginal because it's at the bottom and has had the crack in it for a
while. *Overall it's probably not perfect but I think it's in better
shape that what you ran into. *Had the transom been gone back when I
did the floor I believe I would have gone the same route you did. *As
it was, that work was far more than I thought it would be and I'd
probably not do that again.

When I did the floor repair I used those composite deck surfacing
boards as stringers. *I also left the foam out. *The foam was clearly
trapping water in places when I pulled the floor up. *I now have drain
holes across the stringers at the rear and again about 2/3rds of the
way to the bow. *I put access holes with those round screw in covers
in floor in the back under the sun deck so I can check the stringer
drain holes periodically.

The boat has spent most of it's life in a garage when not in use and
I'm pretty religious about drying it out. *I open all the covered
storage spaces and the sun deck after I put it in the garage. *I even
have three of those little 12" round fans that I will stick in it when
I think it's gotten wetter than usual. *I keep the inside storage
spaces sprayed regularly with lysol to prevent mold.

man, and dry as you keep the boat, that is, when not in use, I'm
really surprised it ahd any rot at all.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Truth is this is the second time I'm fixing this crack. And it has
been around a bit before getting the attention it needed. The first
time around I just ground it out, filled it with gelcoat, and sanded
it down. I did not remove the outdrive. That didn't do anything for
the underlying delamination problem that was causing the crack. So
the repair didn't last. I discovered the crack had come back last
spring. I knew then the only way to fix it for good was to take off
the outdrive and do it right. But that wasn't the right time to be
removing the engine and outdrive from the boat since it would have cut
into summer. So I gooped it up with some silicon. Which of course is
not really the right sealant to use on a boat. Bottom line, water's
had plenty of opportunity to soak into the area on two occasions. Now
I've got it torn down and I'm going to fix it right. Plus I figured
it was about time to replace the outdrive bellows and hoses since it
still had the original ones on it.