1981 Baja 16SS Transom Question

[Gorilla0178]

easiest way to check for rot is to pop holes saw plugs out in a few easy spots to reach. Then if there is no rot all you have to do is glue/putty the plugs back in and put some fiberglass mat over it, easy repair. If the plugs are rotten then you know there is rot. You can do the same on the transom, if you set the drill bit shallow on the hole saw, you can drill through the inner skin and pop it off with a screw driver. If its wet itll pop off easy, if its stuck real good then its prob dry. Fix is the same, glue/putty the plug back in and put some mat over it.

[ahobbes]

Thanks Gorilla, I'd like to get a smaller hole saw so I can check out each knee in 3 different places, all 3 an inch or so away from the knee-transom interface, bottom, middle, top. I think that should give me a good idea on the condition of the knees. The thing is, I can't access the other side of each knee so I'm hoping to hole-saw partway into the wood, pop off the fiberglass and inspect the wood below (like you said to do with the transom). If that doesn't work I'll need to just drill a shallow hole and inspect the shavings and hole. Both ways will be difficult because I'll need to snake a small drill through the access in the splashwell. I'll probably tape a borescope to the drill so I can see what I'm doing. We'll see if it works!

[Gorilla0178]

I didn't realize it was such a tight space. That's about the only way I know, drill and inspect. You can take a small hammer and tap on the outside of the transom, you can hear a difference in rot and solid, but solid does not mean dry.

[tunnels]

Don't you just love wooden transoms !! The companies that make them should be responsible for replacing them REGUARDLESS HOW OLD THE BOAT IS , then finally they might get the idea "NOT TO USE WOOD IN BOATS" ANY WHERE !!!!
Glass transoms and glass stringer top hat frames are definitely the way to go and should be the only way to go !!
Also don't fill the under floor with FOAM EITHER !!! IT GETS WATER LOGGED !!
WONT BUILDERS EVER LEARN ???

[ahobbes]

I agree, Tunnels. Is an entire glass transom necessary though? Couldn't I go with something like Coosa board?

[JPEROG]

I would just cut the back cap of the transom so that you have access to it from the top. Then take a chainsaw with a dull blade and flip all of the rotted wood out by running the saw "this does an amazing job" and you can leave the inner and outer skin intact. Then you can buy a liquid epoxy transom mix that comes out like a thick milkshake density, dump it in, let it kick and then glass the top cap back over. This is the fastest way that I am aware of and it is rock solid for life in that area.

Joe

[tunnels]

I agree, Tunnels. Is an entire glass transom necessary though? Couldn't I go with something like Coosa board?

Planned out properly the WHOLE transom does not have to be solid glass just a part then glassed in place and then a core maybe each side glassed over BUT its also possible to pre-make that transom and add shape to it to gain strength then glass that in place ! ,it could be as much as half the weight of the old transom and 100% glass with no core any where so nothing to ever get wet again as in never !
Manufactures are so slow to take advantage of what I just told you , its so painful to see how may people have to replace wood in transoms and stringers usually as well because of laziness and incompetence of the manufactures , Using any material any where in the whole boat that absorbs water is poor and there is no need for it at all !!

[ahobbes]

Thanks guys. Tunnels, I'm still not sure how much of the stern is/will be actual transom. Joe, I've looked into seacast, most people seem to be adamantly against it. The one thing about it that concerns me is the bond to the existing skin. I guess it all depends on how much time the user spends removing the old transom and prepping the inside surfaces. It's certainly a trade off, it might take me just as long to cut out the old transom and skin from the outside, build a new transom and glass it in.

[tunnels]

Why are just about all transom's flat all way across from side to side??
If shape is introduced and done properly less material would be required to construct and all glass transom and no core is required and no wood so its stronger and almost ever lasting , solid glass doesn't get water logged and heavy and sure as hell doesn't rot !!
Same goes with stringer systems under the floor !! Oh sure it easy to grab a grotty bit of wood bog it in on edge glass over it and call it a stringer and in quite a short time the glass is all that holding the wet soggy timber that just there for the ride because it doing absolutely nothing just taking up space , the glass that was used to hold the wood in place so it could get wet from end to end is doing all the work and pretending to be a stringer .so why bother in the first place ?? If that glass and a little more had been used in the manufacture of a glass grid , top hat, frame there'd be no having to rip up the floors as the same time as doing a transom replacement and clean out all that rotten wood !!!
You as customers collectively have the power to force manufactures to buck up and make there boats better !! right ?? So why do you just take it that its ok ?? Personally id never touch any boat any size any brand that has wood any where in its construction don't care how good they think it is its all lies !! But its all sealed before its glassed over !! Yeah right !what a load of rubbish . Same with foam that's used for buoyancy how many people have opened up the floor and found waterlogged foam that's about as useful as tits on a bull !! Its been happening since the stuff was first invented and its still doing the same thing !! absorbing water and slowing you down !! so why use it !!
Seems to me the boating industries in every country just do as they please and all tell the same lies and I feel after being in the industry for 44 years a few thing might have changed but it really hasn't changed that much. I can go to any powerboat manufacture any where and in a hour of looking around tell that what they are doing was done way before I started working in the 1970s AND they still using the same materials the same way I was shown when I first started . Oh sure there is the odd company that's doing things a little different but is it revolutionary and earth shattering what they doing !! Not likely !! The auto industry have changed a lot since the 1970s and the aircraft industry also is going ahead in leaps and bounds but the marine industry just keeps on plodding along , and we the ordinary people are still recycling older boats and replacing the bits with the same materials they were built with that has failed and you are replacing !! .

At 72 years of age im very disillusioned with the marine industry and the manufacture of smaller boats in particular .My coming to china was interesting and saw they were trying to make change and the company never had any wood in any part of there boats they build .They have been designed by a well known kiwi designer and he had seen it all because he was a boat builder and served his time on the factory floor making power boats and sail boats . T
he only thing that was letting the Chinese company down was the lack of quality !! To the workers on the floor its just a job end of story !! non have ever seen a boat in the water , so need I say more !!