"By utilizing composite materials, we have eliminated the risk of rot....

[Ron V]

....compromising the integrity of our boats."

At least I discovered it while sitting on the crapper reading my copy of Seaworthy magazine from Boat U.S. ("oozing brown liquid around fasteners..."). Finding out while going past the concrete bridge supports under the Route 14 bridge at 70 mph would have been much worse.

Edit: Caption on the second photo should read "no sealer around the entire transom plate/cap". I do not want anyone to think that there was a "jackplate" improperly installed. The scar on the transom is the outline of the entire aluminum transom cap/plate. The factory pulled this whole stunt off on their own. Not the fault of anyone else along the way - except maybe for me believing the transom was composite and never unscrewing the cap to look when I had the motor off.

[Ron V]

Another pic.

I'm down but not out....the Phoenix will rise from the ashes to fly again.

[stokernick]

sad commentary about a ''quality'' build!I know you'll fix it right and move on,good luck!

[j.iverson]

Same thing happened to my 1988 Hurricane. It didn't stop at the transom, the bottom of the hull began flexing and sounded like a pumpkin when you tapped on it. Good things did come after it went to salvage, it got me in a pad-v.;)

[Bushmen]

I had one too on my OE cat.Water got in and rotted the wood.Had to gut everything but the glass and rebuild it.Another 2K I was not ready to spend.

This is why after years of looking around, I am having Sparky at Vicious build my new hull.It will never rott.Check out how to advoid this and do it the right way.Vicious uses close cell foam in the whole boat top bottom side everywhere.It CNC cut to fit exact in the hull with groves in it for resin flow.Its sandwicth in between the cross weave glass.It will not adsorb water is super light and exstreamly strong.After the layup is all in place with our resin its vac bag and power flushed with resin harden under Vac pressure and all is fused together.You realy need to see this process.Take a look this is what you want

http://forums.screamandfly.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105561

[The Big Al]

That just does not look like fun. Are you going to have to pull the deck???

[Ron V]

Yep, the deck has to come off and it's glassed together, but I ain't going to be the lucky one. I don't know anything about glass work so I'm having it done over the winter.

[The Big Al]

Good luck man, rig anything you can while it's apart.

That's just a pain.

Little sealer would have gone a long way!

[Ron V]

Yep, I'm going to go through it and make a few changes. It needs new carpet, so that's getting done while the interior is out. I never hooked the trim gauge up with the Merc because it was an OMC gauge from the V-4, but I'm going to get a new one and mount it on top of the dash right next to the wheel. Might add an hour meter and depth finder too. Probably will add a setback, and might switch to opposite entry steering. I've never liked the parallel entry cables with the single bolt after what happened to Kurt Graf. As handy as they are, I think I'm going to leave the swim platforms off because it's just 16 more holes for water to get in and most of the people I take tubing are in such bad physical condition they can't pull themselves up onto them anyway. I'll put together some kind of rope ladder to throw overboard instead. Everything else will probably go back together much the way it is.

[Ron V]

I agree that if they are sealed they would be fine. But there is always the chance of a pinhole in the sealer developing, plus I think the boat might look cleaner without them. I haven't totally decided yet. I use them with no problem, but I am in good shape. I could get back into the boat over the side if I wanted. To really appreciate how out of shape America is, you have to watch them try to get up onto the platforms and into the boat. Even most teenagers can't do it because they can't do a push up and swing their knee up onto it to hoist themselves up, even with the water supporting them. They are that wimpy. Even some guys in their 20s with heavy duty arms can barely get back into the boat. It takes everything they've got physically, and even if they are strong enough, many of them aren't smart enough to get their knees up onto the platform instead of just trying to pull themselves up over the back of the boat with their arms. I have to get out of the driver's seat, lean over, and literally hold the hands of former football players to get them into the boat so they don't have a heart attack. An active police officer that I took tubing actually managed to do it with a fair amount of effort. It's truly amazing and a tribute to McDonald's and video games.

[10.5' Tunnel]

Or your just being mean and won't let them in on your knee trick:D