vegas transom

[mdcline]

i am about to replace the transom in my stream. is there any other type of wood/composite that can be used to ensure strength besides plywood? i would like this to be my first and last experience with transom replacements.

[pyro]

Sorry to hear about all the problems with that pretty boat. First it was the floor, now the transom too!

Techno among others will suggest some composite alternatives that work well. Might be worth a try.

Wood is strong and easy to work with. click here==> http://www.rotdoctor.com

Go to the website and buy a 2-gallon kit of CPES resin, it soaks into the wood and makes it last forever. It is the best product on the market for this purpose. Treat all your wood and let it cure for a couple weeks before you lay up your new transom. Polyester and epoxy resin will both bond to wood stronger once it's been treated with CPES. I soaked down my original '89 Vegas back seat frame with this stuff because it was starting to look a little bit weathered. Now it is rock hard and will last forever, even if the boat sinks.

[H2Onut]

seacast or transom cast, I used transom cast from www.fgci.com

It is epoxy, sea cast is poly.

[mdcline]

pyro,

i do not remember if i ever posted a pic of the boat, if not, here is one of the more recent ones.

[mdcline]

let me try this again.

[mdcline]

i guess the file is too big. let me try a few more things.

[Pete 88 Venus]

mdcline,
I looked into the composite route for my project and found that quite a few HP boat mfg's are using using panels made by a company called Baltek, they are called Decolite panels and are suposadley very strong and lightweight. After a few weeks of hunting around for a distributor to sell me just 2 or 3 sheets I found the cost was just too unjustifiable, so I am going with good old trusty marine plywood. I spoke to a guy from progression boats (www.progressionboats.com) about using the panels though, he had nothing but good things to say about them, they use them for their transoms and offer an unbelievable warranty on them and have not had any problems. He was willing to sell me a few sheets but it would've been more than 4x what the marine ply cost me.

If you would still like to look into it, the guys from www.marine.com have it a little cheaper than I found elsewhere, I think about $270 per 4x8x3/4 sheet (progression told me 2 layers would be sufficient).

Here is a linke to Baltek www.baltek.com

Good luck! let us know what you decide.


My project

[Georgia Boy]

Keep that up and that will be a nice ride!

[mdcline]

Pete 88 Venus,
i was just looking at the baltec website, very interesting. on another note, i have to re-core the boat and my question is this, must i use balsa for the re-core? some local guys are saying that i should use the foam sheets.

[Techno]

I'm one for the wooden transom. Wood is great. Its strong and has almost no fatigue point.

The transom cast stuff -someone mentioned it held twin outboards then later mentioned an aluminum plate was in it. I'd skip the concrete and just put an aluminum plate in myself.

Plenty of options. Check the price and ease of installation then makes your choice.

On the balsa, its the best coring material available. But you could use foam if the skin seperation is large. The strength goes up by the square of seperation. 1/2" is four times stronger than 1/4" coring. 1" is 16! times that of 1/4" and four time that of 1/2"
I have no idea of what a 1/4" foam with a layer or 2 of glass and a second 1/4" sheet with glass would be- but its gotta be stiff!

The foam isn't exactly cheap but it doesn't rot or absorb water. I tested a piece in a glass of water for a few months.
It also doesn't absorb a lot of resin. End grain balsa will.

[mklein]

On a Vegas does the boat have to be cut in half and separated to replace the transom. Or can it be removed with just the floor cut out. I had an old 1971 Glen Coe that the transom and floor was rotton. I separated the boat at the rub rail, replaced the transom and floor, it was a hell of a job and not somthing I ever want to do again. I am working on a Vegas now and think the transom may questionable. It seems strong and doesn't have any cracks, but the boat has been sitting outside for the last 4 years so one could just imagine...:eek:

[pyro]

You don't have to separate hull and deck, and you SHOULD NOT!!
There is nothing to gian by separating it. You can do the transom from the inside and outside. Several boaters on this forum have done this themselves.

[mklein]

Good, that is what I wanted to hear. I would never cut a boat apart again, it was a nightmare to say the least.

[pyro]

Dave Casper re-did the transom on an '85 or '86 Vegas XT,. He's got some good pictures of it and a helpful article on the IHR at:

http://www.hydrostream.org/ArticleArchives/Transom.htm

The way he did it was a good way to go, especially for solid colors like white. Metalflake stuff is harder to match up when it's done.

Good stuff.

[mklein]

Pyro, Thanks for the link to Dave Caspers Post.

One of the plans/ideas I had was to cut the old transom out from the front of the boat. I was going to do this by cutting out the splash well and accross the top of the transom itself. Cut the layers of fiberglass from the inside and then remove all the old water logged wood. Use 2 pieces of 3/4 inch marine plywood, glass them together with expoxy resin and slide them in from the top. When it comes to putting it back together I was planning on glassing flat accross the back and eliminating the splash well. For the last step I was thinking of cutting a 1/4 inch aluminum plate the same size as the transom and welding knee braces that would be glassed and bolted to the stringers. At this point this is just an idea I came up with after looking at ways others have fixed thir boats.

I like the way Dave Casper did it also, it looks much simpler than my idea.

I havn't done anything with the transom yet, I am still trying to figure out the best way to do it. I have established it is water logged I removed the motor and brown stinky water poured out of the mounting holes:( I drilled a couple of 1/8 inch holes to see how bad it was and it looked like I was taping a maple tree for syrup.