How To Repair A Transom On A Boat

1 OF THE HOTTEST TOPICS We GET ASKED Well-nigh IS REBUILDING YOUR Gunkhole. Hither ARE 6 TOPICS ON THE TRANSOM TO Aid YOU GET YOUR HEAD AROUND THE Practise'S AND DON'TS OF A REBUILD!

Your transom is commonly the kickoff part of the structure in a gunkhole to go rotten and is also one of the most important structural parts of your boat - Not only does normally the about expensive investment go bolted to it, but information technology also ties a lot together and well without it... your swimming. And then in no particular order, allow's get into them!

1) The Old "Pour In Instant-Fix You lot Saw On The Internet"

Ok and so let'due south start with the biggest blench transom subject we get weekly! You don't want to go to all that try and crawling to do it properly, so yous saw this awesome product y'all but mix up and cascade into the rotten areas of the transom. It sets difficult and boom you bolt the outboard back on and drive past your local repair store who quoted you more than the $200 including postage for the gypsie product that stock-still your transom in nigh the same fourth dimension information technology took to drink that 6 pack.

And then this is wrong on and so many levels, firstly because yous paid for a pretty characterization and faux hopes when mixing resin with talc pulverization tin can achieve the same effect. That upshot of course is pouring a ring aid bog essentially into a cavity you created once you lot dug what yous think is all the soft expanse of your transom and chances of information technology bonding to the rotten timber are slim to none, equally soon as any flex or load is put on that expanse it will break gratis or worse just shatter and you lot are back to where y'all started from but worse… you now accept to make up a story when you have it into the repairer on the guy who owned it earlier you lot must accept put some bog in it to set information technology.

ii) Sliding A New Transom In From The Peak

And then your not every bit ruff equally filling areas with bog, but you still don't meet yourself cut the pinnacle deck off and getting super itchy, plus the atmospheric condition is adept over the side by side week so you lot desire it washed quick! The transom is simply approx 40mm thick and the chainsaw blade is no where near that… here hold my beer, out it comes. You spend the all-time role of the day carefully jamming a chainsaw or chisel downward in betwixt the two transom skins until your confident "it'southward equally proficient as it's gonna get". Next comes the 2 pieces of ply you got from the hardware store… probably went all out on marine ply to justify it to yourself that information technology volition be fine. Trim it to size and "glue information technology together" even with an epoxy bonding paste because the internet said epoxy was the best! So with some sort of pure magic you got plenty of the aforementioned epoxy adhesive to run down the inside face of the transom skins and what do you know, it just slides right downwards in there. Give information technology a adept couple of bangs with a closed fist the next twenty-four hours and mate she is as solid every bit a stone! Now to spend the side by side 2 days trying to make the tiptop department y'all cut off look pretty and glass information technology all back together to resemble something like what you cut out.

After two trips to the reef if you have made the second trip… it now sounds drummy in areas and the sides of the top cap have foreign cracking starting to course… that's considering information technology has literally sheared the transom away from either ane or both of the skins and y'all may as well accept just put a large aluminium plate on the surface area the engine bolts too. The timber is in mint condition and volition make a perfect template or, even improve could mayhap still exist used when y'all actually do the transom correctly.

3) Using The Wrong Resin

Allow'south assume you have rolled your eyes at the top ii and know that you are in for some itchy work but if done correctly will never accept to be done again and yous will have confidence in swinging the ponies off the back in some madddd chop. Number iii is not a dodgy or something that is detrimental to the chore, but more a classic error nosotros see regularly and we want to be more than of an awareness point. Effigy out what resin your gunkhole has been made with first, either past doing some tests, contacting the manufacturer or hit us up! The about normally used resin in Australian made boats is Polyester ortho resin. Basically the blue stinky stuff commonly associated with fibreglassing that needs the hardener at 1%. This is handy to know as the aforementioned resin is ideal to use to deport out your tranome repair/replacement. The adhesion will be fine, the working time volition exist doable to work with and you volition be keeping it same/same. The about common resin we get asked to replace a transom with is epoxy. That is fine if you do non want a bar of the differences in resins and the group admin from your favourite social media site said he did his in epoxy then that'southward what your going with, but keep in mind that once you do your transom with epoxy you then volition find it super difficult to transition back into poly or vinyl ester resin in the residue of the build, plus getting gelcoat/flowcoat to bail is at present nearly impossible. In a nut vanquish - epoxy is dearer per kg, takes longer to cure and you volition demand to alter your laminate schedule (drinking glass type used) to make it all piece of work.

Every bit a niggling experiment, e-mail or contact ten of Australia's leading boat manufacturers and ask them if they apply epoxy in their builds. On the flip side, if you have an epoxy fabricated boat, approximate what… your using epoxy!

4) Using The Wrong Substrate

Ply has obviously been around longer than the Composite Core vs Marine Ply debate, notwithstanding among the tried and tested substrates available on the market, there are likewise some not and so recommended boards. Structural Ply and marine ply are readily bachelor from about hardware shops, just make certain they are not treated with anything! You do not want any funny coloured ends or coatings on the lath. The resin will not adhere to these treated boards (fifty-fifty epoxy) and you will finish up with a good work bench to utilise to cut your non treated ply. If you take access to form ply from the job site that no one volition know y'all've knocked off, absurd… use it as a workbench likewise as the nice shiny smooth finish either side will work as a mould face and nothing will stick. Some form ply also has water proofing products in it, so avert knocking information technology off for your transom and keep it for forming up your esky or new seat boxes! Honeycomb or PP sheets are an astonishing lightweight production for your flooring or hatches etc, but are no practiced for your transom due to information technology's sheer force and cell construction existence easily compromised in a transom application.. Plus it's resin up take is pretty high and so what you would relieve on the toll of the sheet would become in the amount of resin it eats up. PVC boards are an crawly option and are commonly used in Aussie made boats and the yanks have been using it for years. It is super easy to work with, comes in a bunch of densities and all resin types adhere to it. Here is the kicker.. yous can get 2 types of PVC boards, the board that has a polished surface actually works the same as the form ply and nothing will stick to it so brand certain you ask for a pvc board suitable for fibreglassing. Continue the polished board for your fit out applications!

Concluding but no least is Thermo-lite and similar products. These boards fall nether their own category in a league of their own with the benefits they offering. We will become over the Thermo-lite board in another web log, however in a nutshell this production offers a versatile, high density, waterproof, acid proof, fuel proof structural lath with acceptance of all resin types.

5) Cut It Out From The Dorsum

If you have done information technology this mode already you will disagree with what I am about to write and probably do a pffff easy for them to say type comment to yourself. I accept left this to second terminal and so that hopefully information technology is the last point that sticks in your mind, however it is probably the nearly important signal of them all!

Cutting your transom out from the dorsum of your boat opposed to from the inside leaving the outer skin intact, is i of the virtually touch and get repairs I feel you can do. When a transom is put into a gunkhole, no matter what brand or size, information technology is completed from the within.

The gelcoat is laid in the mould, and then backed up with the laminate (layers of drinking glass that make the hull) so allow cure. The transom is then made outside the boat separately, whether it exist a i-piece transom or multiple substrates laminated together to form i. In one case the transom structure has been fabricated it is and so laminated into the gunkhole from the within and usually clamped off using large U-shaped clamps. Once cured a lamination is the placed over the front face of the transom and all stringers etc butt up against this to begin forming the structure of the hull. The front face laminate usually only goes beyond the face of the transom and back onto the inside of the hull approx 150-200 mm. This then sandwiches the transom betwixt the 2 laminates and in theory y'all glass upwardly and over the elevation department of the transom and finish it neatly on the back side. (but a lot of gunkhole builders still do non do information technology, instead screw an alloy cap to the height)

When you cut information technology out from the back you still have to dig the rotten timber out like you would from the within, but you at present also have a hard fourth dimension trying to clench information technology off as the height deck is in the style and the laminate of 150 -200 minimum now has to go around the dorsum and downwards the sides of the hull and keel to laminate it dorsum in. So amongst lamination issues and getting precise thicknesses equally you only have the onetime thickness to piece of work with depth wise, you too at present take to spend, in my stance, 3 times longer sorting out the cosmetics of the rear section of your transom and back section of your hull in full general to attain a shine gelcoat stop, that will never lucifer the residuum of the boats hull colour or stop. If the transom needs to exist done then there is a big take chances the rear sections of your stringers need to be sorted out also. If you are happy to do the transom from the exterior merely and then spring within to do the stringers so I think you are going to be in a world of disappointment once the rebuild is finished compared to doing it all from the within the way it was washed from the factory.

What information technology may toll you in fourth dimension or to pay someone through a shop to accept the rear section of the cap off to do the transom from the inside, will completely outweigh the cost of you or a store getting it to all look pretty with a guaranteed laminate that volition not fail from the outside. Look at your rebuilt boat now… does it take strange cracks appearing approx xv-20mm in from all the edges on the backside of the transom? Which way do you call back your new transom was put into the boat?

6) Not Waxing The Dorsum Of The Transom

Exactly that, when doing your transom from the inside, wax the outside skin of the transom thoroughly and tape up onetime bolt holes, transducer holes etc. When yous put the new transom in and clamp it off, y'all should see the resin ooze out of the top and whatsoever holes on the transom skin. Oozing resin is a practiced matter and ways it has enough pressure applied to compress the laminate. Once all is cured you lot can simply peel the tape off the holes, which will now be flat and flick any excess resin drips that accept ran down the transom off with a paint scraper or plastic wedge. Any holes that need to be kept, y'all can re drill and with the excess wax, give it a wipe with some acetone or wax and grease remover to have a nice make clean transom to continue your build!

I promise these half-dozen topics shed some calorie-free on your transom rebuild decisions and remind you that cut corners at this phase can exist a world of hurt once its back on the h2o. I clinch you the hottest fence volition be over which way to supersede the transom and a lot of builders/repairers may fence blackness and blue they accept been doing it for years from the back of the gunkhole. If you seek communication through Fibrefinish we will e'er recommend replacing it from the inside and happy to hash out all these topics more in depth if need be.

Please give united states of america feedback on what other topics you would like us to cover? Arrive bear upon and allow usa know. Until then, thanks for reading and we look forwards to helping yous out with your project!

We're itching to impress yous!

Source: https://fibrefinish.com.au/blogs/news/rebuilding-your-transom-here-are-6-must-knows-before-you-start

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