Seacast Transom Repair w/pictures

[thill]

Here are the pictures I promised and a few other notes:

Here is a shot of the transom once the motor was removed.
http://members.purespeed.com/~thill/TRAN01.jpg

You can see all the holes in the transom, some had been sealed, some had not.
http://members.purespeed.com/~thill/TRAN02.jpg

Here is a close-up of where the engine was literally sinking INTO the rotten transom
http://members.purespeed.com/~thill/TRAN03.jpg

Seacast says use a chain saw, so I touched it to the top of the transom. Sunk right in.
http://members.purespeed.com/~thill/TRAN04.jpg

Using the chain saw really was as easy as Seacast said it would be. The rotten wood came out just like mulch. Notice the soft brown shreds all around. Because the wood was soft, it was easy to shave right up against the glass. I finished the wood removal with a chisel mounted to a piece of 1x2 maple, and then used a shop vac with a piece of 3/4" hose on it to get everything clean as a whistle inside.
http://members.purespeed.com/~thill/TRAN06.jpg

http://members.purespeed.com/~thill/TRAN05.jpg

Then I used a grinder and glass tape to close the holes, damaged areas and giant scuppers. Then I poured the Seacast. (sorry, no pics- I had my hands full, and I didn’t want to mess anything up)

Pouring the Seacast was almost a non-event. You mix it up as directed, and pour it in. I used a stick to push it around and then thumped it with a rubber mallet to release any trapped air bubbles. I laid a piece of glass tape across the top, and three hours later, I had a VERY solid transom! I couldn’t be happier!

The patch work I did to the skin of the transom needed to be cleaned up, so I mixed powdered glass into some resin and skimmed it flat. Very easy, if you’ve ever done any drywall work. Sand it and do it again, and she was ready for spraying gel coat:
http://members.purespeed.com/~thill/TRAN08.jpg

Here is a picture of the transom after spraying. Sorry about the haze, the camera had been in A/C, and I grabbed it for the pic, and it was 100 degrees outside, hence the condensation.
http://members.purespeed.com/~thill/TRAN09.jpg

And that’s pretty much it. Seacast really lived up to it’s claims. I already knew this from others on this board, but I’m glad it proved true for me, too. I'm confident that this transom is stronger that it has ever been before, including when it was brand new.

In summary... It took me 5-6 hours to get the transom cleaned out over several afternoons, less than 1 hour to tape the holes shut, 1 hour to pour the Seacast, about 4 hours over a couple of days to skim out the repairs and about 3 hours to spray the gel coat. I will buff and wax the new gel coat, (about 2 hours) and put the motor back on. (about 1 hour)

So the total investment for replacing my rotten transom is $497 in materials and 17-18 hours of my time in the evenings. It would have been a LOT LESS, had the damage to the fiberglass not occurred, probably more like 10 hours.

Hopefully, I’ll finally be back on the water by next week.

-TH

[Up_in_Michigan]

Mine turned out solid also, and have been on the water all summer. Your glass work looks really good also. I will probably try to do a better job of finishing paint over the winter, and will try that mix you talked about.

[TerryKing]

Thill, thanks for taking the time to show us (and future searchers) just how you 'Did It' !

[SamSam]

That looks to be an easy way to do it. I wonder what Seacast is made of or if a person can make their own. Maybe it's not worth it anyway, what did the stuff cost? I see no problems with the transom repair itself, but usually a rotten transom seems to mean a rotten floor and stringers also, but not always. It looks nice, but you missed out on all the bending over, crawling around in awkward positions and the big mess fun of doing it the regular way. ;o)

[thill]

Guys,
It's been about two years, and I haven't checked back in for a long time, sorry!

So far, so good. Everything is still rock-solid. I've checked the areas where I could, particularly in the areas inside the hull, and I've found no voids or delaminations. I did a knock-test, too, and everything still sounds solid. I'm thinking that the heat that develops actually plays a part in getting the resin to bond securely. If you look, you can see little strings of seacast protruding from the pinholes in the glass. I forgot about that. Every little tooth helps!

Up-in-Michigan,
Glad to hear your repair went well, too.

SamSam,
I wouldn't try it on my own, especially since Seacast is reasonably priced. I think it was about $205 per 5-gallon bucket, and mine didn't use all of both buckets.

My boat has a lot of composite in the original design, and the stringers I can get to are solid. Hopefully, so are the rest!

And just for the record, I'm not saying Seacast is perfect, just that it has worked well for me SO FAR. I will continue to report results for as long as I have this boat (which may not be too long, since I just bought a nice little CC for summertime use, and have not been using the bigger boat all summer!)

-TH

[boatmech]

i have to repeair some hairline cracks in my gelcoate on top of my boat

[thill]

It's been a while since I checked in, and that Trophy has been sold, but the owner calls from time to time, and he's still loving the boat, with no issues at all.

I'm convinced at this point that SeaCast is exactly what it claims to be. A do-able composite transom that is as strong or stronger than the original, and really is permanent.

I'm getting ready to do two more transoms. One for me, another for a friend. Maybe I'll post the results.

Thanks again to everyone here.

-TH