1975 Kingfisher Transom & Stringer Repair

[Kingfisher]

Hi guys. I have a 1975 Kingfisher 152Pro that i purchased new in Feb.1976. It was my first fiberglass bassboat. It has a bad transom that i am going to replace but before i start on the transom i am trying to find out how the stringer system is constructed. The boat has a raised deck at the front for the pedestal seat and that is where the "Pro" portion of it's name comes from and there is wood under that section. The thickness of deck/bottom is approx. 2 inches from transom to raised deck at front. Can anyone help me out??

[djkingmatt]

Walk aound and see if it's rotted, look for sinking or weak spots, that means it's rotted. 2 inches is pretty thick, there's probably a website where somebody did one of these before, hope it's just the transom! -Matt

P.S. If you're talking about the stringers because you're gonna cut the liner out, I'd try scraping it out from the top go to rotdoctor.com, That's the way I'm going for mine.

[Kingfisher]

Thanks for the reply Matt.What i am trying to determine is how the hull is constructed. Is there wood in the floor (deck)? There is wood in the raised deck portion at the front 25% of the deck and i know that i have rot in that section so i will be repairing/removing that portion. When i go into that section i may be able to see how the remainder of the deck is built. I was hoping that someone here had experience with this boat. I've been a reader here for some time and there are some sharp knives in the drawer. I intend to pull the cap and replace the transom, remove the gas tank and battery pads (more wood) and possibly raise the intire deck with new stringers and foam for positive floatation. I'm considering using Coosa Composites product for the transom core. I have a sample of the product and i am impressed with it's strength and it will not rot. I'm told that Carolina Skiff uses it in their transom and they build a darn good tough boat, not a pretty boat but a good boat.

Thanks again, Jerry

[cyclops]

DO NOT start pulling 1 piece of rotted wood out after the other and then start putting new pieces in, 1 after the other. The boat will start to twist out of shape. Do the front deck completly. Then 1 stringer completly. And so on. Do the transom LAST. All the other new pieces will keep in alignment while you take apart the transom.

[djkingmatt]

Personally, I think it's preference, if you replace the transom first, then the rest of the boat will have something to build from, so You can rip the whole lot out.
Anyway, I personally am going to scrape mine out, the use the products from Rotdoctor.com to dry it out and prevent rot, coat the new wood to seal it, and glue it in place. They seem the best choice for me because I don't wanna spend the $$ for the insta-transom stuff your talking about. Sea-Cast is a popular brand, and is what I was going to do, but I wanted to save some money, and have more stuff to do, so I'm doing it this way. -Matt