Transom & Stringer replacement

[PAR]

Most novices try to use a putty knife, much like working a drywall seam and smooth out the freshly filled repair. This is fine, but usually requires a good bit of fairing afterward. If you can hold a flat plate of something goo will not stick to against it, during the cure, it will reveal a perfectly smooth surface when you peel it off.

I use clear plastic packaging tape, plastic sheeting, mylar and a few other things to do this. On a transom, that is reasonably flat, you can use a thin piece of plywood, covered in box tape.

Fill the seams then wedge, clamp or brace this piece of plywood over the area. When the epoxy has cured, just peel it off, it'll pop right off, assuming you covered it well. The surface of the filler will need very little fairing and saves a lot of time.

[blaze_125]

its 11pm now and I just finished glassing the outside of the transom. I'll get pics sometime tomorrow cause my knees are killing me and I got to shower lol

[blaze_125]

Now that the tansom is fully glassed, I'd like to get her wet and see if I got any leaks. How long should I wait before I take her in the water? All I want to do is lay a sheet of plywood over the stringers that will act as a temporary floor, and back her up in the water and stay docked for about an hour.

So how long do I wait before I wet the fresh fiberglass?
Once I know I got no leaks, I'll fiberglass the top side of the transom, put in a new sole and install the accessories(motor, electronics, seats, ...)

[blaze_125]

Originally Posted by PAR

Most novices try to use a putty knife, much like working a drywall seam and smooth out the freshly filled repair. This is fine, but usually requires a good bit of fairing afterward. If you can hold a flat plate of something goo will not stick to against it, during the cure, it will reveal a perfectly smooth surface when you peel it off.

I just read that part for the tenth time and now I'm wondering...
Do you mean I was supposed to fill the seam with thickened epoxy only?
I layed a thick bead of thickened epoxy over the seam, worked it in, faired it, then layed fiberglass over it. Once I covered all the seams with thickened epoxy and fiberglass, I went ahead and fiberglassed the whole transom area with a regular mix of epoxy. On the seams, I put thickened epoxy then 2 layers of 6oz with regular mix epoxy. Then I layed 3 layers of 6oz with regular epoxy mix over the whole transom area. So the seams end up having 5 layers of 6oz.

[blaze_125]

[PAR]

Yes, that's right, you only needed thickened epoxy and fabric in the seams. Typically you feather the seams back about 4" each side of the seam. This is a taper that's ground into the transom skin. Inside this hollowed out area (the seam is in the middle of it) you'd apply thickened goo and some fabric.

As you have it done, she's over built, which isn't a bad thing, assuming you have enough room (transom thickness) to slide the outboard bracket over. Smooth it up and paint.

Give the goo a day or so to insure a good cure, then splash her if you want. I wouldn't bother, you should be able to tell with a stripped out boat if it has any holes in it.

[blaze_125]

new hardware is slowing getting installed


The drain plug was epoxied on the transom, and the bolts were also dipped in epoxy.


Now here's a possible problem... My steering system uses a cable.
As you can see in these pictures, the protective cover is broken.


The cable is about 2 feet too long. It makes a loop inside the boat before coming out to get attached on the motor. Since I have that extra length, can I cut and recrimp the cable?

[PAR]

The transom drain you've used is actually a garboard drain. It's designed for a screw in fitting, not a plug. A transom drain is little more then a brass or bronze tube, usually 1" in diameter, which is epoxied in place. No bolts or threads, just drill a hole, butter it up with goo and insert. It's also a lot cheaper too. But, it's too late, you got it in there, just remember to use the proper type of plug.

No, you can't cut the cable and recrimp (you have no idea how many times I've wanted to also). The loop doesn't hurt anything and offers some flex in the system too. Replace the boot.

Also measure the thickness of the transom and check this against the transom bracket on the outboard. It'll be a hell of a lesson, if you've made it too thick and have completely reassembled everything before you realize this.

[blaze_125]

I used the original drain that came with the boat

Which part is the boot?


And I'll check the transom thickness/motor bracket

[PAR]

Unfortunately a number of manufactures have done this. Bayliner is famous for it. I don't know, they might have bought up a big lot on the cheap and have been whittling it down ever since.

There may not be a boot, but it usually is a corrugated rubber cone that fits over the cable and is attached under a ring where it goes out of the splash well (into the side wall of the boat). It keeps water from get past the splash well, into the boat.

[blaze_125]

oh, I see what you mean now.
What I meant by "the protective cover is broken", is... if you look at the steering cable itself(1 inch below the label) where the metal part starts... whatever covers the cable inside is broken:

That's the part I'm wondering if I can cut and recrimp.

[PAR]

The cable sheath can't be re-crimped. A replacement will be around 40 bucks at full retail.

[blaze_125]

I finnaly started piecing together a seat pedestral. I was debating buying something of the shelf for about 100$ or build my own for a fraction of the cost...



That will hold the seat up. Now I gotta get seats, a swivel mechanism and I got to find a way to lock the swivel for when I'm driving the boat... I most concerned about the seat base width where it be bolted in the floor. I find the base is a bit small, but it will be bolted through 1.5" thick plywood using t-nuts, and 4 3/8"X2" bolts.

[PAR]

You do realize that's going to rust up really quickly, right?

[blaze_125]

Originally Posted by PAR

You do realize that's going to rust up really quickly, right?

It's galvanized steel that will be coated with automotive "anti-rust", the green stuff, then painted over flat black or something. But yeah, I do realize I'll have to keep an eye on the pedestral and make sure rust doesn't get on too quickly.