transom

[jcar585]

Anybody have advice on the best way to repair a bad transom. I restored a 78 glastron bass boat, took it on vacation to conesus last week and by the 2nd day i noticed that the fiberglass on top of the transom had cracked on each side of the motor. The motor is a 79 90 hp, about 300 lbs. I was stuck with my trolling motor the rest of the week Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[MCF]

Not having seen pictures-first thing is the motor needs to come out and then pull the inside structure away from the damaged area. Hopefully it is contained to the small area surrounding those cracks and it would be a matter of cutting out the damage and replacing that section with new glass or an appropriate substitute material. Often times the failure is the surrounding area around a transom drain or where something has been bolted thru and not sealed properly.

[snyder]

It really depends on how much you love your boat or are willing to spend. There is a video about fiberglass transom repair by a guy named Will Borden that is a pretty good how to. I replaced my transom in a 17' 1977 Grady White after watching the video and I also asked another LOU member when I was unsure. You will probably need 2 sheets of marine grade plywood $100 each, 3 Gallons of polyester resin $30 each and about $75 worth of stitchmat. A rubber backer pad with 36 grit sanding disks on a right 4-1/2" angle grinder works wonders to sand fiberglass. Mertons fiberglass out of Massachusetts is cheap and great company to deal with for supplies. If you tell them what your trying to do they can recommend what you need and how much. I ended up lifting the top off my boat which is pretty easy and saves you from trying to match the gelcoat on the exterior. Replacing the transom is not a terrible job but it is labor intensive(at least a couple days) and can often open up a can of worms. You may find that you have rotten stringers. I ended up replacing the transom,stringers and floor in mine.