Stepped Transom

[garfield28]

Hi all,

Just a couple of questions regarding my transom. 

I have a 5.2 savage escort, think its a 91 model, I was looking at installing a new sounder this afternoon and I took of a piece of plastic chopping board I was using as a transom saver, I put that on nearly 4 years ago now, I sealed all the screw holes with sikaflex, I also sikaflexed the whole back of the board and sealed the edges once I was finished. Today as I undid the screws I noticed a bit of water coming from behind the board as I was loosening the screws off. Once the board was removed the holes appeared to be a little wet, so I got my drill and drilled into them a bit and I wasn't brinig out any board whatsoever, but to be honest I cannot remember if I did now the very first time  either though, but what was coming out was like the fiberglass was like a wet paste. I only drilled within the hole itself, I never tried to re-drill the hole bigger, just put the drill bit in approx the same size as the whole. 

I think I have had some water seep in, and I'm not real sure how bad the damage would be, and not sure on exactly how to tell either. 

My question is from the pics, the area circled, because of the shape, would it be wood within that area or only fiberglass based on the shape? The actual part that the outboard is bolted to feels sturdy enough from what I can tell, I have also tapped around it and from what I can tell it sound the same and not hollow. 

If however I have a problem with this area, how hard is it to repair a transom based on the shape of it? Of all the pics I could find of re-paired transoms I have not seen one like this shape, so I'm scared that it cannot be done and the transom shape would have to change?

Any advice and pointers much, much appreciated. 

 

Thanks 

Geoff 

[garfield28]

The area in question circled 

[Sea Ranger]

I had a Haines Hunter with a similar transom.   That area on my Haines was only fiberglass mate.  I hope it is the same for you.

 

 

Bear

[garfield28]

Thanks for that Bear, I hope so too.

Do you know if it should be wood in the strakes at all?

Thanks 

Geoff 

 

[zmk1962]

Hey Geoff, You are on the right track to first check if its a wood core transom. Have you tried giving Savage a call ?   I had a query regarding my 1990's Haines and called Haines - spoke to a lady that answered and she took my details. I was very pleasantly surprised as she had a guy call me the next day who actually worked on my specific hull construction a long way back and was very familiar with the materials etc - answered all my questions.  May be worth a shot - you never know. 

Alternatively places like :  http://www.boatcraftnsw.com/  do a lot of repair work - may be worth chatting to them (MODS please remove if this conflicts with any of our sponsors).

BTW, I do not use cutting boards in situations like you describe - very very few things really stick to polyethylene (HDPE), that's why it is used to manufacture the packaging tubes that Sikaflex and other sealants come in.

Best of luck.

Zoran

 

 

[garfield28]

14 minutes ago, zmk1962 said:

Hey Geoff, You are on the right track to first check if its a wood core transom. Have you tried giving Savage a call ?   I had a query regarding my 1990's Haines and called Haines - spoke to a lady that answered and she took my details. I was very pleasantly surprised as she had a guy call me the next day who actually worked on my specific hull construction a long way back and was very familiar with the materials etc - answered all my questions.  May be worth a shot - you never know. 

Alternatively places like :  http://www.boatcraftnsw.com/  do a lot of repair work - may be worth chatting to them (MODS please remove if this conflicts with any of our sponsors).

BTW, I do not use cutting boards in situations like you describe - very very few things really stick to polyethylene (HDPE), that's why it is used to manufacture the packaging tubes that Sikaflex and other sealants come in.

Best of luck.

Zoran

 

 

Thanks for that Zoran, will definitely give them a call. 

Could I please ask what you would use to stick a transducer on a glass boat and save putting holes into the transom please? I just followed this method that I'd read on a few Google searches. 

Thanks 

Geoff 

[zmk1962]

Hey Geoff,

In my case, its not the transducer as  I have it glassed in to shoot through the hull at the stern. I have an alloy pod (in essence a hull shape like yours) and I could not get good sounder results from where the previous owner had screwed/mounted it on the glass transom.  

I re-used the holes he had drilled in the transom to fit a stainless bracket (with Sikaflex sealant) which now holds my livebait/washdown bilge pump. I also have the impeller type speed sensor directly screwed to the hull transom. 

In both cases I basically have the fitting bracket directly against the transom with heaps of Sika sealant in the screw holes and in between the bracket and hull.

I tried to minimize what is between the bracket and the transom - reduce the points of failure. I do not like to use the cutting board (HDPE) layer in between as nothing really sticks to HDPE and its a plastic which expands and contracts with temperature - so I see it a difficult material to seal around in wet area applications. 

From the pictures it looked like you had the HDPE screwed directly to the hull with Sika in between - in hot weather it may have expanded and buckled up a bit which allowed water to get behind it. Just guessing here. 

Best of luck.

Zoran

[JonD]

There's a product on the market called "stern saver Australia" no need for drilling, also comes in many colours, specially for transducers.

Personlay the sheer amount of angles and build of the stern of that boat would give me very little concern myself, it looks like it would have great strength from the glass alone.

Edited October 19, 2018 by JonD

[garfield28]

Thanks Jon, I'll check it out. 

 

Still wouldn't mind some opinions on whether or not I have an issue in that part of my boat if anyone has one. 

 

Thanks 

Geoff 

[zmk1962]

Hey Geoff,

Sounds like you had no joy contacting those folks we discussed in our PMs.  

Hmmm. As @JonD said, the shape of the stern (with the angles) is inherently a very strong design. 

So the only real concern is whether there is wood in the stern or its sold glass.  As per my PM, if its solid glass, its an easy repair - acetone clean the holes, let it dry and bog up with waterproof resin filler, sand, buff, polish  - go fishing. 

If its wood - then it could be an issue.  

So to ease your mind - why not drill out one of the holes a bit larger and see if you get any wood coming out.

This is one of the few times you can actually say - no wood - no worries !

Cheers

Zoran

PS - I googled 'stern saver Australia'... its basically a 20mm thick polyethylene sheet and they have developed a special epoxy glue that permanently bonds POLYETHYLENE to fibreglass for mounting of transducers etc. There you go - that epoxy didn't exist previously.  It seems the way to go. 

[Fishop]

On 10/19/2018 at 2:40 PM, JonD said:

There's a product on the market called "stern saver Australia" no need for drilling, also comes in many colours, specially for transducers.

Personlay the sheer amount of angles and build of the stern of that boat would give me very little concern myself, it looks like it would have great strength from the glass alone.

Nice I looked them up.  Ill def be getting one when I move my transducer next.