1997 Aquasport 225 Explorer Transom

[TXFishin]

 I have a 1997 Aquasport 225 Explorer, does anyone know if the transom is composite, or how well the transoms are made on this model?

Regards,
Doug

[RickK]

I'm pretty sure they were poured transoms by then, so very stout.

[TXFishin]

Is there a way to tell other than drilling into transom or taking hardware out? Hull ID or anything?

[RickK]

Not that I know of.

[fitz73222]

Take out an UPPER engine mounting bolt and look into the hole. If it's wood core you will see wood, if it's poured you'll see the SeaCast material. Verify with dental pick. Clean up the bolt, washer and transom with mineral spirits to remove the old silicone re coat the bolt and washer with new silicone and reinstall.

[RickK]

That's a great idea Farley 

[TXFishin]

 

I wish I had looked before I decided to repower with two 2015 DF 140A's.

Turns out the transom is wood

The white engines look nice, but looks like they won't be on there for too long, the wood transom is starting show it's age and will need to be replaced sometime in the not so distant future

Has anyone gone through a transom rebuild on this model, or is this something that should be left to a specialist?

[wingtime]

This is the first I have heard of a 225 Explorer having a wood transom problem.  1997 should have been a poured transom.  Of course we have heard of the factory substituting building materials if they run short of supplies to keep production going.

[Capt. Bob]

Don't know if this helps at this stage but wood was used in the 94 model (with this hull anyway).
It may help with your repairs.

Yes it's an Osprey but the hull/transom is the same.

http://classicaquasport.com/smf/index.php?topic=7421.msg105281#msg105281

You might give the thread a good read. The member found rot between the "false transom" (my name) where the live well is located. You layout is pretty much the same.

If you do dig in, post up a few picks.

Good luck.

[TXFishin]

Thanks for the article, I had actually ran across this one before, and in my searching for Aquasport transom repair or rebuild, it was one of the few articles I was able to find. One thing I noticed was the lack of articles on the subject, and the few that I found were mainly relating to older 70's and 80's model.

The search led me to a Facebook group where I was able to talk with a guy that worked at the plant from 94 to 00 on the Osprey line right next to the Explorer line, who had personally hung over 500 engines on these boats. He mentioned that in all the engines he had hung on these boats not one of them were wood during those years, all the ones he worked on were poured.

His thought was, on the 225 Explorer, not many were sold with twin engines, and on the outsides of the transom there was small wood filler, and given that the bolt holes that are sunk in a little are on the outer top bolt hole on each engine lined up with his theory, 1) that it was possible that the wood filler pieces were brought out a little further than normal as it was not a focus point on this model 2) the inner fiberglass section had slightly pulled away from the poured core. It would be a minor repair to fill in the void and refinish if desired and no worries

At any rate, given what I found, and with the lack of information on transom issues with this model, I am fairly confident that what is going in is one of those two possibilities.

I will try to get some pictures when I get to it, but it sounds a lot better than previously thought

[TXFishin]

The question I have now is that I've read several articles where people say that they have replaced the port or starboard non-composite transom ends, or that some transom had a partial wood top that was replaced similar to the article posted above, and the question is;

Has anyone done this kind of work, how much was involved, any pictures?

Thanks

[RickK]

Soon after I bought my 230 I tried to remove the bottom paint to no avail so I took to a place that was going to sand blast it and recoat it.  When the guy started to lift it off the trailer the port aft lifting eye started to collapse into the fiberglass.   He called me, I went down there and looked and we could see the coring behind the eye was toast.  I gave him the go ahead and he cut out the affected wood and replaced it - all while working through an 18" hatch 
So it seems that the transom was rock solid from about the level of the engine cut out and downward. We tapped on the transom and you could hear the difference between what we're thinking is wood versus a poured transom.  Seems the builder used wood from the top of the pour upward to fill in the "wings" and the wood was bad from that level upward and that was what he replaced.
My 230 does not have the Euro transom.

[wingtime]

When I drilled the holes to mount a dive ladder on my 245 Explorer I can tell you the transom in the outer area well past the engine well was a solid white composite material.

[flounderpounder225]

When I rebuilt/reformed using fiberglass for my transom trim cap, there was plywood at the top, that made me wonder about the composite transom everyone speaks of.  However, this past summer I replaced both port and starboard scuppers in the transom well, and when I pulled the old ones out, it was solid composite material for the coring of the transom.  This goes right along with what I am reading above.

[TXFishin]

When I rebuilt/reformed using fiberglass for my transom trim cap, there was plywood at the top, that made me wonder about the composite transom everyone speaks of.  However, this past summer I replaced both port and starboard scuppers in the transom well, and when I pulled the old ones out, it was solid composite material for the coring of the transom.  This goes right along with what I am reading above.

When you say "scuppers" do you mean the drain holes located in the splash well?

Regards,
Doug