Thank you Rick. I'll use melamine to secure the transom in place. If you think I can just glass over the hole in the transom, I'd rather do that than cut it out.
Today I finished grinding down the stringers and started removing the foam. To keep the structural integrity of the stringers I made "straps" by only cutting large pieces off the top and leaving sections still connected. Now when I pour the foam I shouldn't have much buckling. There's still plenty of work to be done but I feel accomplished something today!
so capt , is this boat for your charter and do you expect to have it ready to fish this spring?