I have an 86 Osprey that I bought as a project a few years ago. It turned out to not be in all that bad of condition once I got all of the gunk cleaned off of it. The transom was basically solid & only had one small corner crack starting. The decks felt solid. The only real structural issues in the hull were soft spots where the screws had held the center console down & some rotted out core around the drain plug at the bottom of the transom.
I sealed up the small corner crack with 5200 when I first got the boat. That seems to have held up well.
For the deck screw issue, I used about a 1” hole saw to take out a chunk from the top of the deck sandwich, then cut out the soft core as far back as it went. I put blow dryers on the holes for about a week to get everything crispy dry. I then glassed in the whole 1” diameter hole & was left with a good solid non-rotting place to sink my console screws. I did not put screws back into the thin deck plate that is on top of the fuel cell where the factory had put 3 screws. They were not needed. I managed to use the original screws so it does not look like any repair was made at all. My work is all hidden under the base flange of the console.
When I did this work, I was able to lift the console & support it on a pair of wooden 2x4s that I set across the top of the gunwales. This way I didn’t need to disconnect my Teleflex cable or any of my wiring. I had enough slack to accommodate that short lift.
Just today, I tackled the rot around the transom plug. I used basically the same method as I had used for the deck repair. I left the boat sitting in a garage for 2 months before starting, so that the core of the transom had some time to dry enough that it would be able to wick up some resin. The glass is in & the resin is hardening now. I plan to replace the original garboard fitting with one that has a check valve in it. That way, if I forget to put in the plug, I’m still not likely to sink. The check valve type has restricted flow when you go to drain the bilge, but I think that it is a reasonable trade off for the peace of mind that comes with no needing to worry about a lost plug.
The Aquasport factory just drilled the transom & put the garboards in, without first sealing the core that was exposed when they drilled the hole. This is the root cause reason why many of the old Aquasport transoms went bad. You can tell if you have this problem by reaching in through the deck plate where the bilge pump goes & feeling around the drain hole. If somebody before you hasn’t already glassed in the core section, then it’s a preventative maintenance repair that should really be considered seriously.
I used the West System 5:1 epoxy resin in place of the normal polyester resin, at the recommendation of a friend. The west stuff doesn’t stink like the other stuff does & it has held up well for 2 years now on the deck repair.
