246 Family Fishermen transom and splashwell modification

[mshugg]

Sounds great!  Yeah, 4 layers is more than the original layup, so I guess it's overkill.  But, that's what most of us use.  Transom strength is a good thing.

[RickK]

Mike has given you some good advice. 
As you add layers of 1708 to the inside of the transom you are actually moving the drain (lowest point of the boat) forward. My advice is to lam in a 1 foot, 1" ID piece of PVC to the prepped hull (before you lam on the 1708). You'll grind it to the right length later. (cover the pipe with some 1708 and tuck it in tight - leave for the night to cure if using epoxy)
Make sure you plan a 4" overlap on the transom skin (I think I went 3 lams against the transom skin with 4, 8, 12" overlaps) Give yourself a couple days between laminating the transom with cloth and then dealing with the transom core.  Dry fit it and round the edges of the core as necessary to fit correctly.  You'll obviously not be able to get a perfect fit against all surfaces. You need to apply a fillet of resin in all the corners, along all parts of the transom where it meets hull sides/bottom.  A wooden mixing spoon is a good fillet tool (go buy a cheapo and avoid the hassle of explaining why using the existing cooking spoon is ok). You can also make your own - go buy some 1/4" wood from HD and shape it.

[Levi]

I already have some filleting tools from a previous fiberglass endeavor Mike also said to go ahead and lay my glass on the putty before it kicks to get a nice fillet which I have done before with polyester with EXCELLENT RESULTS.
I'm using 17 ounce biaxial without the Matt as Mike said it would add bulk use more resin and not bring much strength to use 1708.and remember I gotta squeeze that splashwell back in there when I'm done so I gotta try n keep it thin but strong.i MIGHT do a single layer of 1708 with the mat against the transom skin to make up for the humps and bumps that will invariably be on there after I remember the old plywood.

[mshugg]

You may want to consider 1708 for the whole transom.  The mat in 1708 assists in the bond between layers.  This is more important when useing Polly but is ok for epoxy.  Sometimes a little more bulk is a good thing since thickness builds faster.  My transom layup was X1 1.5 oz CSM into outer skin, then X2 1708 (mat side out).  Then thickened epoxy on 1 1/2" core clamped and bolted into transom.  When that cured, I added fillets to corners and X4 1708 to finish transom.  My finished transom is just over 2" thick and way tougher than AS original.

[Levi]

Well Luke was at it again this weekend and I was there to point guide and do a fair amount of heavy onlooking.
Here he is all PPE'd up about to cut the inner skin of the transom off :


Here he is cutting the stringers back  we left the flange where the stringers attached to the transom on so replacing them will be fairly straightforward:


Here's a pretty good shot of how rotten the plywood was all of it was wet and most of it varied between mud and wet mulch:


It came out pretty easy and so did the layer of half bonded glass they used to bond the plywood to the hull:

[dirtwheelsfl]

Crap just saw this!    Ive got some big clamps to glue the new core in with if ya wana come borrow em..

[Levi]

That'd be AWESOME Chris! I was wondering if you'd chime in soon. How goes it?

[Levi]

More transom core demo pictures Luke took:

[RickK]

You'll need about 18" forward of the transom cleared so you can lam the transom in with 4" overlaps.  So that means hull bottom and hull sides.

[dirtwheelsfl]

That'd be AWESOME Chris! I was wondering if you'd chime in soon. How goes it?

Gimme a ring if ya wanna borrow em!     Busy as ever..

[Levi]

Shot you a text

[Levi]

Well progress continues with the transom inner skin in completely and the stringers are partially tabbed back in. We spent today rolling glass to close in the transom cutout

[Levi]

[Levi]

Core is in stringers are tied into the transom scrim is painted on the inside of the the transom enclosure

One layer of 1500 and one layer of 1700 and I'll be done with this portion of the build and we'll start moving forward with the splashwell and garboard covers

[RickK]

Making good progress