Transom rebuild 222 FF

[bondobill]

This is a follow up to a topic I had posted in the discussion forum on the location of my trim tabs.
On May 31st decided to try and relocate the location of tabs and ended up opening a can of worms. After removing the tabs I had some holes that needed filling I figured since I had to do some painting on transom that I might as well cleanup and fill some other holes from transducers and lines that were not being used any more, that's when the fun started. I decided to drill the holes out a little bit bigger so I could fill em with epoxy. After I drilled them out I blew some air into them to get rid of the dust. I had some holes toward the top of transom next to engine mounting holes that when I blew air into them the glass around it about 4" blew off {what the *$%^#} Any way right or wrong I am guessing some where in between this is my transom rebuild

Prior owner had paid someone to fill in the originial notch on transom because I am guessing it was for a 20" shaft motor and he was installing a 25" yammie 225 back in 1989

They had lag bolted and siliconed in a chunk of 2x4. Didn't even use stainless lags ha, notice the knot

Capped with skim coat of mostly body filler on piece of mat.
Anyway curiousty got the best of me and I started digging, found that transom was rotten around the engine mounting holes down and out about 2/3 of the way to port side

Decided to go with the pour method but opted to take off back skin for removeal of wood


I was surprised how thin inner layer of glass was. If I had tryed to remove wood with the chain saw method I would of had a mess.
Running out of time for now, I will post more photos later

[gran398]

Good post. Know it was a shocker to start with, but...at least you dove in!

And hey...this problem is not specific to Aquasports...any boat, regardless of the coring material, can and will hold water. Wood rots, the synthetics won't. Still can have a wet core.

Nice work. Looking forward to chapter two

Edit PS....that wouldn't be a '68-72 Chevrolet back there would it  

[RickK]

What year boat?
It would be nice if you put that info in your signature so people can tell - look in the user control panel to add a signature (just under aqua bar, below "About Us" to the right).

[Circle Hooked]

Keep the pics coming  

[bondobill]

Thanks Rick for the info on adding to your signature, forgot to mention boat is a 79
Hey Gran, good eyes. that's another piece of fiberglass I have had a long time. She is a 69 Corvette roadster I bought back in 1974. My wife says I have a problem with becoming too attached to stuff and never get rid of them, Guess maybe that is why my wife and I are celebrating our 29th wedding anniversary this week end, actually our first date back in 77 was in that car.
So back to the rebuild. removing the rotten plywood was easy, it was the stuff that was still good that was a pain,lots of hammering and a chisel. The 3"1/2 edge around outside i finally took a chainsaw to and that worked fairly well but was a little rough on the inside skin of glass, I planned on relaying  the inner skin anyway.

Dirty work
Photo below shows the position of starboard trim tab in conjuction to the bracket i had on the transom to raise the kicker. I mocked up where I wanted to set the tabs and the bracket for kicker was in the way. Decided @ that point to lose the bracket and raise the transom height on the outside 5", that way I would have more room for placement of tab on starboard side.


Repositioned actuater would  be in contact with bracket

Not the best photo but you can see I screwed some pva plywood to back side of inr skin and built up the transom that way.
Darn phone starting to ring, got to go. Try to post more later

[TheKid]

Very interested in this.

My 79 222 FFV is in need of a new transom as well. It's sturdy enough to last this season at least. I may end up copying you step by step.

Thanks a lot. Really!!!

[Capt. Bob]

See everyone,
That's why you should always feel free to post your rebuilds.
It doesn't really matter if others have posted say, transom rebuilds or deck repairs, paint, decals or whatever. Chances are someone will like some or all of the steps and use them in their project.

Besides,
You can never have too much Aqua pre/post porn.

[bondobill]

Got a few minutes, try to post couple more photos before someone comes in to pickup their rig.

chainsaw little tough on inside skin but sure get rid of wood faster than a chisel

This is how i added the transom extension to the side. Cleaned wood out between inr and outer skin up about 6",
Didn't try to remove the plywood all the way up to top of wings, old plywood in the wings was still like brand new.
On lay up on the extensions I started with mat than 1708 and roven woven. I overlayed the entire inside skin with roven woven and 1708. Down in the gulleys around the sides and @ bottom I mixed up resin and cabosil to make a putty, I brushed that in before I layed the glass to make sure any holes or void were filled. Oh ya by the way I used polyester resin, reason being I went with Seacast pour. Glad I called them before I started the glass work,epoxy resin is not compatable with their product. Also they tell you only as a last resort to remove the outside skin. Oops.

[bondobill]

Laying up of outer skin. Layed skin on piece of pva plywood. Built up thickness with roven woven and 1708

Inr skin was trimmed and sanded to desired contour. Screwed on back skin, marked back skin to match inr.
 
When I ordered the Seacast I ordered 2 of their 1"1/2x 1"1/2 x 12" sticks to use for spacers and also hold the inr and outer skins while the Seacast was curing. Because of uneveness of  my glass layup on inr skin { never claimed to be a fiberglass guru } i ran some string across transom to figure out length of spacers.
 
 This shows outer skin trimmed out and spacers glued in place after cut to desired lenght. Seacast told me not to use any glue that was epoxy or silicone base. We had a product in my autobody shop that we use to glue fiberglass panels together, did a test on one spacer, left it overnight, tried to break it off {no luck just what I was hoping for} had to cut it off to remove it.

Built a couple of braces out of 3/4 ply to hold skins together while glue on spacers cured. This was a test fit to see if I was even close on my spacer cuts {darn got lucky} didn't have to trim any.

Inr and outer skins glued together, left braces on overnight

[bondobill]

Didn't take a whole lot of photos from here out. I could finally see the light @ the end of the tunnel, was trying to have boat done by July !st, opening of our summer salmon season.
Did seams with 1708, probably had a couple layers on in this photo, wanted to have enough on for pour of Seacast, figured i would finish joint and seams after pour was cured. Had a bracket installed years ago when I had the engine well removed, it gives support to the transom @ where the upr engine bolts go. Decided to leave that bracket in. It had the holes drilled for the upr bolts of engine. Made a plywood template off of tilt assemble of motor attached to transom then drilled lower holes. I took somebody elses idea of installing 1/2" wood dowels in mounting holes and the drilled out the wood after Seacast cured. Found some pvc pipe that fit the transom and bilge drain holes. Pva'd pipe and left in place during pour. After pour cured it took a little tug with a dent puller, leaves a real nice even hole.

June 23rd.
Didn't have anytime time for photos on the actual pour, kinda busy. Had my son help with pour, definately need 2 people, 3 would be better. Pour went pretty well up to pouring of elevated area of transom and wings. I tried putting on a layer of 1708 on the cap like Seacast said to do. Worked fine until we started to pour elevated area and wings. The pour up above forced out the layer of 1708 on the cap, said screw it @ that time, had some 1/4" ply that I cut in strips pva'd and duct taped the strips over the cap to hold in pour. Would of worked better if I would of left lwr section cure first then had done the wings, didn't have time. 2 days before the pour family reminded me we were going to Vegas for 3 nights on the 24th of June, so much for finishing project by July 1st.
P.S.
Vegas is not my idea of a vacation

[bondobill]

Didn't take any photos of the final glass work after the pour, was on a mission to get this thing done.  After the pour I layed up the cap with layers of 1708. Sanded down cap, inside and outside of transom with 36 grit sand paper on a 8" variable speed grinder.  Finished all the joints inside and outside of transom with more 1708. Sanded smooth again with 60 grit paper, applied mixture of resin with cabosil to all of the areas of glass work {pretty much the whole outside of transom}. Sanded that smooth with 80 grit.
Was planning on using paint on outside of transom but wanted gelcoat on inside of well. Had a local boat yard mix me up a quart of gelcoat to match. Applied gelcoat to inside of well, up the wing areas and over the top cap of transom and down the outside of transom about a inch. I applied the gel thick because I was appling with a foam brush. After gel coat cured sanded it smooth with 80 grit. My thinking was the gel coat would add durability to the well and cap. Finished off outside of transom with a glazing putty we use in our shop{ finally something easy to sand} sanded that with 80 grit first than 180, finsihed up with 320 grit

July 1 Finally handed the boat over to my paint dept. I retired from painting 15 years ago and swore I would never pick up a paint gun again. Was able to back it in the booth just far enough for painting.

July 1st 10:00 am painted. Painter applied 2 coats of a 2 part white epoxy sealer then  basecoats of white . Painted on the black boot stripe after base coat of white then applied clearcoat.

[gran398]

NICE....you got a GREAT job!!

The boys did a sweet job on the paint too

[bondobill]

Towed the rig back home after work on Friday. Got the 200 yamy on the boat that night, got lucky bolt holes all lined up. Saturday the 2nd was out in shop @ 4:00 am, finished up install of main engine. Wanted to position and install trim tabs next so I placed kicker on transom. Took a while positioning kicker and mocking up on location of tabs. Finally came up with location for tab placement and installed tabs. { Drilling that first hole in your new transom is painfull}. Previous owner used the drain holes in well to run the lines through for actuaters, with new location of actuators on transom that would of been tough to do. I changed the lines to the actuaors from the outside to the inside and drilled 9/16" holes for the lines, little cleaner look.





Well any way finished up install of everthing Sunday July 3rd about 11:00 am, pulled boat outside fired everthing up made sure everything was working then spent a couple hours cleaning up the boat. Boat cleanup was a lot easier then my shop. Would of loved to take her out on the 4th but I had to change gears quick. Had to get ready for a friends BBQ on the 4th, I was BBQing 80lbs of salmon fillets. Test run would have to wait.

[TheKid]

Looks perfect.

Where did you locate your drain holes for the splash well? Did I miss something?

[bondobill]

She floats, Got her out Saturday the 9th. Just happened to be my wifes and I wedding anniversary. Wife and our Yorkie agreed to go along. Beautiful day temp mid 70s, no wind flat as a board. Everything worked great, only glitz was I had transducers set too low creating a rooster tail. Relocating of tabs worked out good. Gained 1 to 2 mph @ cruise rpms. Lot more responsive than before.
 Even managed to catch a salmon, wife landed a small Chinook salmon around 12 lbs, I missed 3, perfect day.

view looking to the west back toward San Juan Islands.

View looking east toward home

It was a long winter lots of snow in the mountains yet for this time of year.