87 222 Transom Crack pic.

[Ben87]

Here is a shot of a crack above the upper motor mount bolt on the starboard side, I still don't know if this was caused by something scratching the gelcoat or if it is a stress crack on the transom.  Does anyone have anything looking like this on their transom?

[DEFIANT]

There is a thick layer of resin poured on top of the plywood in the transom. The crack is where that layer meets the plywood. I doubt the structure of the transom is compromised unless water has entered and saturated the plywood.

[Ben87]

Thank you for that information Defiant.  I have done everything to try and guage the structure of this transom and from what I can tell it is still sound, I knock all around and it sounds great, I look into the check-hole for the bilge pump and all looks good inside, so after the new engine gets hung, I'll be sure to seal up these cracks and hope all goes well.  Again, thanks for the reply as I really appreciate it.

[jy118lfd]

I had the same crack on my 19-6. I had water in the wood when I redid the transom. From the looks of the stain on the motor bolt you have water in there as well. You can try tighting the bolt and if it squashes the transom it is definitly comprimised. I would not mount a new motor to any transom that I was not 100 % sure of. Sorry  :cry:

[JimCt]

Agree with jy118fd.

A new motor is a lot of money.  Hanging it on a transom that might not be 100% is taking an expensive chance.

You can take a peek to see for yourself if things aren't right with the transom core by cutting sections of the skin away on the inside.  One fast way of checking is to use a 2" hole saw and cut away only the inside transom skin in 2 places.  One at the center as low as you can conveniently cut and the other right where that questionable upper motor bolt goes through.  Cut just deep enough to go through the inner glass skin but not into the wood core.  The inner skin disks you cut out may come away freely with the hole saw.

If you see nice "wood color", hard, dry plywood in both places, you can be pretty certain the crack you see on the outside is benign and needs only to be sealed up with thickened epoxy.  The disks can be put back in place with epoxy and the cut-lines re-gelcoated.

But if you see discolored, possibly black, punky wood in there you should go ahead with a core replacement job.  There is a ton of info. in the rebuilds forum about how to go about it.

[ddd222]

i agree w/ all that was mentioned, i am an 86' 222 ccp owner . I most definately would inspect the entire transom before hangin a brand new motor on there. The trouble looks high enough where it could be addressed as long as it didn't infect the surrounding area. But if there's a doubt, keep in mind that a season or 2 down the line, its gonna cost you more to address for many reasons, especially derigging, and re rigging the motor. New motor will bring much happiness, even moreso if done right.

[DEFIANT]

A good transom test is to raise and lower the motor stopping it abruptly as it goes up and down. Look for flex in the transom as you do this. Flex is a bad thing!

[Ben87]

Thanks for all the replies.  I have done the motor bounce test to check for flex and there is none/zero.

[OldSchool]

get one of those aluminium motor mounting plate that cover both top mounting bolt hole.

i can post to what i'm talking about, it 14" long x 2" wide

[JimCt]

O.S., post a picture of that mounting plate if you can and where they are available.  Might put one on my 170 to distribute the motor weight across the transom.

[Tailgunner]

Here is what was done to mine:





Note:
These are pix taken when I bought the boat. It looks MUCH better now.  

[JimCt]

Looks like good protection from incoming small arms fire too...

[Kaczki]

[Tailgunner]

I didn't do it. Honest. Note that whoever did it put it on crooked. There's a good 1" difference between port and starboard height.

[JimCt]

Does the job though.