Worked on the boat last weekend. Got motor off and the old wood out of the transom. The center portion was
VERY rotten!!!
Literally crumbled into mulch and dust in my hands.
I'd like to beat the shop in Nebraska that did the re-power for the previous owner in 2001. They used basic bathtub silicone caulking to seal things up, which is NOT industry standard, and certainly is not sufficient for a boat!
Yeah... not good.
Top of the wings are OK.
Um...
Literally just scraped it out with a large flathead and a pry bar.
Anyone need some mulch for their garden?
Even the sides were pretty rotted. Almost all the way to the edges.
Once all the fasteners were out, the inside skin was loose and easily able to be removed. Much easier to clean it up this way.
A bit of corrosion pitting can be seen now.
I'm
pouring the new transom using a composite product called Seacast. It's just a polyester resin with cream hardener (similar to Bondo) and some other "proprietary" additives, and you add a good amount of chopped fiberglass when mixing it in the 5-gallon buckets. I had to order 10 gallons, but should need only ~9 gallons. You paint a primer product on the Aluminum prior to pouring, which both etches and seals the Aluminum, creating a better bond with the Poly composite. This product weighs slightly less than the wood it replaces, and it is also over 3 times stronger. The transom will be fully sealed and waterproof when completed. It is more expensive than wood (~70%) but it is a lifetime product, this will never need done again.
Hopefully Fedex does its part and gets the ~70# shipment to me on time, and the weather holds up this weekend at over the required 76Ā°.
Almost 29#!
