Raising the X

[jeffswav]

Ok, lets assume its not the seal around the transom, were else should I look? The shift boot and block off plate?

[MOBILEMERCMAN]

Shift boots are 3 to 5 year service items . They often split. Water in the bilge tends to get up in the opening and lay there. Solvent clean it and see what you really got.

Is the wood soft ? or is it just oil and dirt. It kind of looks like the plate was digging in to the gel making me think it was moving. If you put a straight edge on it is it straight across the opening ?

[Geronimo36]

From the looks of those pics Baja never properly sealed the transom wood after they cut the hole... Sucks man...

Even a leaky upper swivel shaft will cause that because the water trickles down the inside and collects at the bottom and since it wasn't sealed it just soaks into the wood..

Figure the transom is at an angle already, then when it sits in the water its at even more of an angle so it collects water... It was a recipe for disaster.

[Geronimo36]

If the rest of the transom is dry you may not have to replace the whole transom. Ping glassdave!

[Offshore Ginger]

jeffsway , you will never know what you really got until you start cutting into it .

[jeffswav]

The bottom half of the transom is rotten. I can take a hammer and hit the inside and it is hollow in a bunch of spots. If I have to tear out half of it, I might as well tear out the whole thing. This will mainly be a weekend project. If I get a little time this week I will take another look at it. I will definatly put this back together better than Baja did. Looks like they used 1/2", 3/8, 1/2" with filler and glass to make the 2" transom. I need to start thinking about material. Do most people use US Composits? I have heard a lot of talk about Viny Ester, and 1708 mesh. Are these good choices? If I use two 3/4" sheets of ply, about how many yards of glass will I need? How many gallons of resin?

[MOBILEMERCMAN]

I would suggest you remove the bad spots before you make the decision to remove the whole thing. I see little advantage of removing sound material. You can stagger and over lap the different layers and repair it.

[Trim'd Up]

Hey Jeff, I have a roll of 1708 left over I'll make you a deal on. It will save you some money and I will get it out of my garage. I'll have to see what I paid for it but at least you won't have to ship it. Us composites is real good to deal with and cheap. There is also Advanced Plastics that you could get your resin from and they are just across the river, but a little more expensive.

[jeffswav]

Hey Jeff, I have a roll of 1708 left over I'll make you a deal on. It will save you some money and I will get it out of my garage. I'll have to see what I paid for it but at least you won't have to ship it. Us composites is real good to deal with and cheap. There is also Advanced Plastics that you could get your resin from and they are just across the river, but a little more expensive.

See how much you have and let me know what you want for it. I am going to be tearing out soon, I will post more pics as I go.

[jeffswav]

Ok, here are some more pictures.

[jeffswav]

And some more. It appears the source of the water may have been a trim tab. See what you guys think from the pictures. I think It has been leaking the day it left the factory. The boat never sits in the water, alway stored in a dry building. The boat looks perfect other than the rotten transom. Almost done removing the old wood, there is a very thin layer of ply that is still bonded to the foam crap. I am going to grind it down to the glass tommorow. They used a bunch of staples and a few nails to hold things together. Get this a layer of 5/8" then 1/2" then 5/8" regular ply, voids, knots, no resign between some of the layers. The stringers are solid, do I need to beef them up or just get better mounts that wrap around and through bolt? Need to get glass supplies together, what do you guys think 5 gal vinly ester resign, 8 yards of glass (7208?), 2 sheets of 3/4" mariine ply. I am going to put it back way better than Baja did.

[MOBILEMERCMAN]

I would think you will only use about 3 gallons. It is still good to have extra on hand. Get some mat enough to uses between the layers of wood. I recall buying the 1708 by the pound off a 51" roll. I would guess about 20'. Enough to cover entire transom twice and some extra to tab in corners and around the ends of stringers.

See what Artie and Dave think.

[jeffswav]

I would think you will only use about 3 gallons. It is still good to have extra on hand. Get some mat enough to uses between the layers of wood. I recall buying the 1708 by the pound off a 51" roll. I would guess about 20'. Enough to cover entire transom twice and some extra to tab in corners and around the ends of stringers.

See what Artie and Dave think.

Thanks for the reply, I may be redoing my hatch and a couple other things also. It looks like you get a better price if you buy a 5 gal container. So I am pretty close on the 7 yards? I have heard of other guys using a glass filler. Can I use scraps of glass and resign?

[MOBILEMERCMAN]

You will need some mar glass filler or something like it to fill voids and corners. Its a body filler is glass fibers in it. If you make your own it will be heavier and not as easy to use.

If your were to use epoxy their are different fillers available to mix your own.

[jeffswav]

I have most of the wood off the transom. Shoud I remove the foam crap from the transom or just level it out? I am thinking take it down to the old glass and build it up with new. Here are a couple of more pics.

[old377guy]

a thing of beauty

[Offshore Ginger]

I have most of the wood off the transom. Shoud I remove the foam crap from the transom or just level it out? I am thinking take it down to the old glass and build it up with new. Here are a couple of more pics.

Jeffsway , personally i am a firm believer in all wood and glass on the transom and seeing that you have gone this far , taking the foam out would be the easy part and i see you sent me a P M and i apologize for not getting back with you sooner.

[Offshore Ginger]

Thanks for the reply, I may be redoing my hatch and a couple other things also. It looks like you get a better price if you buy a 5 gal container. So I am pretty close on the 7 yards? I have heard of other guys using a glass filler. Can I use scraps of glass and resign?

yes you can get a better price if you buy it in 5 gal lot's and have you decided what type of resin you are going to use Poly or Vinyl and i hope you shy away from using G . P. resin or General purpose but then again have you considered using Epoxy ? Jeff when it come's to a filler i alway's make a putty ( filler ) out of Cabosil and resin or you can use West System mircofibers which some people prefer either way both provide good gap-filling qualities and as far as seven yards's go could you please explain your thoughts as far as your plans on how you are going to do your lay up such as glass- wood - glass -wood - glass and just curious how thick is your transom and what are the measurments so we can figure out just how much fabric you might need .

[jeffswav]

Done for the day. Here are a couple more pics. What I thought was foam was BONDO . Got most of it removed, probably will not work on it again until the weekend.

[jeffswav]

yes you can get a better price if you buy it in 5 gal lot's and have you decided what type of resin you are going to use Poly or Vinyl and i hope you shy away from using G . P. resin or General purpose but then again have you considered using Epoxy ? Jeff when it come's to a filler i alway's make a putty ( filler ) out of Cabosil and resin or you can use West System mircofibers which some people prefer either way both provide good gap-filling qualities and as far as seven yards's go could you please explain your thoughts as far as your plans on how you are going to do your lay up such as glass- wood - glass -wood - glass and just curious how thick is your transom and what are the measurments so we can figure out just how much fabric you might need .

Epoxy it $100 more per 5 gallon than Viny Ester, is it worth the extra cost? I have heard you must be carful about what types of fillers and gels you use with epoxy. How much Cabisol will I need? The glass is thin, about 1/4" . I figure on adding a few layers of glass (1708?), 3/4"ply, glass, 3/4"ply, then cover with 2 layers of glass. After running the numbers with 8' per sheet and 33" high, I may need more like 16 yards of the narrow size. Does this sound like it will get me the 2" depth? Now this is a topic that has been beat to death but is wood still the best option?