Transom replacement question?

[rchevelle71]

OK,

So I am almost ready to dive into replacing the Transom on the Pantera.

I can dig up old threads about the actual transom replacement part, but first I need to get to the wood.

This boat has a splashwell(outboard) which it will no longer have once I am done, but thats another thread. I will need to cut the deck off to access the transom. I dont want to remove the whole deck, so i was thinking of removing it partially since I will need to modify the back section to remove the splashwell anyway.

What I want to do is cut the deck right around the vent area, and down into the area where the hatch is, remove it for the work, then splice it back in later. The reason for doing it here is the fact that there will be less visible glasswork since there is not much area around the vents anyway, and the inside part will only be visible when the hatch is open(even though I plan on having it damn near flawless before gel and paint), just less work to get it there. Not sure if this makes sense, but I was thinking of doing this at an angle(as shown in the attached pic), not sure it would make a difference, but just thought the splice may be stronger this way.

Am I totally off base? Has this been done? Is it a feasable thing to do, or would the experts cringe??