have a 232 islander, that i have the engine out of for a refresh. while inspecting the bilge area i noticed that if i put my finger in the drain hole at the rear of the stringer it doesnt feel real solid inside. how worried should I be?

Take a sharp object and if it pokes in like there's nothing there you should assume that you only have a shell of a stringer....A drill and test holes will determine alot...

What year boat do you have?

$3,000 to $4,000 worried if the transom has anything soft fix it all at once

Nothing to "worry" about. Like Ed said 3-4k unless you can do it yourself, because the drain holes through the stringer aren't the only places Baja didn't seal up after drilling/cutting holes.

The more you poke around the more rot you're going to find. Mine was about 7 years old when i had it completely repaired/replaced. Two stringers and the complete transom. This on a boat that has never sat outside or in a slip.

Sorry for the bad news but it is what it is, apparently none of them were sealed up at the factory, like you would expect.

I had to replace stringers as well. Transom was dry. found out they had a big problem with sealing the holes when installing trim tabs. well, mine didnt come with them so she was ok. But i have a 24' outlaw and they just lag the engine mounts to the stringers. well, they had no drains and when water would get on the other side of the stringers in the engine bay it would spill over the stringers going right into the open holes of the stringers. they were rotten. did it all myself and beefed it up in the engine bay with mdf. sure it made it heavier but oh well.

the boat is a 98 232 islander, i used it all summer and romped it pretty hard with no indication of a problem. It is only on the lh side that i noticed it. what do you do to repair it?

rip it out and start over with new wood

Pay some one to Fix it or drive the hell out of it and sell it before it becomes obvious. These are they type problems that dont "show up" till its way tooo late. If you have to ask what to do, its way more than you can handle in your drive way.

I just replaced my entire transom last winter. Trim tab screws leaked and rotted about 1/2 of it into mulch. I was running 70MPH with it like that and had no indication I had a problem. My stringers were in good shape but I beefed them up to almost 4" thick while I had it tore apart. Tap around with a mallet and listen and feel for rot, you will know. A moisture meter works well also.

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