Mistress Transom Rot
 

Hey guys,found some transom rot on starboard side of Mistress today.Looks like about 20 percent rot on total transom.Anybody tackled this before?I think best to replace whole transom.Big job!!!!Any help would be greeeatly appreciated.Will forward some pics tomorrow.

I have a friend that had it done to a cafe. I can get the number of the guy that did the work. Supposidly it was a fairly big job but not the nightmare you may think. They basically cut the transom off, take some of the wood out of the sides and stringers and fill it in, build a new transom. When done you'd never know.

Just had the transom done on my mistress last year. The entire transom was replaced. What a difference. Glad it was done.. Well worth the investment if done by someone who is qualified in that field. Good Luck!!

Lip-Ship called yesterday and the entire transom on my 24 Fire Fox is rotted the are replacing the entire transom.

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...d.php?t=172129

Checkout the last page.

The Bad and the Ugly.Think I might try and cut the glass out from the inside,scrape all the wood out and pay someone to do the rest.Anyone tried to glass one back in on their own?

It's a messy job, but not terrible if you have the right tools. And putting the new one in isn't that bad at all once all your wood it cut and fit. You can use your existing holes to pull the new transom to the old glass. Check your stringers to make sure there is no rot there either.

Drilled both stringers and they are dry.Guess they glassed them on the ends.Thank God!!Plan is a 2 weekend tear out and a 2 weekend install.Think I will hold my breath.Will keep posted with pics for any helpful info from you guys.

I know some one that can fix it. Were do you live?He's in N.J.

I live in Navarre,Fl.Long haul for me to N.J. Anybody know someone in the panhandle area?

Day one transom tear out
 

Four hrs in on day one of transom tear out,have removed all the rot but as you can see alot of good wood left to come out.Would not wish this on my worst enemy!!!!Well maybe!!Good news is stringers have no rot,looks like the ends we glassed up at factory.Any input on how to offset plywood pieces when I go back in.Full pieces will not fit because of hatch configuration.

If you can't do one piece, you're probably going to have to do multiple layers with a staggered overlap. Looking at your photo you stopped inboard of the outside stringers. Keep going. Yoy'll need that structure bearing on the stringer. You'll probably have to cut the stringer ends at 45's and section them in to get the sheets in there. Stopping inboard is inviting a structural failure on a high-performance boat. It's bad enough doing it once. Twice would truly suck- especially if you have to fix serious structural damage the second time.

Ship Shape TV once did an episode on transom replacement. After chiseling out the transom for two days straight, he used wooden door skin as a templet to cut several three sheets of marine plywood, epoxied and screwed them together and finally completed the reglass on the inside of the transom.

May be worth ordering the video to get some ideas. Good luck and keep the pictures coming. I know your pain.

http://www.bigmouthboatsupply.com/bm1207.html

2 days straight sounds right! Hope to spend this weekend getting rest of wood out.Think I will order video for some help!!!Will keep pics posted of progress!!Hope to have her running by June!

Hey guys,almost have all the old out.Looks like I will have to go back with a two piece configuration and stagger layers,thinking three layers or will two be enough? Also would you make the cuts horizontal or vertical.If I go horizontal I will not have to cut any stringers.
Thanks!!

transom 8 hrs later!!
 

Have removed all rot and started grinding.My hands are killing meee!There is a 1 inch lip at the bottom as you will see in first pic,would you bevel this down for a smooth transition off new wood to bottom of boat?I am thinking about staggering 3 layers of plywood 1/2,5/8 and 1/2 with one horizontal cut on each layer so as not to cut any stringers.
What do you guys think?

looking good! keep posting pictures!

OK guys,more progress on the Mistress.After getting all the rotted wood out.I decided to drill a pilot hole in the stringer before cutting them to 45.Cigarette has half inch of glass over stringer and coud not bring myself to cut.(see pic).So I cut three iches off back of cap,took about 30 minutes.Now I can go back with two solid pieces of 3/4 and will not have to piece.What do you guys think?

about the rot in the hole? 2 plywood is definatly what is needed if I recall right!

Thats not rot in the stringer.They are dry.Someone had suggested cutting stringers out so I could replace from the inside,I drilled a pilot hole just to see how thich the glass was.Any help on this project would be great.First transom for for me.
Thanks

Classicmako.com has some of the most intense threads on transom rebuilds that I've read yet. This thread chronicals a rebuild of a 261: http://www.classicmako.com/forum/top...?TOPIC_ID=9592
20 pages, and lots of great pictures. Take the time to read as many of the project threads as you can, they will give you the information you need and the confidence to do it right. HTH, David

Interesting approach. Certainly gets you around the structural issues of sectioning the stringers and piecing the transom. It's probably going to be a chore to get that piece back in to the rear of the deck section where it won't crack later. Good tradeoff though.

OK transom finally in!!All thats left is some filler,sanding and paint.Really was not too bad a job after all the old stuff was out.Only have about $700.00 in job and 3 weekends of labor.Ended up with layer of epoxy mat,3/4 ply,layer of epoxy mat,3/4 ply,4 layers of biax, tabbing each layer,then tripple tabing corners and stringers.Glassed in hole at top of transom with 3 layers on inside and 3 layers on outside.I think she should be really strong!!

Few more pics

And a few more

feels good to this coming back together eh?

Your hired!
Nice work!

Beautiful job Justice. Looks like you are doing it right. Should be nothing to worry about with that new transom.

Great Job!!

What did you do to apply pressure to the first lamination of the plywood to the outside skin??

Looks great!!!

Layed sheet of glass between 2 layers of 3/4 ply and screwed
together with stainless screws,then layed glass on transom,put ply in and thru bolted.Let sit for 3 days before glassing the rest in.Looks like it really came out solid!

Nice........ Looking goood

Great work dude!! I give you alote of credit doing it yourself!!!! BRAVO!!!

Looks real good.........hope to see you in the new rig at the Emerald Coast!

Transom done!!! As you can see I filled the water pick up holes. Any suggestions on bottom pick ups??

few more pics

last one,finally can move forward and get her back together!

You deserve a lot of credit!
A job well done.
ED

Nice work!

Check Stainless Marine for transom mount water pick-ups. Give 'em a call and talk to Brownie. They make a sweet one piece, dual unit that mounts right on the V.

Thanks for sharing, I love projects.

Kurt