There is a lip left over from cutting out the transom. Does this lip need to be ground down completely?

I did on mine. the lip is where they glassed over the transom wood when the hull is in the mold. I ground the lip down and cut the wood so it went all the way to the deck, past the hull/deck joint. I probably didn't need to do that but it will make for a stronger construction. As a side benefit, the wood required less trimming to fit where i put onstead of trimming it to fit inside of that lip.
Any gaps that you have (The new wood should have a small gap between it and the hullsides), fill in with the epoxy thickened with 404 powder glue.

Hi Art! I haven't accomplished much... a lot of looking and thinking. I've done just enough to get a little sliver of glass embedded in the joint of my pinky... driving me nuts!

I did go ahead and pull out the center stringer... after removing the leftover wood between it and the transom it pretty much fell over.

The outside stringers I will be able to keep as they are (vs. cut at 45*). The new wood will fit in one piece and clear the outside stringers.

I'm now trying to remove the leftover glass on top of where the old transom was (upper lip). It has completely separated from the deck. I'm seriously considering doing what Bryonspeedracer did by making the new wood go up higher so it fuses the deck and hull.

I should be able to finishing grinding this weekend, make the template, cut the wood, and maybe prep the wood as bulldog described... the jury is still out on that one though.

Jackhammer,

Which company did U use that went belly up? If you wanted to still have someone do it U might call 214-679-1089 the guy's name is Joe. He has a shop over in Denton area. Unless he's the one that went belly up!! If U wanted to take it down to Austin area Bob Loyd who owns Full thorottle marine has a guy that does really good work you might give him a call to get the #. Bobs # is 830-693-5591.

Russ

Timothy Richter Fiberglass in Lewisville Texas. If you're near here and hear or see of him at a boat shop, run!

I talked to Joe and a few other people... I got a different story from each person. Add that up with an already deep seeded distrust for boat repair 'professionals', and that equals DIY! This is my 3rd complete re-rig project so I have the confidence needed to tackle a transom/stringer job. I just HATE doing this type of work in July... It's hot as hell and I should be on the water!

Do I really need to grind 100% of the old transom down to glass? There a some big sections that have good clean wood and at the most 1/32" thick (very thin). I can almost see through it!

Okay thanks Art! I went ahead with grinding and removing all traces of the original transom. Now it appears I have a few low spots (valleys). They aren't bad so I'm going to live with it. I'll just make sure there is enough epoxy to fill any low spots.

What I need to do this week is go shopping... can you guys help with with my shopping list? I have a line on the brand epoxy I plan to use, I just need to know how much I should buy? (gallons). How much, and what type fiberglass? There are so many different types of mat and woven, sheesh! What other kinds of need to have items will I want?

Bryanspeedracer and Zanie,

I studied your threads again and you guys took a slightly different approach.

I've pretty much decided to only use thickened epoxy between the hull and first piece of wood like bryan did.

between the 1st and second sheet I'm leaning towards putting layers of glass like zanie did. Mainly to add to the thickness so I can be slightly over 2" when finished. It looks like welcraft used 1 sheet of cloth between the 2 sheets of plywood. I was thinking of going thicker, but how much is too much? or is it even necessary?

Hi Art!

I'm in Dallas... I wish I were close enough for some consulting!

Besides grinding, this is the only progress I've made. The lower portion of this transom never went all the way down to the drain hole. I didn't want to mess with trying to shape the new wood so I built a step for the new wood to sit flat on. It's not pretty but it'll work (better than it did).

I have a few valleys to flatten out, especially on the edges. The original transom did not go all the way to the edge so it's real uneven there... I'm going to flatten it out with thickened epoxy same as what I did in this pic.

Here's an edge I was talking about... the darker area is actually a good 1/4 inch from the lighter stuff... i put a straight edge on it but I don't think it shows up so well.