Transom replacement on Checkmate 281
 

Well i got started on the transom replacement Sunday. Hears what i started with.
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Here is a pic of the wet spot...theirs not much. I never thought i would be envious of someone with a completely rotted transom. It sure would have came out easier.
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And by the end of day 1
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Today i got most of the filler that was between the skin and and transom out and still need to grind down the old glass around the edges.
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Might get some done tomorrow but probably wont be able to get back to it till next weekend.

Ok i can use everyone's help.... I need to figure out a new way to mount the motor. The lag bolts with an angle holding them in don't cut it as far as I'm concerned. I plan on buying or making an offshore style mount,but im not sure how to mount it. As you can see the stringers are short and fat with no access to the back side.
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I currently plan on keeping the floor in the back and filling it with foam, but I may not depending on what I decide. So what are your ideas?

Wow, lots of work, impressive.

Maybe cut like a 4" access hole in deck where batteries are and put a deck plate there. That would give you enough room the put your hand in there to get to the bolts for the plate you'll need for the offshore mount.

I stopped at the Checkmate factory the other day to ask them how they were putting in motor mounts and that is the method they are using now. Using an angle through bolted on the stringer. I just need to cut the whole motor mount assembly out to get to the stringer.... hope to get that done this week.

I havent got much done on the project... waiting to go get materials. Removed some more of the interior. pulled the fridge and cabinets out. Put up new plastic around the boat. The other plastic had way too much dust stuck to it from grinding out the transom.

So I got back on the project this week. Here is where I left off with the tabbing all ground out

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I was going to start filling holes but decided against it till most of the tear out is done. So I started to try and cut the motor mounts out. When i was cutting I hit what I thought were more lag bolts coming from inside the floor. So I cut the floor up and pulled the foam. No lag bolts just big nails coming from the outside. Floor was coming up anyway so what the hell.
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A couple of flat bars got the foam out in big chunks. I took a sawzall around the edges then pried it all up. The starbord side had some mosture in it but not as much as i was expecting. The port side was totally dry.. lets hope the stringer is too.
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That was enough for one day!

Today I was determined the motor mounts were coming out! I had originally took a saw around the edges and was hopping I could just pry them off. As i mentioned before their nailed on. So i cut the glass off the front of the mount and dug the nails out.
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They still weren't coming out...So i broke out the chainsaw and cut down the side of the stringer. They poped off after that:D Unfortunately i didn't take enough pics today. I just have where I finished.
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I still need to grind down all the edges and gel. I dont have the stomach right now to drill test holes in the stringer... I want to enjoy making some progress before it all goes south :ernaehrung004:

I bet that starboard stringer is wet. The other side looks great.

Great progress. Little by little you will get it done. Do get the offshore solid engine mount and the angles to thru bolt the stringer. Get the mount before you finish fiberglass work to ensure you can simulate install before you paint and finish bilge. Cleaner install in the end. No patches or touch ups.

I finally got some time to work on the boat this week... Ground out the rest of the old motor mounts and tapered the glass around the core. Apparently didn't take any pics of that part. Then i cleaned up where the core neded to be replaced and bedded the core in using a thin layer of corebond.
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I left a place out of the core to be able to mount the depth finder that I will make into a kind of pad/well thing. After blending in the core I put several layers of 1708 in the bottom of the well for strength.

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With that done it was time to lay some glass over the whole ting. The scary part is that this is the biggest pis of glass I have ever wet out! And it also got 2 layers of 17.
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With One of the scariest parts of this restoration out of the way, at least to me, its on to the transom... Cut the pattern out of Styrofoam insulation and transferred to wood. I tried the wood just to be sure. I was hoping to get the wood laid up this week but work is still killing me with overtime. Maby this weekend..

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