Replaciong the transom, and thinking about trying foam composite.
 

What are your opinions on a foam composite transon vs wood? I'd like to go composite over wood, but I am unsure on what composite to use..

Any recommendations?

my understanding is the bolts will crush the transom in with foam core

I'm still old school for transoms, I'm not sold on composite just yet for high stress high load surfaces like we seen in rough water offshore boating. Everywhere else on the boat sure, composite everywhere. Every composite transom i have ever had in race boats developed issues, eyebrows above and below the gimbal housing. It may be different now or there may be a better composite board but i have had compressive load issues that ended up with a loss of rebound ability within the panel. Again this is all high repetitive loading and single 1 1/2" or double 3/4" layups. If you have to go composite i would consider going three layers of 1/2", bagged if possible and use Coosa's Bluewater 26 minimum. As stated above you can also have through bolt issues, there are methods to get around it but at what point it it really worth it.

Wood transom failure is a product of poor rigging and poor workmanship not necessarily because it is wood.

My experience is based on still being "old school" and having issues with the few i have had. I am all ears if someone can convince me otherwise though. I am speaking strictly of performance pleasure boats, i know full well the highest level race boats (Mystic, DR, etc) all use composite but they are engineered for it. I am also aware there are many OEM's using Coosa transoms but most are non performance.

This is the way I took it from my research - you should over drill the hole for wood transoms to make sure they do not get wet and you should over drill the hole for a composite transom because it does not have the compression strength of wood. Either product you have to do the same thing.