Thank you for all the input and suggestions guys. Yeah not great news, especially with all the money I have already invested into the engine and such. Was thinking about cutting out the lower half and accessing the rot. Thoughts on this? Or should I just replace the complete section? Looks like this might not be done come spring. I should have had a survey done on the boat. Oh well...

Id bite the Bullet and redo the whole transom. BUT, before you do that, take a close look at the Stringers. Nothing worse than a brand new transom, and find out the stringers are gone. Many times these boat companies did a half a$$ job sealing holes after they drilled them.

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+1

Sometimes it is assumed that the water is geting to the studs by leaking past the seal, but if you get water into the boat above the stud location, for whatever reason, water can leak from the inside, under the inner plate, and sit around the stud corroding it. Not saying that is what happened here, but I like to seal around the studs, both sides of the transom.

I knew after seeing that anode stud the transom was shot too. That is how mine looked and my transom was rotten. One nice thing about having a rotten transom is it gave me an opportunity to get the propshaft height correct. I raised it 2" and gained close to 10 mph. So the money spent on the new transom was not a total waste, it fact it improved the boat all around quite nicely.

Beau, I have to agree with the others on repairing the wood. I would determine; how far the rot goes first, before I would start cutting out the whole transom. It may only be in the area closets to the cut out. I have a customer that is faced with the same thing. You can cut the glass with a cut-off wheel and step the wood for the repair, giving the strength back with the glass lay-up. If the transom surface is level and solid, when rebuilding a transom then re installing it. I just glue the new seal into transom groove and re-install it with no extra sealer on surface. If you add a bunch of sealer to surface, you are covering up an existing problem.

The reason we use a small bead of 4200 on top of rubber seal(after seal is glued to assembly) is because we have resealed several through the years that leaked,but transom was solid.. The rubber had lost its flexability and is just laying flat,if not slightly below receiver groove in transom assembly.... You do what you do...and i'll do what I do.........6-2 and even

So i did some more drilling this morning..... Stringers all the way to the bulkhead seem to contain semi soft dark wood. None of its currently wet, although its been sitting in a shop in arizona that regularly hits 115-120. Have decided too much of the transom is compromised and now it appears stringers as well. FUN!

Don't want to bum you ,Semi soft dark wood = rot...as i'm sure you know .As much as it sux, unless you are in love with the boat ..or it is something rare and worth repairing ....You might consider licking your wounds and part it out ..Or put your drivetrain in a solid boat...Just another opinion

I have installed many transom assemblies both new and reinstalling used ones. Never used 4200 or any other caulk and never had one leak. When ever a boat comes into the shop with caulk around the seal we know it was a do it yourselfer and look for other problems.