chasing a phantom leak on our boat...has me paranoid about transom rot. Take a look at the cut outs and let me know what you think. Already tried banging around on the back. All sounds solid.

This is before we sanded and applied penetrating epoxy...

Looks fine to me. You'll know in a hurry when there not. It's like grabbing a hand full of the inside of an old rotted tree stump. It's not soft at all is it?

jabbed with a screw driver...solid.

Looks just fine

Top left of that pic looks questionable to me.. looks like it's delaminating a little, could be pic but look at that hard...a little is not a huge deal, also if you resin then paint with bilge paint, resin will still absorb water over time

looks ok from the pics, seal them better with a good epoxy paint

looks fine to me too.shifter boot maybe,how are the bottom bolts?

there was a little delamination in that one local area.. Ended up applying resin in that area and clamping to cure over night. It was rock solid after curing.

We used a penetrsting epoxy to seal the cut outs...that should work and what most suggested when I researched it.

Everything is new at this point. Had to do top steering pin so when I took everything apart both bellows were done, block off plate o ring, bottom trim block gasket, and steering seals.

The assembly itself is nearly nearly brand new. Running out of ideas

all the bolts are good. All tight. I even added bead of silicone around assembly to rule out main seal. Still leaking. Smh.