Danny_Ocean

In a nutshell, can anyone tell me the "proper" procedure for plugging holes in the transom? The holes are from two swim platforms that were removed. Platforms had previously been thru-bolted. One set of holes is above the waterline and one set below. I'm guessing caulking to fill and epoxy to seal/cover the holes, inside & out. Wooden plugs? Rubber plugs?

Thanks in advance!

D. Ocean
Pompano Beach, FLA

Reed Jensen

My suggestion.....if they go all the way through and you want them to "disappear". Buy some 5/16" or 3/8" wood dowels. Drill the hole clean through with the proper size twist drill, blow out the hole, measure the depth of the hole, subtract 1/4" from the total length....cut the dowel to length... ( 1/8th" from each end.) Get some marine epoxy, ( west marine type) liberally coat the hole and dowel... press the dowel into the hole so that it is 1/8"th inch beneath the surface. Wipe the excess epoxy off... let cure... Fill in the hole with Marine tex white to match the gel coat. Let cure ,,, sand flush and polish... tah... dah... hole gone. If the holes are smaller... you may want to just fill them with epoxy. Good luck... anyone else have a suggestion?

Reed Jensen

Hey Too old... you were thinking the same thing.... you stole my thoughts!

Darkhorse468

I just pugged four 3" exhaust hole in the transom of my boat and thats what I was shown to do by the guys I work with and the guys at Custom Fiberglass up here in MA. Just make sure the holes are CLEAN!! The acetone pulls all kinds of s%$t outof the wood...prevents rot too. I just hole sawed plugs out of 1inch marine plywood, soaked the ends, coated the holes GOOD(West system will absorb into the wood pretty fast and good) and then plug up the holes...coat the entire hole are a few times, then when West system begins to get jellied, scrape off excess with plastic applicator (around edgfe of holes, this stuff gets HARD.) then finish like these guys told ya. It wasn't hard and the finished product is solid as a rock.

Big Block Billy

Hey! What do you guys think of plugging holes with 3m 5200 sealer ? Of course the holes have to be clean. Maybe this is just a fast and dirty way ... BBB

Big Block Billy

Yeah ! I'll admit I'd use dowells too ! There cheap and easy. I just want to see what other people think. I've had good luck with dowells and 5200 sealer though. It really is amazing how much water can leak in from a small hole over a small period of time. I went away for a few days last year and it rained torrentially, more rain than I've seen in my 30 years here on Long Island, the bilge pump killed the battery and the rear of the boat went down below the hole where the transducer's wire went through the transom which was way above the waterline. It didn't take long for the boat to go down. I'll never trust a computerized bilge pump again!!!

Big Block Billy

AS my dad told me . WELCOME HOME < YOUR BOAT SANK!!! BBB

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

BBB- that will do in a pinch to get you through to the end of tha season. but ultimatley you will have to clean them out and epoxy some plugs in. it is very hard to get 5200 out and you sometimes end up with a much larger hole than you started with.

glassdave

iTrader: (1)

. . funny you made that last comment. my dad called me one morning about a year ago to tell me our marina called him an said my boat was sinking (for some reason they didnt have my #) . think i made it there in an all time record for me.



oh . . it wasnt sinking by the way. although i was glad the guard was observant enough to notice the change in draft. i usually ran the boat with half full tanks cuz it ran faster. gas was super cheap that weekend an i just filled em up. he thought it was sinking because my exhaust tips were at the water and he wasnt used to seeing them there. . i still was glad he called, better safe than . . .uhh . . swimmin for my boat.