I'm looking at some late 90's early 2000 Formula Fastech boats. It seems like there are a lot of boats these days getting replacement Transom Plates. That's an expensive repair! How can one tell if the Plates are getting to the point of needing to be replaced?

Transom plate? You mean the full wooden transom? The boats that have had engine liners done?

AKA Transom Assembly. It connects the drive to the transom on the outside and the motor to the transom on the inside.

Ok. It's only known as the transom assembly. On the inside of the transom is the inner transom plate which holds the assembly on the back of the boat. They usually need to be rebuilt after some time. Pins start to wear out. You have the upper which helps it turn and the side pins. Grab drive and try wiggle up an down. You will usually see if there's play in the pins. If you're not sure take someone along who knows.

Thanks. Kinda like checking for ball joints on the front of a car by jacking it up and moving the tire side to side or up and down.

alot of times is that no one tightens the gimbal ring pinch bolts to the OEM spec of 53 ft lbs. This causes the wear overtime in the gimbal ring where the swivel shaft goes thru for a small jist of it.

Yes. Treat it like that. Locate your pins and watch for slop.

undo any hydro steering rams if applicable as well before checking side to side play and up and down play

hinge pin area, check that out as well and making sure they are tighten to spec

Ok, thanks for the heads up!