Few Questions on the Enticer project

[teamhart2]

So i was out measuring today to order the glass stuff for the core and floor... I had been planning on redoing the transom as well but I am now having second thoughts if this is necessary. The transom presently seems structurally sound no stress cracks or anything on it, I pulled a bunch of glass and the wood seems solid, screwdriver in the bolt holes doesnt do much even when i really pull on it. the wood is def old, but its not like its rotted, I think it may have gotten a little wet at some point- around the drain plug maybe, but seems mostly dried out after the winter and on the whole seems solid can only get into the surface if i go after it with a screwdriver or a knife.

Question is, since im redoing stuff, i dont want to pull it apart to redo the transom next year... if the woods solid now, even if it got a little wet, should it be ok at least for five years or so? ill be in a much better place to do repairs then, and im not even sure it needs it. thanks for any input

[Chris E]

you won't like my suggestion - i would do the transom. when i looked at mine it felt solid looked solid, and when i put my fat ass wieght on it - didn't budge. it was absolutley rotten when i got into it. my feeling is yours is the same. wood doesn't really dry out when its sandwiched between layers of fiberglass. it's not a bad job to do, a bit of a pain - but then working on boats always is. i split the hull and deck - boring but not hard - keep the batteries charged in the drill!

good luck

[Old Hickory]

Have you actually seen the wood? felt it? smelled it? My Enforcer had wood that was in differing stages of decay. My stringers toward the transom are/were literally compost; completely saturated w/ water and crumbled like dirt in my hands. Midnight black in color and smelled like sour soil. The decay was obviously advanced in my stringers and they have to be replaced.

My transom has decay but is not nearly as advanced. I took a core sample from my transom and found the wood to be dark but not black; it was damp but not saturated; and warm to the touch. It also smelled differently; like mulch. I decided to tear the transom out and what I found was surprising.

Once I removed the skin of glass on the inside; the wood was very warm to the touch and has the very musty odor of mulch. The layers of wood are suprisingly strong; but have released from all the adhesive. The removal has been tedious because the decay has not progressed at the same rate through the transom. Some layers have retained their natural color but are still damp; others are very black and separate more readily. I am very glad I made the decision to replace my transom now; since I was going to replace the floor and stringers anyway.

Once the wood is wet it will not take long for the decay to progress rapidly.
Since the wood is encapsulated w/ glass it is a anaerobic enviroment. These types of organisms produce alot of heat; foul odors and work rapidly.
I believe I could have hung a motor on my enforcer and would be fine maybe for another year; but any engineer will tell you once the structural integrity of the wood is compromised it needs to be replaced. Since I was doing all the replacing anyway; it just made sense to fix the transom. Besides, if I waited to do it, I would have to tear up part of my new stringers and floor a year or two down the road just to get to the transom.

I know it is a big decision.... at least take a core sample and if it's damp; replace the transom...it's only a matter of time.

Hick

[teamhart2]

Hey Guys, thanks for the advice.... what ive done so far is pulled a few core samples... and thinking that i was going to have to pull it all, i pulled quite a lot of the glass off of the inside of the transom, none of the wood came off when i ripped all that glass off, and like i said, the is far from being rotten, theres a few darker spots, but nothing like the black rot ive seen elsewhere on the boat. I guess Ill do a little more digging and maybe put up some pictures of the wood where it was damp near the drain plug, it is a little black down there but not terribly soft. Further up where the glass isnt covered in that black paint the wood color looks great, so i dont think that has even gotten wet, problem is, after sitting all winter without the glass on it, when i was digging around yesterday i couldnt find any hint of moisture.... making me question my original thoughts that i needed to redo it. Ill see if i can get some pics of the areas i have stripped. I mainly just dont want to end up doing it and ending up struggling to pull out a good transom but I guess itll take a closer inspection.

[Chris E]

tough call, my boat is a 79 so it has a few years on yours - the drain plug is what concerns me about your situation. once it starts, it won't stop and hick is right - you really don't want to destroy all the work you did 2 or 3 years later to replace the now rotton transom - remember you are dealing with a boat that is 26 years old.

[teamhart2]

So heres a few pics I snapped real quick today when I was working of the transom, as you can see I dug a little into that blackish stuff down by the drain plug, its not real soft, but I was able to get into it with a screwdriver, I drilled some more holes and didnt find too much wetness, but not sure if its actually wet, I left the pics big so you can really see.http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee191/teamhart2/DSC01423.jpghttp://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee191/teamhart2/DSC01424.jpghttp://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee191/teamhart2/DSC01422.jpg

[MateFever]

Hey man, nice progress on the boat but I'm going to tell you just like I was told back in September....if there's any doubt or you have any traces whatsoever, its worth it to just go ahead and tear the transom out. The deeper I got into mine the more I found out that water had seeped in between the layers and it was beginning to rot from the iside out. Its a little more work but since you're in this far its really not that difficult. Don't take any chances... and who knows...maybe after a year or so you might want to hang more power and a jack plate off the back. Sure would suck after all that work and money to crack the transom or worse, lose the whole boat. I know I've been promising pictures for some time and will get some snapped now that I have my template for the new wood made. And yes, I've done it all to this point without separating the deck and hull.

[teamhart2]

Thanks mate, youve gotta get me some pics so I can see how you are doing this without separating the hull and deck... I dont have any big reason not too but if I can do it without drilling rivets till my eyes bleed and then have to screw it all back together that might be worth it. I guess at this point ive already got a lot of the glass ripped off... prolly outta do it... im already eyeing some motors and jackplates that I have no money to purchase.:sssh: