Transom ?

[Brian]

The transom on my 84 enchanter, has no problems first off. But I would like to beef it up, because I do run the boat hard, some ideas that I have are to add a 3/8's plate to the bottom two mounting holes, and add a cable turnbuckel to the top two mounting holes, down to the stringer. Need to know if anybody has any other ideas for strengthing the transom, want to add some more power as well but I need to know how to make the transom stronger.Thanks

[Brian]

The transom on my 84 enchanter, has no problems first off. But I would like to beef it up, because I do run the boat hard, some ideas that I have are to add a 3/8's plate to the bottom two mounting holes, and add a cable turnbuckel to the top two mounting holes, down to the stringer. Need to know if anybody has any other ideas for strengthing the transom, want to add some more power as well but I need to know how to make the transom stronger.Thanks

[175checkmate]

Brian, Mine had the turnbuckle added to the transom when I bought it. Does alot of damage over time. When I rebuilt the transom I added knees. They run from the transom to the floor and are tied into the sides. Sort of boxed in the rear. If you look at the picture all the wood you see is new and was not there form the factory. I also made the transom twice as thick. Look under your splash well, you may be able to do something like it.

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1975 Checkmate Tri-mate 2, 2.4 200+ / Sky jacker 6" plate / 25p Laser 2 prop, Currently the boat is undergoing overhaul.

[jrumon]

Cables only will help in reducing the flex in ONE direction (accell)...

Most boats experience flex in BOTH directions...on acceleration (load pulls back on top of transom, and pushes in on lower transon)...on rapid decell, the opposite forces apply...on general cruising, hitting waves, etc. the force comes and goes (push/pull)...

The proper way is add "knees" from the top of the transom to the floor stringers (fiberglassed in correctly of course).

Let me know if you need details on how to do it. Jim.
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[Brian]

Hey guys you are both saying to add knee braces, but the boat aready has them, it goes from the transom to the stringers on the bottom of the boat. There is no flex anywhere under the rub rail or above, but I am just alittle nervous about the top part of the transom, because there is not alot of meat there. But the boats been like that since 84, Although it was never intended for the power it has on it now. Thanks for the tips guys.

[175checkmate]

I don't think you will have a problem as long as you are still using the factory mounting holes. The stress is transmitted through the mounting points, hence the knees. I don't think it will be a problem.

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1975 Checkmate Tri-mate 2, 2.4 200+ / Sky jacker 6" plate / 25p Laser 2 prop, Currently the boat is undergoing overhaul.

[ncst8er]

Did they change the design from '83 to '84? My '83 Enchanter has heavy knees that run from underneath the crossbrace to the floor, but there's two shortcomings with the design. First is that the area above the crossbrace is not reinforced, second is that the knees mount to the floor (not the bottom of the boat) which is 1/2" plywood with flotation foam under it. Since I found some water damage to the stringers/bulkhead near the front of the gas tank, I'm reinforcing it with double thickness stringers that have full height knees incorporated into them similar to 175Checkmate's project (splashwell will be gone also). It's plenty strong as long as the engine is mounted the way it came from the factory, but add a lot of setback or change the height of the motor such that the lever arm is altered and you may have problems.

[Brian]

175checkmate, your right it doesn't have any problems, but I just want to ensure that it won't.Did you only do the bracing on the knees, and a thicker transom when you redid your transom?

[175checkmate]

The factory transom was 1.5" thick. The new transom is 3.5" thick with glass inbetween each section. The knees go from the transom to the deck and to the hull. Since the factory only installed one stringer in the center and I still need to put the fuel tank inbetween the knees I had to that wide. The knees are glassed to the hull. I also added the side box's. They are glassed to the outter hull (inside), the transom, the knees and the hull. The floor is glassed to the transom. knee's and the hull. A bit over built, but the boxed sides will make it easer to mount the batt and trim pump. I can never seem to build or rebuild something with out trying to make it stronger. I think it would stand up to twins on the back, but I don't think it would float. LOL

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1975 Checkmate Tri-mate 2, 2.4 200+ / Sky jacker 6" plate / 25p Laser 2 prop, Currently the boat is undergoing overhaul.

[F150GT]

Before I bought my Enchanter it had some damage done to the top of the transom, the big old 250HP Merc cracked the top center of the transom. I didnt see this untill I pulled off the factory steel plate. I didnt want to jump right into a major transom rebuild so I decided to try an alternative option, I reinforced it from the outside between the engine and hull.
I cut a plate of 1/2" aluminum to extend out both sides to past the rear tow hooks, I used the tow's to bolt thru the alliminum. I also extended down below the factory plate to expand the wieght distribution. In addition to that I fit a 3" aluminum angle iron on the front edge of the transom well to samwich the transom full with. It look's good and hasnt budged after two years of hard running. I'll try to send over a pic.
F150GT

[Chris]

F150, I did the same thing on our old 14' Grew. Basically the wood was/is starting to go in the transom and when we mounted a new motor on it, the transom bowed. We talked about leaving the boat as is and having the transom fixed up in the off season, but we elected to buy a reinforcement plate. It is made out of thick diamond plate and other than it added a little weight to the back of the boat, it has worked great.

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[Chris]

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[Brian]

Chris who makes that plate on the back of the gold and red mate, or is that custom made by him.Gives me ideas!

[Brian]

O yeah were can I get fenders like that for my trailer.

[F150GT]

Brian
unfortunately it's not red, it's metal flake brown, but still looks good. I made the transome plate, it has worked out nice and looks even better in person, the pics dont do it justice. I love the fenders too, I bought them from Allison, about $100.00 a pair. There worth the money.
F150GT

[Chris]

Brian,

We had our transom plate made by a local welder. We had the choice between painted steel, or the checkerplate stuff which didn't rust. I think it was stainless steel....anyway we went for the checkerplate stuff. Worked like a charm....so far. http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

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[CDN_CADS]

What kind of sealant (if any) did you use on the back side of the plate?

[Brian]

F150GT did you make a plate for the inside, of the transom as well, or just the out side, and how thick on the steel did you use, I might try to duplicate the same thing for my mate.

[F150GT]

Brian I used 3"x3" angle aluminum on the inside of the transome well (angle facing back) I trimed it to fit the countour of the well and added 2 more 1/2' bolts on the ends. This is were all the strength comes from, the angle redistributes the load of the engine from the center to all the way acrost the well. On the outside I used 6"x3/8" thick aluminum plate and trimed down the center to match the outside countour of the well. I extended it out to the tow eyes and used them to anchor the ends. With that it helps transfer some of the strain to the outside corners. I then used two more piecesof the 6" plate and welded them on the bottom of the cross piece to form a funny tee. I extended the upright peices down 6' below the original engine mounting holes and added anouther set of bolts at the bottom. This redistributes the pressure point of the bottome of the engine farther down the transome. This is espcialy important when running a jack plate because the foot print of the jack is evan smaller then that of the engine, with the increased hight and leverage of a jack plate it really axagerates the twisting force on the transome. to go one step beyond, i used a piec of channel iron on the inside of the boat to distribute the torque of the bolts(they also wont pull thru) finnaly I used black RTV to seal around all the holes, and hit the alluminum with a buffer and pollished it all like chrome. Looks sweet.
I think I have a pic of the transome plate with the engine off, I'll try to dig it up and get it scaned. Thanks for the intrest.
F150GT

[Brian]

F150GT thanks man you gave me alot of ideas, that all sounds great. I would like to see some pic's of the inside if you could get me some.Thanks again man.

[Chris]

Here are some pics F150 sent for me to post.

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[Chris]

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[Chris]

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[Brian]

Thanks F150gt that gives me a better idea of things to do.Thanks too chris for posting the pic's. I think I am going to wait though because I might redo the whole transom w/ some steel or something to that effect build into it. I would like to get this motor around 300+ hp, there are numerous thing I can do but I am going to wait till I lose a race really bad, or till the warrenty is up on the motor. Thanks again guys.

[play2win]

Question: I am rebuilding transom, when I put in knees, if I put them in higher, is the crossbrace thus eliminated. My 82" Enhchanter was 1.5 inches with an additional 3/4 above the crossbrace to the top to provide support for a total of 2.25 inches along the top of transom. Should I go to 2.25 all throughout transom, and put knees higher?

[F150GT]

I'd go with 2.25" full height, extend the knee braces as high as possible and notch in the cross brace into the knees. My 2 cents.
F150GT

[175checkmate]

Mine had the cross brace. I felt it was needed when the transom was 1.5 inch thick. When I went in with new wood, I used 3, 3/4" peices of plywood. Ran the knees all the wa up to the underside of the top deck.

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1975 Checkmate Tri-mate 2, 2.4 200+ / Sky jacker 6" plate / 25p Laser 2 prop, Currently the boat is undergoing overhaul.

[boatn70]

is that signs of trimtabs on you enchanter, never seen that before, wonder what it was like.
your aluminum work looks great!
hows that boat run with the yammie on it?

never fast enough!

[play2win]

Thank you for the input gentlemen. Do I have to make slots in transom wood to accomodate the knees that I am inserting, or do I just epoxy them against wood, and glass in?

[175checkmate]

They will be glassed to the transom, no need for slots. When I did mine I thought about that. So I instlled one side, 3 layers of glass to the transom, floor, and side box. The next day when everthing was dry I tryed to move the knee. no luck, sat down and used legs. No luck. I think is someone where to blow up my boat using c4 the only thing that would be left would be the back halve. http://www.checkmate-boats.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif

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1975 Checkmate Tri-mate 2, 2.4 200+ / Sky jacker 6" plate / 25p Laser 2 prop, Currently the boat is undergoing overhaul.

[F150GT]

boatn70
just put the tabs on this winter,I added the 4" spacer for more setback at the same time,still have a couple mounths to wait to try them. She runs real nice with the Yammi, mid 70's.
F150GT