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Has anyone actually lost a transom?

R

rover1225

Member
There has been little rain in GA this summer, the lake is down about 8 feet, and merely inches of water at the dock. So, this has been a great time to chip away bringing my 89 Starflite up to snuff, and part of that is a new floor and interior.

I have been fixing a couple of stress cracks in the transom/splashwell when I noticed that the stern most splashwell lip is hardly what you would call a structural marvel, yet this is where the most downard force is applied by the top outboard support brackets/bolts and it is made worse with a long offset from the jackplate.

So, I am beefing up the support...but to the question...

Who has ACTUALLY lost the transom in their Checkmate? mine has knees going to the hull, and a 4" deep cross brace from the factory. I am sure losing it was devastating of it did happen, I am just curious if any one actually has had the misfortune and can report it?
 
Ive only seen it happen on an old wood boat! Ive seen some bad ones in checkmates...But not bad enough to lose them!
 
I have a transom I cut out for a boat in the garage some where, haven't seen it in a while. I think its behind something. :)


If its bad enough, you probably won't lose the transom, just maybe the part that holds the motor. But your going to see some problems way before that happens. Generally, if you can wiggle the motor with your bare hands, your on your way.
 
I was witness to a tower of power that went to the bottom. It took with it a fairly large portion of the transom that it had been attached to. The gas tank floated. The steering cables pulled loose. The bow of what was left of the green metalflake ski boat floated nose up and in fact was a handy place for the driver and passengers of the ill fated craft to hang on to while desperatly waiting for rescue. Perhaps I'll be able to tell the full story sometime. The motor injested enough water to bend a couple of rods.
 
I was trying to clean out my garage, but didn't quite get 'er done, if I find the lost transom in there, I will let you know!

The signs of an aging transom are evident, and reinforcement/replacement is what drives a lot of us to fix it right, and then...while I am at it, I may as well but a BIGGER engine on it ....with more set back... and go waaaay fast.

I am still curious, was the lil green flake ski boat a Checkmate? It seems unlikely that the way these things are built, to have a transom give way. But, let's see what the voters say...
 
Hey Guy... Like the way you think, "Fix it right," "put a BIGGER engine on it," "more setback," "go waaay fast." I am happy to hear that you were unable to finish cleaning the garage, however. It has been said, and evidence tends to back up the old saying, and furthermore, it also can be found in the venerable( That's venerable, not vulnerable) Book of Jim, and the saying goes like this, 'A Clean Garage is the Sign of a Sick Mind' And there you have it. There is only a remote possibility that the sleek green metalflake ski boat was a Mate...
 
that is GREAT! I am laughing my a.. o... It looks like a stratos or something. I really thing these mates are beefy in the transom area, not a simple fiberglass box you hang a motor on. I mean LOOk at that pic! it tore it out in a nice neat little ol' square!
 
I hope the owner of that stratos boat send pics to the factory so they can rectified the problem and change the way they build transom better. The leason here is even if the boat looks nice and fast does not mean it is well built do not save the expence and lighten the transom to save weight
 
Yeah your right engine is up and for the amount of water comming out of that boat they must of sank it and when they pull it out of the water on ramp something must of got stuck to yank the motor off very very strange and look at all the people stairing at the situation
 
I had the same stress cracks in mine that I repaired , but I also put 1/2 " of glass over the whole transom and wrapped the splash well, I will not be seeing any more cracks again, as for the Bass boat, Dont think its a Stratos, I just bought one, but the funny thing is well the Transom is rotted out, Its my next winter prodject.
 
Not sure I have ever seen a mate fully lose one, but theres been one or two on the forum over the years that were real close, one was pretty recently this spring or something, think it was an enticer or predictor that the transom plates had started to punch through. Maybe ill see if i can find the thread
 
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