Crack in Stern 14' Sears...help!

Hi everyone,

I'm a newb and need a little help. I bought an old 14' sears jon boat that is in pretty rough shape. I got all the leaky rivets fixed and have moved onto the transom. The easy part is going to be replacing the wood, but I've discovered a crack running across the top of the aluminum on the stern. Its pretty big in some parts and I need some advice on how to fix it, if it even can be, I'm on a college budget so I need it to be as inexpensive as possible. Thanks for any advice you guys can offer.

If you lay a straight edge across the top of the transom is it flat. It almost appears in the pictures that the rail on the top of the transom has bowed in the center pulling it off the transom. Maybe another picture not so close would make the problem clearer.

gillhunter said:

If you lay a straight edge across the top of the transom is it flat. It almost appears in the pictures that the rail on the top of the transom has bowed in the center pulling it off the transom. Maybe another picture not so close would make the problem clearer.

Click to expand...

+1 Plus if it the size that it appears to be I would suggest welding that a pretty big crack

I hadn't thought about the rail being bent but you're right looks like it got pushed in and a little bit up. I'll post some more pictures but I'm not sure if they'll actually help or not, couldn't really get the right angle. I'm only going to be running a little 5hp motor so do you think its even something I need to worry about?

thanks for the replies

Straighten it out & get it welded up.That crack is no big deal to weld.With the crack your losing alot of strength in the transom.The rest looks Ok for a 5hp.
Keep us posted.