My small project. (Mostly electrical).

So I bought this boat and trailer for $600. I immediately realized it was not up to the regs. It needed lights (for night running) both internal floor lights and bow/stern lights as well as Coast Guard required items such as a fire extinguisher, air horn signalling device etc. I also noted very quickly that the transom (in green in some pics) was in bad shape. It's wood. So I stripped and sanded it only to find rotten wood in parts. Which I removed and then (poorly mind you) filled with wood filler and then stained and sealed.

All hardware added (other than wire and terminals) is stainless. Internal LED lights are waterproof and claim to even be submersible.

I would love to replace the wood on the transom, if anyone has ideas on that please let me know. It's in bad enough condition that the boat is not trailerable with the 9.5hp motor. It just doesn't seem structural enough to take a pothole with that sort of weight on it. It might work, it might not. What you see there is very old and not well taken care of wood backed up by a sheet of aluminum. Probably 3/16th's, but I haven't taken a caliper to it.

Any suggestions for additions are welcome. However please do not suggest a major project of adding a floor or something. Many of the lakes I go to have a horsepower limit of 9.9, so a 25hp outboard (which I'd really like) is not possible. I really don't want to add 200+ pounds to this thing while still being limited to a 9.9 or less motor.

I need to take some more pictures. I tightened up the wiring recently, put a hole through that plate below the stern light and ran the wires through that. Will post that in a follow up, see what you all think about it.

Does anyone have a suggestion on cleaning up the wires? As of now there's 3 sets for the fish finder, internal and external lights. Should I use individual terminals on the battery for fish finder and the two sets of lights or should I just put all three of each wire in a single terminal or get a junction box? If junction box, any recommendations on which one?

Hopefully the pictures are in the right order. Either that or they will be backwards. If they are, my apologies.

Thanks everyone!

EDIT: If anyone has any ideas on adding an electric trolling motor to that transom, please let me know. The curves sort of weird me out when thinking about adding a second motor.

As far as the transom - REMOVE the old transom and install a new one. Use the old transom as a template.

Wood filler does not do anything strength wise. I suggest sealing the new transom with a 2 part epoxy sealer.

As far as a TM on the rear - you should be able to make one fit - might have to add a block of wood to help span your gunnel cover.



The wires I would also replace - make sure you use marine grade wires (tinned) - I made a simple junction out of an old cutting board and some SS bolts with wing nuts on the top. I could have run the wires direct to the battery but my batteries are stored below the deck so it is a PITA to get to easily to charge and to switch things around

Again, get Marine grade connectors

I agree with Ahab on the transom wood. The 2 part epoxy is the best, but for that small amount of wood you may just want to buy a quart of exterior Spar Urethane and give it 4 good coats.

Use seperate terminals for each device, you can put all the lights on one terminal... but the FF and TM need to be separate.

A bow mount trolling motor will steer your boat much better than a transom mount. You can fabricate a bracket to mount on the transom for a TM though. I'd use aluminum angle, but you can use wood 2x6s or something.

Thanks for the input guys.

I knew that wood filler wasn't structural, but something had to be done fast to stop the rot from spreading and there were only a couple months left in the season anyway. Now it's time to get ready for this season!

As for the Spar Urethane, I have a gallon of it, so we're good to go on that.

For using the old transom as a template, this is the ONE set of tools I don't have. So I'll probably pull it and have someone make me one. Install it, stain it and seal it.

@Ahab: All wires are marine grade and everything else I put on her is stainless or aluminum. Not sure how the bi-metal joints will work out when static electricity builds up and they're wet, but we'll find out (both my parents are PhD chemists and they say "stay the heck away" when it comes to bi-metal on a boat). Also, would you happen to have a picture of this junction you made, might give me some clever ideas (or really dumb ones).

Thanks again everyone!