"Simple" transom replacement project

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Tinny Fleet

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Joined
Mar 13, 2017
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Location
Florida and New England
LOCATION
Melbourne Beach
One of the vessels in my tinny fleet is a 14 Smokercraft, which I bought quite a few years ago, and have been using as a rowboat in small ponds and rivers. Its a good size for my young son and I for a morning out, and it is very responsive to the oars - light as a feather in the water.

The PO had beat up the boat a bit. Among other issues the transom was buckled and bowed, perhaps from running too heavy a motor, or allowing the motor to flop around while trailering. Who knows. The transom was also rotted out. Indeed the wood part of the transom located on the water side of the skin had fungus growing out of it and was so rotten that it came apart in my hands.

I decided to replace the transom as this would mean I could run an outboard on the back. During my misspent yout' I would have cheerfully slapped a 25 hp on it and screamed away bouncing from wavetop to wavetop in wild haste to get to where the lunkers were. These days it would be half that horsepower or less, lessons learned.

First task was to make the new plywood, which I did out of marine plywood.

The transom on the inside of the skin was 5 1/2 x 48 and just an easy rectangle to cut. The old piece of wood on the water side of the skin was small, and so I used the template of similar piece from a 16' StarCraft. Bigger is more better, right?

They got two robust coats of the "Old Timer's formula"
 

Attachments

  • Transom parts getting old timers formula.JPG
    Transom parts getting old timers formula.JPG
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After removing the old wood, I sanded and primed the transom skin on both sides before installing the wood.

I used stainless nuts and bolts throughout, as well as a few aluminum rivets. 5200 was used to seal thru-the-hull fittings.

Than primed.

Still the transom was...lets just say "irregular"... and needed additional straightening and support.

A piece of 2" channel was obtained but it did not quite fit. Instead I opted for a piece of 2" angle, running along the top of the transom. This served to both strengthen and reinforce the transom, and straighten it.

Next was everything got primed.

I then ran a bead of 5200 along the top of the angle iron where it meets the top of the transom, and around the smaller piece of wood on the water side of the transom skin.

The final coat of paint will be applied after the 5200 has cured which may take a week or more.

A simple job, but with many steps. However the usefulness of the boat has expanded exponentially. Thanks to folks on the board here for all their tips!

My apologies for the pictures being upside down, I have no clue how to adjust them. Also, the order in which they show here is the reverse order of my little writeup in this posting.
 

Attachments

  • Wavy and buckled transom with new primed wood.JPG
    Wavy and buckled transom with new primed wood.JPG
    104.5 KB · Views: 689
  • New Transom wood primed.JPG
    New Transom wood primed.JPG
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  • Install 2 inch angle to straighten transom and protect wood.JPG
    Install 2 inch angle to straighten transom and protect wood.JPG
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  • First Coat of Primer.JPG
    First Coat of Primer.JPG
    84.4 KB · Views: 689

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