another transom ques

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oldude

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Maybe i missed this on my searches but how do you line up the existing holes to the new transom. Using the old transom is not possible. I'm thinking about clamping the new transom in place and use the right size drill bit to just mark the wood from the outside of the aluminum. In other words just use the aluminum skin for a template. While most of the rivits/screws won't be a big deal the ones going thru to hold the brace in place have to be spot on. Do I mark the holes, unclamp the new transom and then try to drill straight thru?

Thank you for your help
 
Clamp the new wood exactly in place and mark holes on each side. Drill the holes through at 90 degrees to the wood surface using a 1/8" drill bit. Put the wood back in place and check lineup of holes. If lineup is perfect use the 1/8" holes as pilot holes for the final bolt size drill bit. If the lineup is poor; clamp the new wood exactly in place, go up to a 3/16" drill bit size and drill half way through from each side and try to meet somewhere in the middle. If you can get a fair hole through with the 3/16" bit, chase the hole with bolt size drill bit all the way through. Coat the new bolts with 5200 and squish the holes full of 5200. Snug the bolts but don't deform the metal braces and stern. Wipe off the excess 5200 and let it dry and set up. Better than new.
 
I had 18 holes in my transom that had to go through the outer skin and the 3 knee braces and 2 side brackets on the inside.
I put the transom in place then marked both the inner and outer locations. The bolts I'm using are 1/4". Then on the drill press I drilled half way through with a 5/16 bit. Then flipped the transom and drilled through with a 1/4" bit. Then I opened the hole to 5/16". My thought was the 1/4" bit would find the 5/16" hole and follow it. Of the 18 holes only 2 were not perfectly lined up and I open up the hole to 21/64" to get the bolts through.
 
I marked the holes on to the wood, removed it
then used an Harbor freight drill guide to drill the holes 90
degrees. The tool wasn't the most accurate, but H/F was
close and cheap.

https://www.harborfreight.com/angle-drill-guide-95622.html

Good Luck with your boat.

Steve A W

 
I had a helper hold the new transom wood in place while I drilled the top 2 mounting holes. I then attached the transom wood to the transom using those 2 holes. Then I drilled out the remainder of the holes using the transom skin as a template. Removed the transom and finished sealing then bolted the transom back in place. Worked fine.
 

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