1984 seafarer transom crack

[otown22]

Hi all,

first time poster here as I am a young boater who recently acquired a 1984 Grady white seafarer with the notched style transom. It has a 2006 etec 225 for power and sits on a beautiful venture trailer. I did not spend a fortune on this boat by any means and my main concern is functionality and safety, cosmetics being the least of my worries. Sadly the transom had a small crack in the corner (bottom right where the 90 degree angle is) which seems to be deeper than the Gelcoat as the crack flexes and widens when putting force on the prop when on the trailer. running on a flat lake at WOT the flex increases which obviously makes me very nervous as I can only imagine what could happen to the transom in a nice chop in CCB or the like. the rest of the boat is relatively solid as far as I can tell and the etec was installed less than 2 years ago by a marina at the expense of the previous owner. I assumed that a marina would not install a nice used outboard for 6k on a transom that is completely shot, so I’m assuming (maybe too optimistically) that the transom must be in early stages of deterioration. I have read some threads here on DIY transom repair which seems like the best option for me as it seems insane for me to spend 6k on a professional transom repair considering the price I paid for the rig. My problem is that I have found some of these threads hard to follow due to them being older, tough to understand, and images unable to view (possibly due to the age of the post?). If anyone could offer my some advice for a reasonable repair that won’t break the bank and offer me a few years of functional use out of this vessel then I would be very grateful. I have included some images of the cracks as well as the hull itself. This is my first “real” boat (not counting a 13 whaler) and being 23 I hope to get some solid years of use out of
It before hopefully upgrading. I will try to include images. Thanks in advance for any replies and assistance

 

[UCPA111]

Congrats in the Seafarer. I purchased my 1984 seafarer in 2017. I spent a year restoring it. My transom was the notched style and it was in bad shape. I redid the transom (and the boat) with my Dad. It was a great project. I love the seafarer and the 1984 model is seaworthy, capable, stable, and a very large boat for a 22 footer!

I have a series of videos on how I redid my transom. I am also happy to have a conversation about it if you want to PM me.

I ended up enclosing my transom. I didn't want a cutout and wanted to move to a bracket style for more room in cockpit and to offset my new motor weight. I can walk you through the steps.

I spent $2800 on my boat. LOL! So, I can appreciate the concern over investment. I looked at the price of new and said...I'm going for the restoration!

More than happy to help. I couldn't find much info on GW transom replacements (none in 2017), but since I've started posting my videos I've interacted with a lot of people who decided to give it a whirl.

Grady White

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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[Sdfish]

Congrats in the Seafarer. I purchased my 1984 seafarer in 2017. I spent a year restoring it. My transom was the notched style and it was in bad shape. I redid the transom (and the boat) with my Dad. It was a great project. I love the seafarer and the 1984 model is seaworthy, capable, stable, and a very large boat for a 22 footer!

I have a series of videos on how I redid my transom. I am also happy to have a conversation about it if you want to PM me.

I ended up enclosing my transom. I didn't want a cutout and wanted to move to a bracket style for more room in cockpit and to offset my new motor weight. I can walk you through the steps.

I spent $2800 on my boat. LOL! So, I can appreciate the concern over investment. I looked at the price of new and said...I'm going for the restoration!

More than happy to help. I couldn't find much info on GW transom replacements (none in 2017), but since I've started posting my videos I've interacted with a lot of people who decided to give it a whirl.

Grady White

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

Thank you for taking the time to document your restoration - it will certainly benefit many as they take on similar projects!

 

[Fishtales]

Do some investigating on the inside and see if you see any damage. Can always get a glass guy to take a look at it as well.

 

[dainlaroche]

If it’s visibly opening when you put weight on the motor there is a structural issue and no quick fix. Sounds to me like the boat is worth the hassle of doing the transom. I think it’s about $1000 in materials. You can probably get through the season on that one and plan for an off season transom replacement.

 

[Paul_A]

I hate to disagree but with the crack in the second picture and the horizontal cracks where the splashwell meets the transom and the fact that you said the crack widens when you push down on the motor... I would rebuild that transom before I used the boat again.

 

[dainlaroche]

I hate to disagree but with the crack in the second picture and the horizontal cracks where the splashwell meets the transom and the fact that you said the crack widens when you push down on the motor... I would rebuild that transom before I used the boat again.

You make a good point. I didn't see the horizontal crack on first view from my cell phone. If you rebuild the transom now you'll have a great summer, otherwise your taking a risk of catastrophic failure.

 

[SkunkBoat]

First thing I notice...no aluminum trim (aka "bang plate") which tells me that there has been previous work.
Maybe you removed it and I can't see from the pix. Is the seam open on the backside?

So the question is.."Did they fix the transom once or cover up cracks?"
From the picture and your description of flex, thats not a simple gelcoat crack.

I would be cutting the top of the transom and looking deep....do some core samples from inside the bilge...remove some motor bolts and dig around...

 

[otown22]

SkunkBoat,

funny you say that, as I was thinking the exact same thing. Doing research on here I found many people referencing removing this aluminum trim on the transom to get a better idea of the state of the wood inside/underneath, and searching different images of this model boat and year it seems like it must have been removed previously. Along with that, the transom seems to have considerably less dings/wear/etc which made me feel as if the transom had been previously repaired/rebuilt. My father and I did some investigative drilling to see the extent of the damage. We drilled vertically from the top of the transom down through the Gelcoat/fiberglass into the wood about 6 inches closer the motor from the crack in the images and the sawdust is very very dry and a light yellow shade and looks completely fine which we found to be very weird. We drilled multiple holes into the transom in a semicircle on the backside in the area of the crack and it seems like there is only about an 18inch radius around the crack where we are seeing wet wood. This is the same area where the swim platform is installed on the back of the transom and of of the screws came out rather easily and was not sealed. the boat was delivered to me and was towed about 400 miles so I’m sure the bouncing around did it no favors (though I know that the motor was in the correct position for towing and this would not CAUSE this kind of damage, maybe just finally make the internal damage visible to the eye by causing this crack). Is there any chance that a spot repair could be done? I’m not necessarily saying by myself as I understand that ALL compromised and wet wood would have to be removed in order for a repair to work or be worth it so I don’t necessarily trust myself to do it 100% correctly due to experience/access to the correct space/tools/etc.Does anyone think that a structural repair shop would do a fix like that (if it is possible and I’m not completely wrong about the state of the transom, which I could be) as I’m sure the bill would Be not quite as painful as a full rebuild, or would a shop want to rebuild the whole thing anyways because it is the best option and they would only want to produce work that they know will not fail? I do not want to sound like I am cutting corners as I want to make sure the transom is safe operating condition before use. I was quoted about 6k (more than it is worth putting into this boat my opinion) over the phone to have the transom completely rebuilt and want to slow down and consider all options before moving further. I would really like to use the boat this season and obviously time is a factor. The only problem with getting quotes from multiple places is the boats location, currently it is in upstate NY near Cooperstown, so having to haul it to the few repair shops within a 2-3 hour drive to get a full evaluation Is hard. I apologize for the long post, I’m really just looking for some advice and to see if anyone has any knowledge of a “spot” repair being something that a shop would consider if it is even a possibility.

 

[otown22]

In addition to that I most likely would have to bring it to a repair shop for any major work that would need to be done as I work full time and live in a different city thank the location of the boat at my parents house 1.5 hours away as I don’t have a place to keep it at my apartment. This obviously makes any time consuming repairs very hard so a professional repair may be my only option... just worth throwing in there before some DIY repair options are offered (which I really appreciate) but would cause me to not use it this season and fix it in the off-season which I would like to avoid.

 

[Sparkdog118]

I hate to disagree but with the crack in the second picture and the horizontal cracks where the splashwell meets the transom and the fact that you said the crack widens when you push down on the motor... I would rebuild that transom before I used the boat again.

I agree. That crack looks pretty serious. It needs a rebuild before you can trust that your motor will hold on.

 

[Sparkdog118]

It may be worth a try to fabricate a 1/2 in aluminum plate across the whole inside of the transom and then bolt it on the ends and at the motor to get you thru the season. If it doesn’t look strong enough for that, you may be able to grind the back wall inside the well and the bottom of the well and add 2 layers of biaxel to strengthen where it is flexing. Then gel Cote over it. Then add the plate. Not a permanent fix, but may get you a year or two.