Crack in Transom

Tucker,

My 209 has the same problems in the transom as you have and I also have a soft spot in the deck about 4 inches wide. I have contacted grady and they were no help, even the local grady shop was no help. As soon as it comes back from the shop it will be for sale. I just made an offer on a 2200 cc hydra sports so I may be going to NC tomorrow to pick it up.
Matt
 
Matt,
Don't let a bad experience with that freakin' Honda turn you off of Grady's. I'm finding that crack in the transom gel-coat pretty common to transom mounted engines. The soft spot in the deck can be repaired. Water probably came in inspection hatch screw holes. That Hydro Sport will do the same thing.
 
This was my second grady and I really have been pleased for the most part with both. I had a 19 tournament and sold it to step up to the 209. Was going to the 222 next but I am going to shy away from wood. Grady White makes a good boat though.
 
Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I would be willing to bet the majority of boat makers do not use wood anymore. I do not think it is a problem using wood if done right. Grady and Parker still use wood and they have held up well for years.
 
Not all use wood, but there are problems with foam core as well, if there is an air void and the resin content lamintaing the core and glass together is not enough, the glass will slap the core and cause it to turn to dust inside causing bigger issues. Some builders use foam or balsa core to lighten a boat up, that is great if you want high speeds, but light boats typically get beat up a lot more in rougher seas as well so it is all a trade off, oh and the foam or balsa core costs more, wood can be done in house, most balsa or foam core is cut out of house and brough in in kits and placed in the mold like a puzzle. Kevlar hulls are another option, but they are more expensive and you need a kilm to cook them to harden to strength, if a step was forgetten or not enough of each material used the strength can be significantly compromised. Wood has its down sides, but really is the easiest to use and most proven, balsa and foam cores are catching up and getting better, but for a transom they lack yet. Grady did not cut corners, moreso, owners are not well informed of how to maintain their boats, and the ones that do, half just do not care knowing they will not own the boat long enough to see the issue and let the next owner inherit the issue. The trim on the transom is not fiberglassed, but almost no builders with an open transom or euro transom do this, your talking about a LOT of man hours of work to get it level and flush and it is hard to work from inside the hull in this area once the deck is laid inside the hull. The problem is not with the build technique, but with owners not checking to see if screws are tight or to know that when the metal trim pits it is now in need or being replaced, better yet, it should have been polished and waxed and then washed after each trip to keep salt off and prevent the corrosion all together. These problems are not with just Grady's, I can go through builder after builder with issues, some are from the manufacturing of a poor product others from poor maintanance from owners. Another issue is with transom mount transducers, too many owners just tap them with screws, did not drill into the glass backwards first...this is a must or you WILL crack they gelcoat exposing the glass to water and then seepage. Some do not properly seal screws or bolts when adding equipment. anything below the waterline needs 5200, 4200 is ok, but 5200 is best and YES it CAN be removed...use acetone and some elbow grease and it will come off. If gelcoat ever cracks in an area it will get wet repeatidly it needs to be resealed, gelcoat repair kits are fairly easy to use and fairly cheap, Grady sells one that matched almost perfect from their dealers. Ignoring these cracks will allow them to spread and cause water seepage when spending maybe $25 would have fixed the problem as well as made the boat look nicer.

As far as the bayliner comment hahahahahaha I'm going to laugh at that that was just rediculous
 
What's wrong with wood?

Merlin,
don't think again about it until end of season, enjoy the summer. There will be plenty of time to have it checked out after season. Whatever is there is there, doesn't matter doing anything about it now.
 
Interesting subject. Ok, ok the crack about buying a Bayliner was a stretch, I was just pissed. Just for giggles I check out the boat fishhrd is buying, Hydro-Sport. According to their website not a piece of wood in it. Knowing what I know now; If I had to do it over...not a Bayliner but Hydro-Sport would definately get a good look. I bought a Grady because of their reputation. In my area Grady's and Parkers are considered the best. However, if they don't inovate and stay with the competiton, they're going to loose to the competition (IMHO). Sorry, I'm not buying that about owner responsibility. The comment about the guy buying the boat new and selling it before anything breaks is definately the case with my boat. It wasn't abused, but not maintained the way I would. If it wasn't for this website and the knowledgable people who have lived the problems; I wouldn't have a clue what to look for and how to fix it. At 10-years old I don't consider my boat old. I've been reading pages of old posts about this water infiltration problem; some boats are much newer than mine.
So Grady must be aware of the problem, and, I'm having a hard time believing they don't have someone monitoring this website, makes perfect sense; free feedback so they gotta know about the problem. Are they now sealing this transom strip better? Did they upgrade their cockpit drains so water doesn't get behind them? For any manufacture to be aware of a product's weak points and not do anything about it is down-right irresponsible. Maybe I'm wrong, do they still use wood in the new ones. Sorry guys I just get pissed when I see this stuff happen.
 
It's funny you mention Grady and Parker as both being the best. I've looked at both up close and....sorry, I know this is going to hurt some feelings....Grady construction doesn't hold a candle to Parker construction. Look in the bilge of a Parker. Do you see any wood that is just gelcoated over? Do you see any wood that is just covered w/ caulking?

Personally, I'd love to get a new Grady...but only if the folks at Parker could build it for me. :)
 
Tucker, there was a member on this site who bought another brand specifically because it had no wood, yet the transom was penetrated and delaminated. Ironically, he went back to wood, to Grady, due to the XL plywood guarantees.

During the year, if in a freezing environment, will split open like so many walnuts at Thanksgiving season (XL too, it's not waterproof, so it gets soaked too).

Your home made of wood? Is any of the wood wet ever?

There are many ways to make boats, proper design and quality components and manufacturing = longevity.

Bayliners are mass produced and offer a lot for the money and those finance deals they used to offer - get a lot of boat for little monthly payments. So they have a market they cater to, or used to cater too, not the same as Grady target audience.

Brian - can I use that Parker line ?!
 
I wouldn't want a boat who's transom was cored with a composite. Wood is fine provided IT STAYS DRY. Grady dropped the ball hard on some models and left a way for water to get in the transom. Other times screw/bolt holes are not sealed properly and you have problems.

Don't rate the build quality of a boat on it having wood, just the way it's treated.
 
Wow, this has been a great discussion to read.....lots of good points from both sides of the wood issue, But since I'm literally knee deep in my bilge rebuilding all my stringers and bulkheads on my GW, I'd have to agree with the comments regarding execution when working with wood. It does give the best ride and its super strong when laminated properly, but GW did not go the extra mile to insure this. The wood is not encapsulated 100% all sides, and the GW guys even told me they relied on the type of wood to handle the moisture issue, thats why they didn't do it...not my words..theirs. They also continue to use polyester resin which is the least moisture resistant when compared to vinyl ester or epoxy. The cost in the resin is also scaled respectively as VE and epoxy are very expensive, but most mid to high end boats these days use VE below the waterline, and GW should follow suit.....their website says they still use PE because its proven to do well for them....based on what is written on this web site, it sounds like they should make the change, at least in the wet areas and around all the wood. You're not going to get a better ride with composites.....they're faster, stiffer and more fuel efficient but a GW ride is money.....if they went the full mile with resin and 100% encapsulation, we'd all be talking about fishing and cruising...not repairing our boats......just my perspective....
 
I have to agree with Rich. On many of the past Gradys, especially the notched outboard models, Grady created a recipe for disaster by installing the aluminum corner trim around the notch in transom, instead of completely sealing floor to hull in this area. I have owned three Grady Whites and I'm currently replacing the transom on my 22' Seafarer. The wood was completely shot. I had to cut section of floor out in order to do a proper replacement of damaged transom wood. Absolutely no reason that this had to happen other than inferior design.
Cockpit floor panels covering tanks is another poorly designed area. Screwholes are not encapsulated, allowing water to seep around screws into wood. I completely stripped and repaired mine last year.
Don't fool yourselves. If you have an older Grady with the aluminum angle molding on notched transom, you most likely are getting moisture into your transom core. This moisture will wick throughout the complete transom wood eventually destroying it. Even if you attemp to thoroughly seal this molding, water gets under it where outboard is mounted.
Don't believe me, want to check yours. Take a cople of the screws out that hold the aluminm molding. Now take an ice pick and push it down through the screw hole. Unless your boat has been stored inside with very little use, many of you are going to find bad wood. How much is hard to determine.
Take a look at pics of my current transom project. This started as when I decided that I would replace my single engine with twins. When removing single engine I noticed transom had a slight bow out from boat. After pulling engine I started probing around and removed this aluminum molding. Well it kept going deeper and deeper, until I realized that the complete transom wood area was wet and much of it rotten.
I should have it completely rebuilt in a week or so, and can't wait to get back on the water. For the record, I love Gradys, and will probably always own one, but as far as items mentioned above, they definitly dropped the ball, bigtime.

richie rich said:
Wow, this has been a great discussion to read.....lots of good points from both sides of the wood issue, But since I'm literally knee deep in my bilge rebuilding all my stringers and bulkheads on my GW, I'd have to agree with the comments regarding execution when working with wood. It does give the best ride and its super strong when laminated properly, but GW did not go the extra mile to insure this. The wood is not encapsulated 100% all sides, and the GW guys even told me they relied on the type of wood to handle the moisture issue, thats why they didn't do it...not my words..theirs. They also continue to use polyester resin which is the least moisture resistant when compared to vinyl ester or epoxy. The cost in the resin is also scaled respectively as VE and epoxy are very expensive, but most mid to high end boats these days use VE below the waterline, and GW should follow suit.....their website says they still use PE because its proven to do well for them....based on what is written on this web site, it sounds like they should make the change, at least in the wet areas and around all the wood. You're not going to get a better ride with composites.....they're faster, stiffer and more fuel efficient but a GW ride is money.....if they went the full mile with resin and 100% encapsulation, we'd all be talking about fishing and cruising...not repairing our boats......just my perspective....
Click to expand...
Day3Gradytransomreplacement002.jpg

Gradytransomreplacement4001.jpg
 
VeroWing - looks like quite a project. Can you post progress pictures as you make your repair of the transom?
 
Merlin25, I'm taking plenty of pics as I go along, and plan to create a thread on this repair, so others may use it as a guideline if they have to do theirs. I am not a specialist at this, just a do-it-yourself boatowner.
Other than this needed transom repair and afore mentioned floor panel repairs, boat is in nice condition and looks great. My brother-inlaw has a newer (1998 I believe) Seafarer, and I noticed that his does not have the dreaded angle molding around the notched transom area. It is completely glassed. I guess Grady finally realized the problem with these older models.
Below is pic of mine.
Gradytransomreplacement4004.jpg
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I've been scratching my head about this aluminum strip, now I get it. The strip on my boat, '99 Escape, looks to be just cosmetic and only goes partially across the transom. It's not an inverted U shape but an inverted L shape under the outboard area. It appears to be completely glassed under it and is only held on with 2-3 screws. Last post indicated that somewhere in the late 90's they changed to a completely glassed transom. Do I have it right? The a$$hole that had the boat before me did have 2-open holes below water line where he moved the transducer. These were not sealed in any way. I epoxied those puppy's right up. I was afraid to stick an ice pick in there. Some of us boaters are really stupid when we bolt our all our $hit on.
 
Tucker, that sounds like what I am talking about. The aluminum angle molding is on the outside edge of the notched area of the transon, going under outboard. Take a look at this first pic:

GradyWhitetransomrebuildDay1005.jpg


In it you can see the angle removed and laying inside boat. Seam on the inside top of notch was cut by me to remove this top area. Seam on the outside edge of notch is from the factory, and is covered by the angle molding making glass appear to be one piece, but it is not.
What happens is, water easily gets under angle molding and through screw holes, and since top of notched area is angled towards the outside of boat, all water goes right to the factory seam, and down into wood.
They must have been smoking some good stuff when they came up with that design.
Take a look at the results of all that water:
GradyWhitetransomrebuildDay1006.jpg


This was only day one into my search of damage. I have since discovered that all of transom wood was wet and damaged. It has all been removed and I'm currently cutting new pieces.
 
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