DIY 282 Sailfish Transom Repair

[Captain Crunch]

OK guys ,so its my turn to dig in to the new to me 2001 282 transom. As I had posted thanks to this forum I knew going into this purchase I would be addressing this transome issue. So I will be sharing what I find on this boat to the best of my ability.
Day One : Build two engine dollys in my driveway for the 200 hpdis. Down loaded this diagram from the hull truth the night before and made a materials list.
Help me build an outboard stand - The Hull Truth - Boating and Fishing Forum
Left for Lowes at 10:00 am finished two dolly's at 5pm. One man 7 hours material cost just under $400.00 with caster wheels

 

[Captain Crunch]

Day two: disconnect gas,oil, throttle linkage,wiring, hydrolics and speedo. Trailer the boat 15 min. down the road to my shop for the use of the fork lift and a place to put them.
Two men 10am to 4pm 12 man hours

 

[Captain Crunch]

Day Three: Scrap , Chiesel and pry all the crap off to remove the transom cap and see what we got.
Clean up the seams from the aluminum bracket, the outter fiberglass and the greenboard. Also knocked brass scuppers out.
One man 4 man hours

 

[Captain Crunch]

Day 3 PM. Always helps to have a buddy that knows glass and boats more then you do. (which in my case it dosn't take much)
Kodos to E. B. ,He told me as I was looking for this boat. Hey its only glass and wood,we can handle this!
We will see right. Yes, I removed about a pingpong ball size of the white puuty ?paste. the ball hardened up over night .I am thinking once exposed to air. Yes, it was below and on top of the aluminum plate/bracket.
E.B. comes by ,pokes an ice pick in the scupper holes and up top . Reports good solid wood. We look at the aluminum bracket .
We are wondering if its original??? This is where I could use some feed back from a few 282 owners. the bracket runs along the top of the transom and is 2-1/4" wide it takes a 90 degree down turn on the inside of the transom going down about 8 ". (an inverted L 2-1/4" x 8")
It runs starboard and port were it is bolted to the stringers. The stern lift hooks are also bolt through this bracket.
Is this bracket original to the boat or has some one been here already? I am thinking Grady didnt leave the electrical tape sandwiched between the bracket and the stringer. (maybe a friday build)

 

[Halfhitch]

Good work Captn C !! I really like your engine stands. If you continue to be this efficient, it's not gonna be long till we all smell resin.

 

[Stephnic]

This is a picture of my 98 268 islander while doing the transom. You can see the aluminum bracket.

 

[Captain Crunch]

Thanks Stephnic
From this angle it looks like my bracket

 

[Captain Crunch]

Hey Guys,
I wanted to update this a bit,as I see more input coming in on Fishtales "the saga begins" It is my goal to keep my experance seperate.
To share the time, materials and methods I used for what its worth . Working in my driveway with a good sized tarp and the Carolina weather has slowed the process for sure .Attached is the list of materials I ordred for the glass work as well. I would say I put in another 4 hours of striping the crap out and off as well as taking a double bladeded 7" masonary circular saw blade to open up the gap between the top aluminum bracket and the laminate wood transom. I have to say that I find the moisture meter to be a decent indicator of the situation but I have not found the readings to be much more then an indicator. The settings masonary, wall or soft wood. Well how about fiberglass over wood. With this in mind I wrote the readings on the outside of the transom in the wall setting. 48% average. I wasnt feeling good about sealing that c
kind of moisture in my transome, so I drilled five 3/8's holes straight down through the aluminum bracket and got a good feel for the penetration rate as well as a good sampling of the sawdust as well as the moistue readings of the saw dust(set on soft wood)
See a attached diagram. Ok , so I want to dry this transom out a bit for sealing her up. I take my moisture meter and test an old 2"x 12" dry ass piece of wood in my garage 19% . I am thinking thats a good goal. I know that the saw dust shavings from my transom feel damp and need to impove. Home depot heat lamps 250 watt. tree inside the bilge pointed to the transom. Build a styrofoam and cardboard box off the stern. see next posting

 

[Captain Crunch]

Drying out my transom before glassing in. As described above 250 watt heat lamps in and out. the red lamps look really cool but my average temp right around 160 f. So my 1st nights image of setting off 240 gallons of non-ethenol in my driveway have passed.
I will wait a few days and take a few saw dust samples to make sure I am dry but I am feeling pretty good about the direction.
Cheers!

 

[efx]

Great thread and interesting method. I’m glad to see that aluminum brace in there. I’m not thrilled with dissimilar metals right next to each other. Ss bolts and washers on the aluminum angle. I’ve always wondered why Grady transom are thicker at the top holes than the bottom holes. It’s the aluminum.

 

[Captain Crunch]

So after two weeks of a constatant 150-170 degree temp on my transom oven my moisture levels have come down.
Friday I epoxed oak dowels in the test holes I drilled. Saturday and Sunday We began to glass her in. 1st lesson in my glassing I learned on Saturday. Eric had me test a small batch to see how it set up. It didnt , at least not for an hour. Had I applied it, it would have been a huge mess as We were filling in a lot of voids 1st. Turns out the 5 gallon bucket of resin had been in the garage and was around 60 degress.
We dropped the bucket in hot water for 30 min. and that helped alot These 1st 10 shots are prep work on Saturday.

 

[Captain Crunch]

Friday I had also cut out enough wood to completely glass in the scupper holes prior to refitting new brass scuppers. I used a drimel with a cut off blade to get started and fiished with a 1-1/4 Hole saw.

 

[Captain Crunch]

Finally Sunday ,the pay off laying up the glass matt!

 

[Captain Crunch]

A few more pics of Sundays work. One more layer of chop to go and then the gelcoat. Hoping to get this done in the next few days.

 

[seasick]

If you have any low spots, dimples or pin holes , You may want to look at applying a fairing compound over the glassed area followed by long board sanding to get a very smooth and even surface for gel coat. Gel coat is not a good filler.

 

[Legend]

Nice pics and job - I have a 2004 SF and dread this step if it ever comes. For now I just keep sealing it up every season.

 

[efx]

That’s a lot of work. Good job. It looks throughly wetted and layered up well.

 

[Fishtales]

Looks great. Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

[Captain Crunch]

Used a Standard white gel coat yesterday and applied the High $$ Spectrum Grady coat this evening. Also had this bang plate made with the anticipation of adding bigger and heavier Engines one day. Hope to put my Hpdi 200s back on Sunday. Ready to put this behind me.
Seems like all I have seen for 2 month is the back end of my new boat. I sat on her last night and had a long talk. Better days ahead.

 

[Captain Crunch]

Finished her up just before Mothersday. Transom is glassed in as well as the scuppers. Superduper bang plate fit like a glove and she test ran hard and strong. Should anyone want to hang 300 hsp 4 strokes on her one day She is ready!