Transom Failure Incidents

[HMBJack]

As Grady-White Owners, I know we all fret and worry about our "wet transoms".

We obsess over the bang cap, and worry about wet rot, weakened transoms and the like.

Of course, hired Marine Surveyors scare us with their inspection reports (rightfully so I suppose).

My question here is - who on this forum ACTUALLY experienced a true Transom Failure?

Such as water intrusion from a major transom crack, outboard nearly falling off, danger of sinking, etc.
Cases where a major rebuild of the transom was absolutely and 100% necessary (not 99%). Thanks

 

[Hookup1]

I've been watching mine. I met with a local fiberglass shop in the area who does a few GW transoms each year. They stated they don't want to do a transom before it's time. They are too difficult to take apart. Look for cracks in the well or the transom. Transom flex when standing on the motor. Some evidence of movement. That is when you should start to be concerned.

They only saw one catastrophic failure when an engine wound up in the cockpit and fortunately no one was injured - they had just moved.

I think you will find that a lot of older GW's have water in the transom, stringers and/or bulkheads. The plywood is wet but it is still strong.

 

[HMBJack]

I'll count the above as one.

 

[Legend]

I know of one that was taking on water but I am not convinced it was transom rot issue. The person was a new boater and was noted for whacking boats, docks and pilings with the engine when exiting or arriving at the marina. My suspicion is it was user inflicted. The situation was corrected by reinforcing the transom and sealing it internally and not by replacing the transom? 2 years later still running

 

[Hookup1]

Here is a recent one.

265 Capsized of Jersey Coast

Does anybody have any information on the Grady 265 that capsized this week off of Belmar NJ? I hope everyone is okay.

www.greatgrady.com

 

[skull cracker]

I just had my 265 surveyed and was told I need whole transom redone, estimated to cost 37 grand. I never noticed any problems but is apparently wet and delaminating at transom. Any advice on what to do would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Hookup1]

I just had my 265 surveyed and was told I need whole transom redone, estimated to cost 37 grand. I never noticed any problems but is apparently wet and delaminating at transom. Any advice on what to do would be greatly appreciated.

Get another quote. Where are you? Find a boatyard that does transoms.

 

[skull cracker]

Get another quote. Where are you? Find a boatyard that does transoms.

I’m in Orange Beach Alabama, and gonna try someone else

 

[Mustang65fbk]

$37k sounds to me like one of those insane quotes to where the company simply just doesn't want to do the work, but they've factored in a profit of at least 3x what it would normally cost to do. So, if the owner was desperate or didn't know the difference and did decide to go with that company, they'd literally make a fortune off of them.

 

[HMBJack]

I'll count the 265 rollover off New Jersey as catastrophic incident number two.

 

[DennisG01]

I just had my 265 surveyed and was told I need whole transom redone, estimated to cost 37 grand. I never noticed any problems but is apparently wet and delaminating at transom. Any advice on what to do would be greatly appreciated.

$37,000? That's got to be a misunderstanding or typo. Are you sure you don't mean $3,700?

But, it would be best to start your own thread on this since it's not related to the original intent.

 

[DennisG01]

To the original question... a number of years ago, I was showing my 13-year old son how to maneuver a boat we salvaged out of our back woods. I knew the transom was soft, so I took it easy. I took him out for about 45 minutes and all was well. Got back to the dock and offered for him to take it out by himself. He got, literally, 20 feet from the dock and the OB popped off and went kaplunk. Funny thing was, for about 2 minutes he just sat there in the boat, afraid to turn back to me for fear I was going to be angry. I thought both things - the engine coming off and him sitting there - were rather funny

He went swimming the next day and found it. Note I said "he" went swimming, not "me"!

We saved the engine and rebuilt the boat together.

So... this wasn't a Grady... and it was only 13' long... but it still counts as a "transom failure"!

Oh, and the OB is now tied onto the transom (like I've done with EVERY other setup like this... except this ONE time!)

 

[wahoo33417]

I had a 208 for ten years before I replaced the bang cap. I asked dealer to also go over transom as best they could at that time. They found nothing. The only holes in the transom were my transducer that I mounteed myself and I sealed those holes so well and all the way through.

I just did the same with my now sixteen-year-old 2007 Sailfish. Again, from what they could see with the bang cap removed, the transom was dry. And they didn't detect any moisture elsewhere. That transom doesn't have any after-market holes drilled in it.

So if your also counting ten-year-old+ transoms that have held up well, there's two.

Say so if you don't want more stories like this.

Tx, Rob

 

[RockLobsterBOS]

I have a 2004 33 Express. Not only did the transom show signs of wet areas so did the starboard side starting at the vent aft. This also is normal for the Express 2004 though 2009 I am told.
The starboard side was completely redone up to midships, prior to me purchasing the boat. The glass shop said I should look to do the transom. It was showing signs of delamination. The surveyor also said it should have some attention.
Grady places an aluminum sheet in the transom for extra support. Water gets under the cap and starts the corrosion process of the aluminum. In turn the aluminum start to break down leaving this granular residue that expands
between the sheet and gelcoat. And this starts the delamination process. the surveyor told me that you can tell how bad it is by the amount of expansion around the engine mount bolts. Mine was minor.
I have a top notch fiberglass shop East Coast Fiberglass. Impeccable work. He suggested and we did the following based on minor delamination.
Remove Engines
Remove Cap
Grind down to the point where the aluminum was in good shape.
Re-glass and gelcoat
Seal top of transom
Apply PVC cap
Now that is my layman list. I am sure it was more detailed than that.
The cost was about 6,000 including removal and replacement of the motors.

From what I was told again by the surveyor was that major transom issues required a complete grind out and if salvageable repair. if not replacement. Luckily I did not have to go there.
When I discussed the costs with East Coast they said it depends on how bad. But we were no where near 37K

Rich

 

[frankm]

My tell that something was wrong with the transom was that my stern bilge kept going off while drift fishing in following seas, where water was coming in the engine well.
Did the transom repair exactly like Rocklobster above.
Remove engines
Remove Cap
Grind down to where the aluminum was in good shape
re-glass and gelcoat and seal transom
2 years later and my bilge has remained bone dry!!

Frank

 

[Carefree]

Here is a video of one that failed:

 

[Recoil Rob]

I bought a 2004 180 in 2019, the bang cap was wonky so I had it removed. The transom underneath was good so it was glassed over and vinyl cap installed.
I also installed trim tabs which involved drilling 18 holes at the bottom on the transom. Every hole was dry, I could smell the sap heating up as I drilled, comforting. Everything was sealed with 5200.
I'm hoping I never have to deal with it again.

 

[SkunkBoat]

I'll count the 265 rollover off New Jersey as catastrophic incident number two.

idk that it was determined to be a transom failure.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

idk that it was determined to be a transom failure.

If you watch the above linked video of the incident, the last 20 seconds or so of the video shows extensive damage and cracks to the transom that someone did some half assed "repairs" to the boat. If you look at the 04:52 mark in the video and pause it, you'll see a massive crack on the port side that goes down well past the waterline and into the bottom paint. To me, this is an owner who is completely negligent, unsafe or is just looking for a payday from the insurance company as I can't imagine any insurance company would pay out on something with a quart of putty globbed on there like that.

 

[gonisher]

My 30 Marlin has a water leak that comes in on the transom, runs down the starboard stringer and settles in the cabin under the deck. We believe it is coming from the numerous holes that have been patched where the past owner must have hit a lot of transducers off the boat. That or the older trim tab screws. We will attempt to have the fiberglass sanded down patched and hopefully have new fiberglass on those three areas. I hope it works. any thoughts on repairs before getting a transom replaced?