Late this summer I noticed couple of small bulges on the transom fiberglass top of my transom near the edge of the aluminum bang plate. When I brought the boat in for winterization and layup I told my dealer that I wanted to have the transom reviewed and glassed over. Got a call a few weeks later after the mad scramble of end of season winterization work and was offered a couple of options. Remove the bang plate, reseal everything and reinstall new bang plate and plastic pieces or re-glass the transom. As the motors have to come off in both cases and I want to solve the problem, I decided on the re-glass.
The re-glass estimate was more than I expected (turned into a top half transom rebuild) with the glass work being done externally (not by dealer). The dealer will remove the engines and store and then the boat will go to the glass shop for the transom rebuild and re-glass. When done the boat comes back and the dealer will re-install the engines and replace fuel lines, rigging tubes and whatever else is required to get the boat water ready.
I contacted Grady regarding the repair. I want them to know what occurred and how I plan to address, I'd like to get their input as well as they may have insight. I plan to contact again and provide all the info going into in as well as all during the repair process.
I've since talked to the glass guy as his cost is the driver of the estimate. He went through the work that is required to do the teardown, re-core and layup properly and estimates about 80 hours. He indicated has done a bunch of GW transoms the past few years and was not complementary of the transom design, deck hull joint at the transom and factory build process. He indicated the issue isn't a one off and not a customer induced issue. The glass guy will also replace the brass drain tubes with solid material, install a dense composite core material versus wood, isolate the aluminum brace that Grady installs from the coring material, fully glass the transom and eliminate the bang plate (I may bond one when done for protection) and plastic pieces that were screwed down in the corners. There will be no screws, fasteners or anything else that enable water penetration when complete. He assures me, when done this problem will be fully addressed and he will stand behind it.
I plan to be transparent with folks on the board. I'll share the facts, the pics of the rebuild and provide insights and learnings. Needless to say, I'm not going into this process happy. I'm a bit ticked that I have to spend a large amount of money to properly rebuild and glass the transom after 14 four-month in water seasons. The boat has been family used lightly with less than 700 hours on a slipped boat, with 100% dealer maintenance. I guess I could poke and hope and band-aid the issue with a transom reseal versus a rebuild. I feel a reseal is just kicking the can down the road and will make the issue worse over time.
In the end, I feel I have no option except to dig in and do what is required to fix the situation.
Stay tuned. Updates to follow.
