Transom Repair

[MikeMayberry]

Bought this HTB 260 on here awhile back and It has some cracks In the Transom. Any advice on what the best way to repair It would be? Or is It worth the effort to repair?

 

[Jerry Dunlap]

My suggestion would be to clean the transom. Using 1/8" plywood make a transom plate the same size as the existing transom. You could wick some thin CA into the cracks before attaching the transom plate with epoxy glue.

JD

 

[MikeMayberry]

Jerry,

So you would epoxy that ply right to the outside of the Transom then?

 

[Jerry Dunlap]

Jerry,

So you would epoxy that ply right to the outside of the Transom then?

Yes, rough up the transom surface.

JD

 

[Tommy Lee]

Mike M. It looks like the transom wood may be crushed (if there is wood in there) due to over tightening the bolts but the transom to glass bond has been lost. The small cracks probably mean the transom is flexing. As J.D. said, the wood may strengthen the transom but if it is flexing you maybe should look at doing some work inside the boat to tie the transom to some inner structures. Good Luck

 

[brad nichols]

I would get the dremal out and gouge out the cracks real deep and use epoxy to coat the surface of what you gouged out then use a mixture of of epoxy and course sanding dust like peanut butter to fill the void. When dried I would sand the paint or gelcoat down to bare material then cap it with carbon sheet. If the cracks are inside too Iwould then just sand the area cleanand use carbon cloth and epoxy.

Brad

 

[Kris Flynn]

WOW, how amazing is it to see 2 of the most important tunnel boat guys above responding! Hope you are both doing well.

 

[Randell Doane]

WOW, how amazing is it to see 2 of the most important tunnel boat guys above responding! Hope you are both doing well.

No kidding! Jerry Dunlap got me into tunnel boats with his Top Speed 2. Anyways sorry for the derail!

 

[MikeMayberry]

Brad,

If I was to go that route. What about using milled fiber rather than sawdust. You think that would be stronger? I'm a little Leary that digging it out to much with a dremel might make things worse. But I could see doing it somewhat.

Tommy,

There is wood in there. I'm in the process of digging some silicone out if the inside to get a better look at what I might do in there.

Appreciate the responses so far. Open to all ideas. Thanks again guys.

 

[Marty Slater]

that is what intlwaters.com is ALL ABOUT

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marty

 

[MarkScott]

My HTB290 had a crack on all seams. This allowed the boat to become a bobber if it stalled on the water. Thank you floatation! I did excatly what was stated here, dremeled out the cracks and used epoxy with a fiber fill. It's a floater now. When I did this work, it took awhile as I did around 4 inches at a time. I didn't want the lower/upper to move.

 

[brad nichols]

Milled fiberworks , It's just that the dust is readly available. Sometimes it's cut carbon, main thing is that it is not just epoxy.

Brad

 

[Hydro Junkie]

I like what JD and Tommy recommended as it's almost exactly what I did on a Steve Muck scale hydroplane I'm reworking. As far as tying the transom to the structure, IF there's room, I'd use some 1/4" triangle spruce stock and epoxy it to the sides and bottom as well as the transom. If Tommy or JD have another material they would rather see used or another way of installing some re-enforcement, I'm all ears

 

[fred uftring]

If the wood is still good you could drill 1/4" holes and epoxy 3/8 or 1/2 " long doll rod from the top, sides and bottom then cover with fiberglass or carbon fiber over the top and bottom.

If the wood is bad then you can replace it like I did in the picture and then use the 1/4" dolls rods. I also added fiberglass on the inside of the transom.

 

[paulrees]

For a used Prather tunnel hull , I made a dubbler out carbonfiber . I add holes around the piece that were counter sunk . I ruffed up the dubbler with 80grit on one side . The counter sunk holes gives your bonding adhesive more area to grip

 

[MikeMayberry]

I want to thank everyone for their replies. I am digging into this a little deeper and i have some Ideas now of how to fix this. It looks like the wood will need replaced. What kind of wood do you use and do you have a good source.

Thanks again,

Mike

 

[Jerry Dunlap]

If you are going to replace the wood on the inside of the fiberglass transom, I recommend 1/4" aircraft grade plywood. Many hobby shops sell a 12"X12" piece of 1/4" plywood. If the fiberglass transom is reinforced using the 1/4" plywood, you probably wouldn't need to recover it with plywood unless you wanted to. If you cannot find a piece of 1/4" plywood, let me know. I could mail you a piece sufficiently large to fit inside the fiberglass transom.

JD