Transom repair

[fireboat]

I've discovered that I have a case of the dreaded transom rot on my 1986 23' Proline with a bracket mounted outboard. The boat is well cared for and still looks quite good so I am not ready to trash it.
I was wondering if anyone has a recommendation who to go to in South Dade or even as far as Broward to repair it. It will be a good sized job as the full transom is enclosed, so part of the floor and the rear compartments will have to be cut out to access the inside of the transom.
It seems that above the waterline the transom is solid and dry but below the lower starboard outboard bracket mounting hole it is wet and soft. I suspect that water leaked in around the bolt hole. I don't think that the seacast system is a viable alternative because of the enclosed transom and the fact that most of the transom is solid (hard work to remove solid wood). Thanks guys.

[Mac25]

a simple search turned up this http://www.thehulltruth.com/search/q...t=&custom-end=

[bilfshr]

I have done a couple of these types of repairs.And not once have I repaired them from the "inside out". I remove rubrail from across the transom and up the gunnel a few feet. Then I take a jigsaw and cut the whole transom skin out completely.Following the edge of the boat where the sides and bottom meet the transom.Peel off the skin.Remove the wood core.Leave in the inner liner. Now you have two options.1-put outer skin back on and "pour a transom". Or 2- rebuild from inside out with wood or composits,and then glue skin back on. If done right,the only evidence of the repair is the thin line around the edge of the transom.

[fish factory]

"bilfshr"...amazing! Will the outer skin pull free easily from the non-rotted wood?

Fiberglass/gelcoat work is something of a black art to me.

[seewll]

http://www.transomrepair.com/index.html
Check this site out, I found it on This site some time ago.

[KJS]

My problem with seacast and their directions is that there is no way to properly sand the surface area for proper bonding. I have researched this to the nth degree and cannot find anyone that can answer that question is a straightfoward manner. ......that is unless you cut the skin out. I am opting for a composite core like coosa when I begin mine in the near future. Check out classicmako.com for more information on transom replacements.

[eddieg]

Classic seacraft.com also has some illustrated transom rebuilds

[fireboat]

Thanks everyone.

I have a fiberglass repair guy that was highly recommended to me coming by this weekend to take a look. For grins, I'll post back with the price estimate to let everyone know what a transom repair job is going for these days.

Mac25- I guess I put too many words in my search as I came up with only few threads.