Wet transom and outboard removal

Hi all. Ive discovered that the transom in my 1988 27' Ocean Master. I need to remove the two outboards and rebuild the transom. I need input, guidance and ideas on how to both A. Remove and store the motors and B. Remove all wet material in transom.
I have a fork lift at my disposal so lifting engines (98 Johnson 200's) 440 lbs. each. The lift is at a friends shop. I plan to load them onto a landscape trailer and put them into my basesment for painting. Its getting them from the trailer into the basement that im looking for ideas. I also nned to build a rack for them to hang on. Was thinking 2x6 and 2x4's on wheels.
I plan on rebuilding the transom from the exterior transom. To get into the inside blige would be a major undertaking and very laboroius. Ive been told that taking a skill saw and cutting the perimeter of the coring and removeing the gelcoat skin for reaaplication later. Thoughts? Getting all the wet plywood coring out is fairly straight forward once the skin is removed. I plan on using vinylester resin in conjuncion with rigid foam type board ( Coosa or similar) not doing the wood thing again.
I'm looking for some input on how to and don't do's regarding the process. Tuna season ended early so looking to capitalize on the still warm weather and get a jump start on the rebuild
Thanks in advance, Glenn

 

A picture of the boat

 

Call Strout's Point Wharf Company in South Freeport ME. We have a guy that converted his I/O to an outboard. His Name is Warren, dam good composite guy.

 

While you can do the entire project yourself you need to look at your skill set. Do you have fiberglass skills or experience? If you have none- pay someone to do the work soup to nuts. If you have experience I would use the resources you have- forklift etc and build two rugged engine holders out of 2x6s as you mentioned for storage. Take off motors and paint them on the holders in a shop or garage. Most guys cut the inside of transom (skin) and remove the core from the inside to maintain the outside hull. You can cut the skin off the outside of the transom, remove the core, replace, and then glass outside (reuse the outside skin if you can). Fair and paint- have a jig to drill new holes in transom and mount motors. It will be some work but saving yourself some serious money if you do it yourself. Another option is to have a shop remove and store the motors for the winter and take the boat home to do the transom. They can remount the motors in the spring in a lot less time than you can.

 

Check out classicseacraft.com there are tons of threads on that site of guys re doing transoms. A lot of info over there.

I have an old 20' SeaCraft CC that needs a new transom, just haven't had the time to get to it.

Good luck

 

Go from the outside and use either Coosa board lamination or pourable transom compound.

 

I've also given some thought to enclosing the transom and installing a bracket on the back. That would require a larger budget because of the need to lengthen the cables and motor harness. Wouldnt have a clue on how to start to fill the engine well structurally

 

Make sure to post photos of your rebuild. Looks like a good project.

 

Same on Classicmako.com Lots of info & advisors from similar projects. Common issue.

 

Was just on Classicseacraft.com and the first sticky was a blog on replacing transoms and adding brackets. Some points to consider in which I had not givern thought to date. Thanks ulf75 for the pointer
My recurrent thought is why am I adding more money to a boat that is 29 years old? I would love to upgrade to a DE but its not in the cards with a son who's going off to university next year so I need to make this one last. The obvious benefits of adding the bracket are added floatation, enclosed transom for offshore safety, and possible performance gains and fuel savings. I really like the looks of the Hermco brackets but It looks like the company is going through a change. Current owner is selling buisiness and retraining the buyer, so orders are on hold till the sale goes through.

 

Looking for a person who knows fiberglass in southern maine. Someone who is willing to evaluate and instruct and lend a hand if needed. I dont want them to do the project just help and instruct. Im a hands on person and I wont learn if someone does it for me. I am willing to compensate for their expertise

 

The first step.

 

Nice, Getting it done. I think the advice on inside vs outside depends on whether you can say the deck and underpinnings are sturdy and not in need of repair. If the cockpit deck and underpinnings need work, then I would go from the inside and work on that too. How are your fuel tanks? Usually when a structural project of this magnitude starts it is wise to ask the question about the major systems too, since your access to them is best when stuff gets torn apart. If you are going to a bracket I would research the stringer system and supports for the transom if drawings exist you can access. You may need to add to the stringers or buttress the area around the engine well. Also, consider the effect of the engines being moved astern, you may want to add length to your legs on those outboards so you can mount them higher on the bracket but still a little lower in the water so you don't cavitate at cruise in waves. If you don't add the length you may find the engines deep six too much due to the extra length away from the pivot point of the hull as it comes up on plane. This is a big issue and there is stuff on this forum about it (see a guys named JoFishes (screen name) rebuild and addition of a bracket to a 26 seaway (nice boat). Other forums might have guidance on this as well. Closing the transom is a big safety addition doing the fishing you do. I would opt for it no question, if I was opening the transom already. You can have a bolt on bracket or have a glass one made up or you can copy one and mock it up yourself out or core materials and glass it right to the boat. Good luck! Will be rewarding if you do it yourself.

 

You will need to cut the cap off to access the transom. Something like this; Save all the glass cuts and you will be able to put them back later.

 

Well I got started today. Got the firstn layer of wet plywood off, still have anothe rlayer or two to get out.I was able to save the skin to use later.
Novivn- I replaced the fuel tanks two years ago so they are good. Structuarlly I think the boat will accept a bracket without a problem, one thing about Ocean Masters they are built tough

 

When I took off the trim tabs I noticed they had been moved and the old holes were never filled. I swear 5 gallons of water drained out of the screw holes

 

For starters that's a great boat - well worth the effort..

First thing to mention - I like brackets, I've got 2 boats with brackets (well one is a jack plate with spacers that basically acts like a bracket, transom is closed).. *However* the deal with brackets is although you do get to close the transom - lots of new little tweaky good and bad things can result. Do not buy the hype that brackets make everything good, they do not - they only thing you are assured is you get to close the transom provided the bracket you add is long enough. You may have good or bad changes both in reverse and forward, probably nothing insurmountable just I've read a lot of hype on them from those who make the brackets and a lot of it is BS.

Usually when you go to a bracket you can drop the length on the engines, doesn't mean you have to, but the engines get mounted higher when on the bracket than directly on a transom, since the water flows up coming off the bottom of the boat (like a stepped hull - that is assuming you do not go to a "V'd" bracket).. With my 30 inch setback bracket the cavitation plates are something like 5 inches above the bottom of the hull. I chose to stick with 25 inch shafts, which keeps the powerheads higher above the water than needed, not a bad thing, but could've gone down to 20's for a lower center of gravity and also mounted the bracket lower (which may help push the waterline up in the stern a little bit, ie submerging the bracket more if you mount it lower).. I do not think the flotation in the bracket does much for keeping the stern of the boat up generally - what you gain in flotation you probably loose due to leverage, and vice versa - small net changes - it is not like some people think though, weighing down the stern, that's misinterpretation of what is going on.

I will say this - if I ever put another bracket on a boat I would plan hydraulic jack plate(s) into the job - ie figure +$800/each for CMC's. The reason for this is a bracket makes the boat very touchy to engine height but you can get gains by being adjustable on the fly, ie go too far up and you will love the top end and efficiency when it's calm but you may be loosing traction coming over swells, too low and you loose efficiency but will never slip props, hydraulic jack plates are the best of both worlds.

As far as what you do for the repair - 26 lb coosa would be the thing for a no wood repair, but honestly man I'd do this repair with nothing other than 2 part epoxy and plywood, 1708 or equivalent fiberglass that has good roving in it and is compatible with epoxy. The epoxy gives you an unquestionable bond, the plywood unquestionable strength - epoxy also helps with waterproofing but that is not the main attraction, this is simply the best way to get brute force dependable strength, which is how your boat was built and ideal for it. It's not a lot of plywood, marine grade plywood handles better, less voids to cause headaches when fitting it up, go that route. Marinepoxy from duckworks (order online) is my product of choice for the performance and $$, I only second it to system III Silvertip which is more of a premium product that is very similar just usually more $$. (there are other products I do not recommend for use fiberglassing, that list includes standard system III, standard progressive, because both are kinda thick and therefore not as ideal, fine as glue/filler, but so is any epoxy once you mix it with thickners/enforcements).

Jon

 

Leaky, thank you for your input. I think the one aspect that makes me nervous out of the whole project is positioning the bracket at the correct height. To high and you cavitate, too low and you lose efficiency. I have alot of reading to do and also plan on talking with Mark Hauptner, the owner and builder of Ocean Master

 

When you buy a bracket the manufacturer (I used D & D marine) will give you instructions on that - is straight forward but needs to be done right. I also err'd on the low side when mounting my bracket, ie less things to worry about that way, worst scenario you run out of room in the up direction during engine mounting, lots of easy ways to fix that versus the opposite.

Jon