Transom

wetterthebetter · 19 July 2004, 20:30

Can anyone help? Been on the water today, and when we were spraying down after, found a hairline crack along top of the transom. Where the engine fits over the transom it's double-skinned, and it's just the outer skin which has the crack, either side of the engine. Anyone else experienced anything similar? Help appreciated.

Pete7 · 19 July 2004, 21:10

Well, I would start with a call to Ribeye. You probably have 4 months until the weather turns cold and the water inside the transom freezes. Okay its salt water so may not happen but it isn't going to do it any good. The alternatives could be extra glass work or skilaflex.

Not an uncommon problem by the way.

Pete

Tim M · 19 July 2004, 21:29

I have a similar hairline crack...
I'm guessing it's just the gel coat which has cracked (in my case anyway).
I too would be interested in any comments....

Bilge Rat · 20 July 2004, 07:47

wetterthebetter.... how olds your boat ?

Look and see if the damage was caused by water ingress or if its just a crack in the gel coat !!

I had the transom replaced on my Avon earlier this year as it had been taking on water for ages and finally gone, but its 15 years old and has seen some action.

If you need any more advice let me know.

R

wetterthebetter · 20 July 2004, 09:27

Hi Bilge.. it's only two years old! I reckon it's more than the gelcoat but it really only happened yesterday. I'll take a closer lok this morning. Should I seal the crack with something before launching today?

Bilge Rat · 20 July 2004, 10:16

Hi

it depends on the extent of the crack, would it be possible to take some pics and post them on here for us to see, i knew mine was going but chose to ignore it for quite a while, a nasty trip across to southend in a force 6 finished it off and i ended up with two splits down the gel coat on the inside of the transom which kind of told me it was time to stop ignoring the problem, as it tunes out 3/4 of the entire marine ply had to be cut and chisled out and replaced, its actually not that bigger job for a good boat builder as the wood inside the transom is fairly easy to get at on ribs.

Ok try grabbing ahold of the engine whilst its lowered down and see if you can rock it up and down and watch the transom, if its soaked the transom will flex, without seeing the damage and assuming you have eveything else correctly fitted out on the transom (i'.e correct engine size and weight) i cant see a 2 year old boat developing a soaked out transom.

Is the boat still covered under any sort of warranty at all...if so i'd go back to the dealer or supplier for there verdict, it could be just a gel coat crack, this does happen sometimes though i'd be suspictious on a newish boat.

let us know how you get on.

R

wetterthebetter · 20 July 2004, 22:49

I've spoken to Ribeye and I reckon it is covered under warranty. However, Paul Tilley was extremely helpful with advice (as always) and one solution is to reinforce the transom with metal caps, which I'm in the process of sorting with Union Fabrications, Kingsbridge (very helpful guy). Meantime, until the caps are ready, I'm sticking some sealant on the cracks to get back on the water ASAP! Thanks for the advice!

Bilge Rat · 21 July 2004, 07:16

It was the stainless caps on my transom that went first and we think that the majority of the water got in from the top, the thin slice of stainless Avon had fitted had almost disitigrated, after my transom was replaced the boat builder formed a thick edge of epoxy and my mechanic had a thick stainless steel cap made which rapps well over both inside and outside edge, not only does it look the dogs now its doing its job.

let us know how you get on with this, though its still worrying that these things are happening to relatively newish boats !!