TOPIC: Just could use some ideas!!

Hey Everybody have not been on here in tooooooo long! I'm glad to see the projects moving along smoothly! I have a problem that I have been putting off dealing with until today when I started in on it. THE TRANSOM!! Well I took off the exterior board to find to my surprise THE ORIGINAL BACKBOARD!!! I was so happy to see that it had never been cut out! I need to replace it but on the inside of the boat the board is behind the fiberglass what should I do? Should I cut the fiberglass all the way back to pull the board out? If I do so then I am worried I will not be able to get the new fiberglass to bond to the old :/ or should I leave 4 or 5 inches and slide a new board in? I could use some good advice for all of you transom experts out there !
The second part is the supports that run along the outer edge of the interior of the boat. The wood has rotted away and needs to be replaced underneath the fiberglass. Should I cut all the fiberglass out or leave little supports? Also what type of wood would be best suited for both of these parts the transom and the supports? Hope somebody has got some ideas! Anything is better than nothing! Thanks Y'all

Free advice...worth twice what you pay for it:
Cut away anything/everything that is rotten or even iffy. Replace with the best marine plywood you can find and if you have to build up layers to get your thickness, sandwich them together with a total coverage of 3M 5200. Any/all supports needed should be made from white oak. ALL wood should be thoroughly coated with CPES and then installed with stainless screws and 5200. Free fiberglassing lessons are easily found on YouTube.
It CAN be done:

Chance,

WELCOME ABOARD.

IF it was me, I'd clean out every speck of plywood (even that that looks OK)and replace it with Medium Density Overlay Plywood bedded with epoxy peanut butter.

I would also use strips of MDO laminated in place, with peanut butter, too, to replace stringers, joiners, etc., rather than regular wood, as MDO coated with epoxy will outlast the hull.

AND I would use MDO for the sole (floor) as well.
(MDO is the stuff that "green signs" on the Interstate are made of. It will last a LONG, LONG time with only a few coats of paint in wind, water, ice,snow, etc. AND it costs a LOT less than marine plywood.)

just my opinion.

yours, satx

Alright guys! Thanks for all the ideas! Will the new fiberglass be able to bond to the old fiberlass as well as it is right now? That has been the main worry for me if the new glass I put in will stick to the old and hold it securely!

The bond will never be as good as the original fiberglass because fiberglass gets it's tensile strength from glass fibers embedded in cured resin, and a joint does not have any glass fibers across it.
There are some things you can do to help strengthen the bond however.
The most important is to taper the remaining fiberglass that you are bonding to with about a 10 or 12 to 1 ratio taper. As an example, if the fiberglass you are joining or bonding to is 1/8 inch thick, it should be tapered 10 or 12 eighths (1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inches). This gives a larger area for the resin to hold on to.
Another thing is to make sure you mix your catalyst and resin accurately. Incorrect mixtures can cause poor resin strength.
The last, and most effective way to make sure a joint is strong is to use epoxy. Epoxy is a much better adhesive than polyester resin and makes a strong repair. The downside is that it is more expensive, takes a little longer to catalyze, and if you are going to finish the repair with gelcoat rather than paint, there is some evidence that polyester gelcoat doesn't stick to epoxy as well as paint, however, I have found that if epoxy is scuffed well (80 grit) gelcoat works OK.
I have attached a pic showing the taper I ground into the cut areas of the fiberglass when repairing the aluminum transom in a Herters.
There is a lot of good information in the Research section of this website.

First, I would NEVER advise anyone to cut the outer fiberglass skin of their boat to replace the transom. IMHO it should only be done as a LAST RESORT. 2nd, your boat is made from Polyester resin and glass and Poly Resin will adhere to it very well and would be my product of choice. You should remove all the wood from the outer skin from the inside of your boat and then grind the entire skin with 40 grit until you get to fresh PINK glass. You will then make a template from cardboard and transfer the transom shape to 3/4" ext. Grade plywood or MDO as previously mentioned. Arauco ply is 7 ply uses 100% waterproof glue and is 1/2 the price of Marine Grade. Lowe's and or Home Depot usually carry it. If your transom is that far gone as well as the other wood you should prolly remove the deck and check the stringers too! These old boats usually require an entire "Gut Job" to bring them back to a serviceable state.

With all due respect to the epoxy resin guys, if the prep work and techniques used to apply are followed properly the poly resin works very well. (It's one of the many discussions that will gather numerous opinions, but the strongest statement that rang true with me was this - "These boats were originally built with poly, and look how long it lasted!") In either case, as long as the existing glass is 'roughed up' with 36 to 40 grit and cleaned well it should bond just fine. I think the most important thing is to use good quality resin (of whichever 'flavor') manufactured and designed for use specifically in a marine application. JMHO

Note: I've 'stress tested' my project boat pretty well already, rebuilt with poly resin, and it seems to be holding up structurally just fine. To be completely fair though, I don't leave it in the water when not in use, store it indoors, and have made provisions to keep the bilge and under-floor areas drained and vented.

Much easier to keep an original profile to the transom if you do not cut the outer skin but instead work from the inside of the boat. Easier if you first separate and remove the deck- no small spaces to work in. Many thin layers of plywood and glass are better- more flexible and able to bond to the transom skin better than, for example, a 3/4" thick plywood transom core.

Can spot a cut-out and replaced transom a mile away- flat as a board! Easier that way, but restorations aren't meant to be easy.

Hey guys I know that this has been dead for a loooooonnnnnngggggg time but then again so have I (not literally). It was a beautiful day out the past couple and I finally had time to work on it again. Well not surprisingly the boat hasn't finished itself -_- crap. I have the transom all prepped and ready for the wood to be put in and so I started lookin at the stringers. I put a "white oak" (I believe it was mentioned earlier) stringers along the sides of my boat then how will I be able to attach my plywood floor? I know that drilling into wood with screws is a great way to give the rot a little kick start. Would it be possible to drill a hole fill it with silicone and then put my screws into my floor? Just trying to plan ahead so I don't have to redo whats already been done hope ya'll have some more ideas for me!! Thanks for all the help guys. It's nice to see a forum that lends the newbie a hand
Sincerely Chance

If you pre-drill and countersink the screw holes, a little resin in the hole just before you secure it down will seal them up nicely. (3M 5200, life caulk, PL Premium adhesive will also work, I'd stay away from the silicone stuff.) Run the screws down (just below the level of the surface), and add a little "peanut butter" (thickened resin) there as well. I'm a firm believer in adding at least one layer of CSM over the plywood sole (floor), which should seal out any water intrusion. HTH, Just my two cents......

Okay thanks MarkS but this brings up 2 more questions -_- sorry I'm such a newbie hahaha. If I put a layer or two of CSM water will still be able to penetrate underneath correct? ORRRR should I layer both sides of my floor? Also my other question is how well does the glue that I will use for my carpet stick to CSM or will there be a bad chemical reaction or anything like that?
Ps how hard will it be if I ever have to take my floor back out?

Question 1 - I put one layer on the underside of the floor, before final installation. Some folks said this was unnecessary, a thinned coating of resin (to soak into the wood better) would be sufficient. I choose to error on the side of "over-kill". Used two layers of csm on top, I had the materials on hand and the over-kill mentality, so that's how I did it. (Some folks use 1708 biax on the floor top for extra strength, but I had an extra bit of bracing designed into my stringer system so I didn't feel it was necessary.) I did use 1708 biax tape (2 layers) for tabbing around the edges, though.

Question 2 - After all the glass work was done on the floor I gave it at least a week to cure (probably not necessary), then wiped it down with acetone and painted the interior with epoxy paint. Allowed that to cure for another good while before putting carpet down. No compatibility or adhesion problems to date.

PS - I wouldn't want to be the one who tried to pull the floor up at this point, although I'm sure it could be done!

Chance -

If you are going to all of the work, blood, sweat & tears to restore an old boat - I advise you to not cut any corners. The correct way to do this is to remove the top deck from the boat. This sounds far worse than it is. Having the courage and willingness to do the job correctly will net the best possible results - and believe it or not, it will actually make the work easier. Most hulls are joined at the rub rail. There are different ways decks are fit to the hull. Shoebox, lip. butt, and glassed. All can be popped apart. Get yourself a copy of a little book called runabout renovation & dog-ear that puppy. It will answer many of your questions. If in doubt - ask an experienced restorer before tearing into something. You could save yourself a ton of work by having a little advice along the way. I wish I would have had a mentor many years ago when I attempted to restore my first boat. I had lots of wood working, construction, etc. experience - but doing a boat is very, very different. Ask for help & people will gladly step up to the call. As for those chine blocks that are rotted - I copied your photo and drew some detail on it for you. The arrows point at the fiberglass tabbing. Tabbing is what holds the wood to the boat. You can cut the tabbing along the red lines I created and this will expose the old wood. I suggest a sharp wood chisel and hammer to cut the tabbing along the seam. It will go surprisingly fast & wont create clouds of fiberglass dust. Power tools are fine, but they aren't necessary to dismantle a boat. I try to avoid the use of power took in boat De-construction as much as possible. Old tabbing will tear & crack very easily if you know how to do it. The hull is much stronger than the tabbing, and can withstand the banging you will be doing to the other parts. If you can get a wonder-bar under an edge of the old tabbing (where the arrows point) you can tear the tabbing away from the hull. This is sort of like tearing the gummed tab of an envelope. I prefer to tear tabbing when ever possible. With the top of the boat removed - this work will be made far easier. Regarding the transom - What ever you do - DO NOT cut the outer skin of the boat off. Let me say that again - DO NOT cut the outer skin of the boat off.Some transoms can be pried out in one piece - which is great because you won't have to make a pattern. Some will be rotted like compost. A partially solid transom core is the hardest to remove. The transom can be plunge cut with a skilsaw from the inside. Set the blade depth so it will not cut into the transom outer skin. Make a crisscross series of cuts into the wood. Take your handy wood chisel and knock out the chunks of cut wood. Get ALL of the old wood out. Sand blast the inside glass to prep it for new work. Many of us are sand blasting now - I can't believe we didn't do this before.

Up until now I was a closet sandblaster,I didn't know what others would think! I had to gelcoat this glove box to change the color but didn't feel like trying to sand it inside since it would have to be done by hand. I used my blast cabinet and so far the gel is sticking good.