TOPIC: Not sure how much work to be done - Help?

Hi all,

My goal is to renovate this old 1959 Span America runabout I've got myself into. I'm still in the planning stages, I suppose. I was told boats of this age almost all have rot everywhere. So, to check, I pulled a few inches of fiberglass in the hull to check out the wood. My pictures are currently at home and tonight I hope to upload them for your viewing pleasure. That aside, the spots I pulled up didn't appear to be rotten (at least to my untrained eye). When I put up the pictures I'm hoping some of you with a better eye for it can tell me if I'm wrong on that account.

At the bottom of this message is a link to pictures of the boat for your reference. The flooring appears to be just maybe one or two inches of wood (plywood? balsa? I can't tell) sandwiched between the hull and a top layer of fiberglass, which appears to be about 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick by my estimation. I can't see any evidence of stringers anywhere. Pretty simplistic setup, as far as I can tell. There's an area up at the front of the boat where I believe some foam could be for floatation, if any place at all.

Anyway, my dad was over this weekend, and we were looking at the transom. As you can see in the pics, the transom area has seen better days. Not sure what happened to her, but there's some severe damage to the fiberglass area towards the back near where the outboard attaches to the transom (splash guard, is that the term?). How I'm going to fix that is another topic down the road.

Here's my main issue for today: The top lip of glass on the boat's top section that covers the transom has been cracked and also pulls inward away from the transom, leaving the transom wood exposed. The transom wood doesn't appear like it was ever completely glassed over, because if you wanted to remove the entire top section of the boat you'd have to saw through that lip just to remove it. Also, where that top lip would meet the back of the boat, there's a clean break to it, I would think there would be jagged breaks if the top was glassed to the back and it broke apart somehow. It appears that the ruined metal bracket (that you can see) was used to connect the top lip to the back of the boat. Maybe I'm wrong but that's what it looks like to me.

All that being said, it looks to us like there was some water penetration the wood (just from our view of the top of the transom). It doesn't look black, but it doesn't look like new wood would, I think. However, when we pulled and pushed and put some strain on the transom there was no flex at all to it. Is it possible that this transom is not in need of replacing? My dad seemed to think that if it's not flexing, then it's in good shape...that being said he's a boat guy but not necessarily a boat repair guy, so I am taking my question to you guys (closest thing to experts I've got!). What would be your course of action here?

Here's the album of my pictures: s132.photobucket.com/user/SoupNazi0055/media/boat%20restoration/P1020207_zpsb26065d9.jpg.html

I'm attempting to upload the pics of the pieces I cut out of the hull:

First shot is on the hull just behind the seating bench:

Second is the chips from the above sample. Notice the wood still seems well laminated to the glass:

Third is the sample towards the rear of the boat. There are some black streaks in the wood, I don't know if that's the grain of the wood or if it's rot. Nothing came out wet at all, as far as I could tell:

If it were me I wouldn't trust that transom even if it seems solid. Maybe the other guys can chime in with their opinion, but to spend many hours and many dollars on your restoration / renovation only to have the "backbone" fail down the road is an unacceptable risk IMHO.

I am with Mark. That boat is small enough, pull the top deck.
I like SeaCast for transoms, but many here think it is overkill.
SeaCast or new wood, your choice, but I would do the transom and floor although the floor looks pretty good.

For me, (not the same boat) the transom was a little more challenging. The floor was grunt carpentry work. When done you will have a new boat that will last another 50+ years.

Lots of planning ahead of time is the right thing. I wish I had found this website before I did mine.

Having a partner in crime is great too (your dad).
My father in law helped me through many tough spots and there are things that just can't be done alone.

Yeah, that was my gut instinct too. I'd hate to spend a ton of money on a motor and have it get eaten by the Loch Ness monster.

What would you guys do about the top of the transom? Would you glass the whole thing in, and not worry about being unable to remove the top portion of the boat from the bottom hull?

I'm just "shade tree" level to some of these guys here, but I believe the best way to do it is split the deck from the hull to replace the transom. It gives you more room to work and do the job properly, and it will allow you to address the cracked splash well from both sides.

I sealed and glassed in the transom wood before setting the deck back on, then glassed the deck to the hull when reinstalling to ensure no future water intrusion. All hardware, motor mounting bolts, etc. should be sealed during reassembly as well. Even a tiny bit of water will start the rotting process all over again, you've got to keep the wood dry if you want it to last.

I have only done one transom myself.

To pull the top deck you will likely have to get the entire metal rub rail off. Study it carefully first and make sure there is a seam there. That is a nice looking boat.
I wish I had pulled the top deck off of mine.

The floor? Is that floor the bottom of the boat or is that wood there?

If it is just a transom you're 1/2 way there.
It took me 5 years to get mine on the water.
Your trees look palmier than mine. If you are in a warmer climate you could get it done in a year easily.