Repair log - wet transom core

I’m about to do a very similar project, I was curious how your epoxy cap turned out or if you did more afterwards this winter
 
Hi Easton - no, I had a quiet winter for boat repairs; the transom cap remains as I 'temporarily' finished it last spring.

That being said, the epoxy cap itself is perfectly functional - it should be robust enough to seal up the transom for the life of the hull. The black plastic transom top cover that I reapplied looks pretty rough - it broke on removal, and the crack is kind of obvious. The aesthetics of this have bothered me less with time.

I plan to assess balsa core condition in the floor this coming winter, and remediate as needed. I may apply a new transom top cover at that point.

As Clay wisely counselled early in the thread - as it's currently boating season (and Yukon/Alaska summers are awfully short), it's worth carefully assessing whether time-consuming repairs are necessary right now, or can wait until this winter. Depending on your specific scenario, there could be low risk in waiting.
 
I know what you mean about the short summers, I’m in Alaska, my concern is finding someone with a shop big enough for the boat if I was gonna wait until winter. So Im debating if im gotta sacrifice a bit of my summer.

Im also still trying to decide if I'm gonna do a epoxy cap like you or do a fiberglass cap, I think the fiberglass might look better in the long run, but the epoxy sounds way more my skill level.

I’ve also got concerns about the floor but transom seems more important.

Still no complaints on the pour in transom? I wanted to use carbonbon, but seacast will ship to Alaska so probably the one I’m stuck with.
 
The epoxy is stronger, and gives much better secondary bond to other materials than polyester resins. I am not sure what you mean by "fiberglass cap". Epoxy, polyester and vinyl ester resins all have different properties. The vinyl ester resins are about half way between the polyester and epoxy resins in adheret property.

My personal feeling is that the epoxy resin is easier to work with. Part of that was that polyester resin was what we used when building a boat during the lamimation and layup process. We used that in 80 gallon drums. Epoxy came in two 5 gallon pails. For adding structure, when the polyester resin was still "green"--a little tacky when used without wax, which coats the (floats up to the surface) laminate. You always want wax free polyester resin for lamination.
 
I should note - my interactions with SeaCast ahead of my repair last year were comically negative. I considered (but then ultimately refrained from) posting my correspondence with them here for the broader C-Dory community to mull over. Suffice to say they had very strong opinions about a) C-Dory seaworthiness, b) my ability to describe a repair problem and c) seemingly my competence at life in general.

I wouldn't recommend dealing with them, but if you did I'd suggest just ordering the product and not otherwise interacting with them at all.
 
Ctarmigan said:
I should note - my interactions with SeaCast ahead of my repair last year were comically negative. I considered (but then ultimately refrained from) posting my correspondence with them here for the broader C-Dory community to mull over. Suffice to say they had very strong opinions about a) C-Dory seaworthiness, b) my ability to describe a repair problem and c) seemingly my competence at life in general.

I wouldn't recommend dealing with them, but if you did I'd suggest just ordering the product and not otherwise interacting with them at all.
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Trust me I wanted to use carbon core just they won’t ship here and seacast will. But I’ll definitely take your advice and try to just order it!
 
I used 1" Coosa board and epoxy with microfiber filler to re do my transom. After the engine was removed, the job took 4 days of part time work (a couple hours for a helper when laying up the inside transom glass) to have the transom finished and ready for paint. I used a 20" electric chain saw to remove the wet 1" end grain balsa core before I cut out the outer fiberglass layer. The chainsaw did such a good job removing the core without damaging the inside or outside glass that finishing up, using a side grinder with a 40 grit disc, cleaned and etched both surfaces in about a half hours time.

The nice thing about doing it this way is that I was able to inspect the stern edge of the bottom core. When surveying the boat I didn't fine any moisture in the bottom core, but I hadn't been able to get underneath or behind the tanks. When I did the transom, I removed the tanks to permanently isolate the tank bracket screws from the coring which hadn't yet leaked. I also added 3 layers of glass on the inside of the lower transom which is now ~3/8" thick. I also re-bent the tank stern brackets so that they now attach to the transom and Coosa board and are now a sheer force on the screws which is much stronger.

When I have some time I'll throw together a video of the boat overhaul, including removing all deck hardware and surrounding coring, rewiring etc.

If anyone near Eastern NC is going to fix their transoms this way, I still have the other half of the 1" Coosa board. 2' X 8' a size that nobody sells...
 
FrankisCaptBobo said:
I used 1" Coosa board and epoxy with microfiber filler to re do my transom. After the engine was removed, the job took 4 days of part time work (a couple hours for a helper when laying up the inside transom glass) to have the transom finished and ready for paint. I used a 20" electric chain saw to remove the wet 1" end grain balsa core before I cut out the outer fiberglass layer. The chainsaw did such a good job removing the core without damaging the inside or outside glass that finishing up, using a side grinder with a 40 grit disc, cleaned and etched both surfaces in about a half hours time.

The nice thing about doing it this way is that I was able to inspect the stern edge of the bottom core. When surveying the boat I didn't fine any moisture in the bottom core, but I hadn't been able to get underneath or behind the tanks. When I did the transom, I removed the tanks to permanently isolate the tank bracket screws from the coring which hadn't yet leaked. I also added 3 layers of glass on the inside of the lower transom which is now ~3/8" thick. I also re-bent the tank stern brackets so that they now attach to the transom and Coosa board and are now a sheer force on the screws which is much stronger.

When I have some time I'll throw together a video of the boat overhaul, including removing all deck hardware and surrounding coring, rewiring etc.

If anyone near Eastern NC is going to fix their transoms this way, I still have the other half of the 1" Coosa board. 2' X 8' a size that nobody sells...
Click to expand...
I can’t get coosa board shipped to Alaska, or I haven’t found anyone willing to
 
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