Thread: Advice please

Originally Posted by mighty

Glass

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Not going to sugar coat it but that's not good. The discoloration is a sign of water coming from rotten wood running out of hull. Personally i'd have it checked out by somebody that knows their stuff in fiberglass boats to make sure the transom isn't gone too because you've definitely got some serious water intrusion issues if it's been like that very long at all.. I've saw folks that never had a clue their transom was bad that was extremely rotted because of not sealing transducer mounting holes. How they kept from hitting a log & ripping it completely out is beyond me. Marine tex works great for fixing holes in fiberglass & it can be drilled, tapped, sanded & painted too. Trim motor out to where you can bounce it up & down to see if you can bounce trailer tongue off of the ground. If you can it's solid if it flexes & won't raise it off of ground the transom is gone. If solid then take a volt meter & check for continuity between bow eyes to see if transom is damp. No continuity you're good to go as long as there's no flex. Then you only have the corner to get fixed & sealed up.

Also, take a small hammer, just a few ounces and tap around high up on the transom and you’ll get a solid, hard sound. Then start moving around any holes drilled in the transom and towards the area in question. If the sound changes to a dull thud then water has softened that part of the transom. If the rot is localized near that spot in the pic, it can be repaired but may not be pretty or color matched when you’re done. Look up surface or one sided fiberglass repair on YouTube that might help educate you on the process involved. Not insurmountable if small and localized but if it’s widespread then the transom is toast. Mine had to be replaced and was worth the job but a little pricey.