The 1985 Skeeter SF-175 will need a transom repair

What can I say more about a 40 year old fiberglass bass boat that I’m the 3rd owner (my dad’s older brother was the 2nd owner)? I knew that this time would come when I had to replace a transom tie down loop that pulled through (I’m not sure why Skeeter had them below the water line) about 5.5 years ago during the COVID shutdowns, and I’ve been monitoring, drying wood, filling, and resealing fittings and bolts waiting for the day to come. I finally noticed some movement, which can been seen in this video here: https://youtu.be/SskIE6MgI9k?si=NjOQyw45HtchK4u3

Fortunately, with the boat being kept in the garage, the rest of it seems to be in pretty good shape, which Rojo confirmed yesterday when I dragged the boat to his shop. For those of you who don’t know, this was a 6 hour round trip plus about 3.5 hours of study, talking, and teaching that really needed a little more time, but I was trying to get home before it got too dark and really raining in Jackson (I still had some sprinkling between Mendenhall and Madison to deal with). I have a lot of notes that I still need to clean up and have Rojo confirm, but at the same time, we plan to communicate during the whole repair process. The great part of the trip is that he confirmed where I needed to cut, and I scored some materials! I should have enough fiberglass and Coosa Bluewater 26 to build a new transom core, and now I need to buy epoxy, slow and extra slow hardener, and supplies make the repair to get it put back together.

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I forgot to take a picture down at Rojo’s shop, but you get the general idea of what I need to finish retaping after I pull the engine off the transom. When I put it back together, I still plan to have my tie downs above the water line in the splash well.

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While I’m doing all of this, I also plan to install a jack plate and hydraulic steering. Rojo taught me that the step up from pad of the transom/keel area serves as a setback (~4.5” or something like that), which is why he doesn’t recommend more than a 6” jack plate in my case. Since a 4” jack plate can serve the purpose of adjustability and be an option for mounting shallow water anchors and/or crappie brakes, I’m fine going with a little bit smaller one. I’ve not decided if I still want to have my side imager transducer on the little plastic rectangle pad on the transom or on the jack plate, but I’ll look into that once I decide the jack plate and get the transom put back together.

It was a very good visit to be sure. Your boat is certainly worth the effort. I personally like the older boats because they are built for ride quality. That walk around deck I really like over a fully enclosed front deck. As I get older I like being able to move easier, reach into the storage compartments without kneeling, and get lower for Dock Shooting. Bon Temps is coming this morning and it's another get it done so He can turnaround and get home before the rains type of day.

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I was busy making Persimmon bread to bring to Bon Temps' house yesterday and once finished I walked out in the yard to spot a leaking water line making it to the surface. Since I was supposed to be heading out I used my Backhoe to dig to the side of the line and caught the waterline feeding my shop breaking it back underground. I hate plumbing. Well I fixed the line feeding the house and stubbed out for the shop line before leaving. I have a young Nectarine tree it looks like I will have to dig up to fix everything so I am leaving till after all the rains pass so hopefully I won't kill the tree transplanting it.

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Everyone likes the Persimmon bread!

:popcorn, following

Don't expect me to get this done in a couple of weeks like Rojo (or as pretty). While I can find time to perform the cutting, carving, and prep work in stages here in there; the trick is finding the one day where I can epoxy the fiberglass and coosa all at one time for a good chemical bond instead of having to depend on a mechanical bond of it all. If I can get the transom and knee braces cleaned up by the end of December, I'm sure that I can start reassembly in January and be close to fishing late January or early February. The signature pretty much explains what'll take me so long.

I spent almost 10 hours on Bon Temps' boat today. It was a simple trolling motor swap. He needed help due to the recent surgery. Doing something as right as possible takes a truckload of time. Quality takes time. Most importantly - you get aggravated walk away and come back when patience is present.

I’m glad that the trolling motor got installed ok; I hope that Bon Temps gets a chance to try it out soon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jjue1979

I’m glad that the trolling motor got installed ok; I hope that Bon Temps gets a chance to try it out soon.

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I'll second JJue's Words....Looking forward to following along on your build...

Rojo, I’m with you about clearing the mind. I sometimes work until too many future ideas clog my limited pathways within my head and wait til they get sorted out some. Can’t work on this when the mind is on that. Big project coming up with the transom, I had my Bumble Bee done years back at a local shop that does (or did) warranty work for several big boat makers. They lifted the motor off and cut the bottom of the hatches and separated the hulls, transom was absolutely shot. What I liked best about the process was the peace of mind knowing that it was done once and done right, put back tougher than it started. Biggest asset was that they had the original big glitter gel coat to match the boat. Mine was money well spent. Good luck with it all.

Since my Sr. Manager told us to virtual office today (technically supporting another plant from my home plant for the last 6 months anyway), I had a little extra time between e-mails and IMs to start preparing for cutting the transom and removing the outboard this weekend. Since my transom SI transducer and the probe for the built-in Lowrance surface temperature gauge need to be pulled because it runs through the splash well drain tube, I taped up a pull string to allow me to pull a replacement Humminbird XHS 9 HDSI 180 T for my console 1199, since the current one is leaking. While it still works, it is a good time to install one of the spares in the cabinet; the old one might be available for anyone who wants to pick it up or pay shipping.

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With the transducer and temperature probe removed, I was able to remove the transducer block from the transom with the help of plastic automotive interior panel pry tools. I also scraped away some of the 5200 with a plastic razor blade and a metal razor blade (carefully). I'm trying to decide if I still want to install it once done for a High-Speed transducer to get depth at speed, since I am thinking of installing the SI transducer to a jack plate that I will install before I reinstall the outboard. The temperature probe might go into one of the live wells.

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Afterwards, I removed the tie down loops and metal trim between top cap and hull so that I can see what else that I need to remove. It looks like one of the screws for the starboard trim piece broke off inside and has been held by adhesive--I'm not sure if it was a bad repair or what. You can see that I might have a seam between the top cap and hull transom.
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Once taped up to 3" to determine my cut line, it seems that I also need to remove the VIN plate. Rojo says that this looks good, and I'm not cutting until I can get the outboard off to pull the center trim piece.

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I also removed the trolling motor batteries and the electronics battery from the storage area, but the starting battery is still connected so that I can adjust trim/tilt as need during the outboard removal process. I also started loosening up the steering and disconnected the throttle and shifter cables, and the throttle/shifter cables are labeled as to which one is which, just in case something funky happens as I'm pulling steering, wires, etc.

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I'm done for the day since I need to take one of the kids for one of the regular lessons. Due to family Christmas activities, I probably won't get back at it until Friday.

Those transducers all leak. Once the leaks start. the potting mix dripping out at the temp probe replacing is a good idea.