Closing the transom and adding bracket for safety

[bibijawa]

Will closing the transom and adding a bracket make my 20sf safer to go offshore with? Will adding splashwell cover the height of the transom with out a bracket make it just as effective at stopping a wave from coming in?

[Xcomunic8d]

Think enclosing your splash well is a good idea.... especially if you fish for big game fish and want “back down” on the fish after setting the hook. I would consider all they hydrodynamics of adding a bracket before doing it. It may move cog back...you may need to counter balance. How will you attach said bracket (do you have clearances). Can you afford to do this yourself or outsource it. Don’t forget the necessity to have new controls rigged up. Sometimes a bracket makes sense and improves handling. I wish I could have gotten an Armstrong or Hermco here but I got a local boat builder to make me one.

Fiberglass Boat Repairs Illustrated by Roger Marshall is well worth buying on kindle. It has a segment covering how to do enclose your splash well. It’s not overly in detail but there’s a diagram and how to measure. If you’re able to do things with your hands it should be adequate to figure it out.

The purists won’t like this.., and I appreciate their point of view. However, in some places like where I live in some rough waters off HILO, Hawaii. You have to consider function over form.

[DonV]

To answer your first question. It's a 20' boat, even though it's a SeaCraft you have to use your noggin before going offshore. I have a 23 and I don't go offshore in bad conditions. Yeah a solid transom is nice but "you have to know you limitations"....Dirty Harry I think.