glassing new transom

[RS]

Nice work Dan. Glad to see you're making significant progress.
Hope this hasn't cut into your fishing too much.

[thehermit]

Nice! Just what I neeed to see. If I read it correctly it took 4 layers of 1708/1808 to bring the cutout up to the original thickness of the hull. One question though. Did you consider making the initial transom cut up to the cap, including cutting the cap on the top, to allow dropping a piece (core) down into the transom in one whole piece? Do you think that would work?
Thanks

[Lenny]

Wow befor you know it you will be dropping an engine on that bad boy Nice work

[71kidcasper]

dcobbett, I hope that I am not asking a stupid question, but why did you build up the transom more in the isolated area in the center. I am not questioning your work cause I think it looks great. I just didn't understand it. I'm doing the same job on my 71 20.

[dcobbett]

71kidcasper,

Not a stupid question at all. Don't know if I'm right, but I figured that was the area of greatest stress and potential failure, plus if I extended it side to side or towards the top, I'd have blending/fairing issues, and to the bottom, I'd have to deal with carrying the glass over a 90^ bend and onto the bottom of the hull.

[dcobbett]

TheHermit,

Yes, 4 layers was pretty much the same as the thickness of the original exterior skin.
And, yes, I did think about cutting off the cap pieces, but didn't 'cause I figured that would have been more work than doing the entire project from the inside. Also, it was a real tight fit getting the second layer of Penske Board into the outer edges/corners. In hind sight, I really don't know if I could have slid a one piece transom in from the top, especially in light of the hydraulic pressure created by the thickened epoxy, etc.

[thehermit]

dcobbett,
Thanks for sharing the hind sight. I wondered about sliding down the final piece from the top. I wouldnt want to compromise the epoxy between the two core pieces. I will likely be using marine plywood for the core.
Hermit