Weekender transom rotted, how fun is this going to be?

Velislide

New Member
May 15, 2021
2
Boat Info
1988 SeaRay Weekender 230
Engines
260 Mercruiser
Had this boat a few years now, it's a 88 Weekender 230. Love the boat. I figured the transom was toast, as the fiberglass panels in the engine bay for accessories and electronics were rotted out. Visually the transom looks great on the outside, no sealant around the outdrive, you'd never expect it. Not taking on water. I figured I'd drill a couple small inspection holes, and sure enough, black mush came out.

I'm sure it's been like this for a long, long time. I really only use the boat to fart around, sit and float around and listen to music. I did do a 200 mile trip to the Apostle Islands and back in it last summer. I'm sure I'll get some flack for that one, with its condition.

Now here's my thoughts. The 350 in it is original, runs great though. Boat cruises nice at 30, tops out at 42. If I'm going to rebuild the transom and whatever else back there is rotted out, thinking it would be a good time to repower to the optional 454 they could come with, and a bravo drive, since the Alpha wouldn't like that very much I'm sure.

Curious what people have paid in the past to have the fiberglass work professionally done? Or since I really don't go far in the boat, just leave it as is and tackle it myself eventually?

Now if there is any recommendations in Wisconsin or Minnesota for having the work done also, that would be great. I'm pretty handy, construction background, and mechanically inclined.
 

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A lot of work. Google is your friend. Start with frisco boater and boat works today on YouTube.
 
There was a running thread that chronicled redoing a rotted transom on a similar style boat a number of years back. I do not recall the original posters name. The process is pretty basic:
Pull engines and drives,
Remove transom assemblies,
Remove everything on exterior of transom like trim tab pistons,
Remove anything on interior of transom.

The interior fiberglass skin of the transom will be removed without damaging exterior. Thickness of the transom at the drive openings is measured. The plywood interior is scraped out. It will be removed and exterior fiberglass will be cleaned. New plywood is cut and fitted to transom shell. It is epoxied onto shell until transom is recreated. Then the new plywood interior of the engine bay can be glassed over.
 
Sounds to me like the hard part is the removal of everything. The replacement of the transom should be pretty easy. I bet this will be a very expensive project. That plywood is going to be $1500, your first and second born and your wife.o_O
 
Velislide,
I have a 1989 220 cuddy with the same engine package, 5.7 with Alpha One. Four years ago, my steering pin started leaking. I decided the keep the boat, pull the motor, and replace the transom assembly.

Upon taking it down, I discovered the sealant on the screw holes for the speedo tube leaked water and rotted the transom.

The water had soaked across to the other side of the transom across the boat, forward along the starboard stringer, the starboard motor mount, and the forward bulkhead between the fuel tank and engine.

I asked around and found transom jobs typically run 5K - 7k depending on extent of damage. Obviously this boat is not worth that investment since I still needed a 3K transom assembly.

My wife and I love this boat so we decided I would fix it instead of scrap it.

The job took me about two weeks of weekends and after work everyday. I did the job during the winter, so I had to wait for days when the temps were okay for fiberglass resin. Since I live in south Louisiana, not a big deal here. If you live up north, you may have to do it in the summer.

If you are a construction capable guy, you can do this repair for about $500-$700 in materials not counting your transom assembly cost. You have wood, screws, resin, fiberglass mat, cut fiberglass shards gloves, masks, etc.

Count on your transom assembly being rotted toast. You will need a new one.

If you have a good, reliable engine that pushes your boat 40mph, why would you want to change motors? The cost of converting everything to a big block plus extra maintenance costs of manifolds and new transom assembly and new outdrive, for what gain?

As far as how I rebuilt my transom:

After pulling the engine, transom assembly, all the internal engine room items such as batteries, steering and throttle mechanisms, trim pump, etc, I started removing rotted wood.

The first thing I did was get very specific thickness measurements of the transom from outer gel coat to inner fiberglass around the drive cut out because it must be same thickness when repaired. Also, the allowable variance from top to bottom is very small.

I used my skillsaw to cut cross hatch squares from inside the engine compartment. I measured the depth of my blade to keep my original gel coat skin intact. I then used my chisel to pry the wood off the gel coat. I did this for the whole transom. I scraped the gel coat skin clean from inside.

I then removed all the rotted innards except the motor mount. For that, I hollowed out the old wood by cutting away one edge. I wanted to be able to match back up exact.

I used marine grade polyester resin, I laminated with resin and screws sheets of marine plywood until I got my desired thickness, and slowly rebuilt it.

Four years and the boat is still perfect. The transom is much stronger than original because I added more support along the stringers and hull.

I used Frisco Boater as a guide. That video series was very helpful although I did not do everything exactly like he did.

Any questions, hit me up if you decide to do this job. Lots of work but I know my boat very well. I made a few improvements such as lighting and bilge pump hose routing, etc.
 
You guys are definitely giving me some encouragement to tackle it. I figured if I was going to be pulling the motor, any upgrades I wanted to do, now would be the time to do it. I'll probably start on it this fall. Maybe I'll get lucky and score a deal on a Bravo 3 outdrive and a 454 package somewhere while I wait. Being able to increase pitch, reduce cruising RPMs with a 454/Bravo 3, likely would be roughly the same fuel consumption, but also having a higher cruising speed if I wanted, would be awesome. Would love to do a trip to Pictured Rock Michigan, would be about a 800-1000 mile trip on the lake. So having a newer motor and out drive, would give me a piece of mind.

But I'll most likely just tear it down and get everything structurally sound before that. It can sit without a motor for awhile once that's done, if I don't find anything.
 

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