Going to put a new outboard on a 26.5 hunter. This is the state of the mount from both sides of the transom. Epoxy reinforce the top bolts and add a backing plate?
Outboard transom mount repair
- Thread starter Landfall88
- Start date
That sunken bolt could indicate a wet core. You need to remove the layers of glass in a small area or drill a hole to see the condition of the core. I once found that my transom was soaked when I torqued down on a bolt and water dripped out
It looks like it's cored, you can see the typical edge hump of the core at the bottom of the photo. There doesn't appear to be any seal on the holes the wires go through. I'd suspect the entire core is bad. In which case, you'll need to cut off the skin and rebuild it. I would rebuild the engine mount area as solid glass. Maybe recore the rest depending on how bad it is. It's not a hard job, but access might be difficult.
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 23,727
I do not know about "obviously cored" but the image does suggest that the bolt and nut, which is circled, has broken through the fiberglass skin. The lack of a solid backing material, the small size of the washers, and over-tightening create the broken fiberglass seen in the image.
Attachments
Grinding away fiberglass with your head in an enclosed space is just plain awful. Wear a full face mask. The double seal helps a lot, but does not completely stop you from breathing in fiberglass dust
From my experiance ,I am seeing a inner wood core that has very likely rotted . Mine was like this . Improper sealing of the through holes allowed water to be wicked up into the plywood center . In my case ,I cut a rather large section of the interior transom out .
Vertically scored a replacement wood core .Reinstalled the fiberglass skin . I then layed up multiple layers of heavy fiberglass mat .
The final piece was a 1/4" aluminum plate twice the size of the motor mount as a way to distribute the load .( it was free from my employer
)
I hope this helps.
Vertically scored a replacement wood core .Reinstalled the fiberglass skin . I then layed up multiple layers of heavy fiberglass mat .
The final piece was a 1/4" aluminum plate twice the size of the motor mount as a way to distribute the load .( it was free from my employer
)I hope this helps.
She’s in saltwater. I’m going to remove the mount and drill some pilots this week to see the extent of the rot.
I might still use the strut channel washers over regular 304 washers. See how well they're holding up on the electrical boxes at your marina