Hi all,
I'm new to the forum, somewhat new to sailing, and very new to owning a sailboat. I'm a public school teacher and worked for months in a side gig as handyman to save for my dream of owning a sailboat. My wife and I found a somewhat local 1979 O'Day 23 in July this year, within my budget, and pulled the trigger. I gathered that owning a sailboat would be a lot of work, but I didn't think it would be to this extent so soon. We were at least able to get one sail in before the discovery of the problem!
I've been digging through old threads, doing my research on a repair project needed for a rotted transom. The situation seems to be somewhat common: water intrusion through motor mount/gudgeon bolt holes leading to rot of wooden transom reinforcement/coring that was glassed in.
I have the general idea on what needs to be done to fix it: squeeze myself through lazarette hatch and lay below cockpit, cut/grind/remove old material, sand down surface, shape three 1/4" ply layers to be epoxied in (with 1" oversized holes drilled and filled with thickened epoxy for new gudgeon/motor mount bolts), and finished with a couple layers of epoxy to seal it in.
I understand it's a crazy messy job and will require me to completely cover myself and use a good respirator...vacuuming often.
My questions:
- if any, how many additional layers of 1/4" plywood are needed for the "king plank"...the central, thicker reinforcement that the gudgeons will mount to? Is anything additional needed for this area?
- beyond the final coats of epoxy to seal everything in, should I glass over the entire surface? Glass just the perimeter? If any fiberglass is needed, what thickness should I use? Chopped strand seems to be the way to go if necessary.
Any other advice, or even any other pictures showing end results of similar projects would be greatly appreciated. I found a great deal of inspiration from this thread and this thread, but unfortunately didn't see any pics of the finished projects.
I really appreciate any help. I need all the inspiration I can get! Thank you.
I'm new to the forum, somewhat new to sailing, and very new to owning a sailboat. I'm a public school teacher and worked for months in a side gig as handyman to save for my dream of owning a sailboat. My wife and I found a somewhat local 1979 O'Day 23 in July this year, within my budget, and pulled the trigger. I gathered that owning a sailboat would be a lot of work, but I didn't think it would be to this extent so soon. We were at least able to get one sail in before the discovery of the problem!
I've been digging through old threads, doing my research on a repair project needed for a rotted transom. The situation seems to be somewhat common: water intrusion through motor mount/gudgeon bolt holes leading to rot of wooden transom reinforcement/coring that was glassed in.
I have the general idea on what needs to be done to fix it: squeeze myself through lazarette hatch and lay below cockpit, cut/grind/remove old material, sand down surface, shape three 1/4" ply layers to be epoxied in (with 1" oversized holes drilled and filled with thickened epoxy for new gudgeon/motor mount bolts), and finished with a couple layers of epoxy to seal it in.
I understand it's a crazy messy job and will require me to completely cover myself and use a good respirator...vacuuming often.
My questions:
- if any, how many additional layers of 1/4" plywood are needed for the "king plank"...the central, thicker reinforcement that the gudgeons will mount to? Is anything additional needed for this area?
- beyond the final coats of epoxy to seal everything in, should I glass over the entire surface? Glass just the perimeter? If any fiberglass is needed, what thickness should I use? Chopped strand seems to be the way to go if necessary.
Any other advice, or even any other pictures showing end results of similar projects would be greatly appreciated. I found a great deal of inspiration from this thread and this thread, but unfortunately didn't see any pics of the finished projects.
I really appreciate any help. I need all the inspiration I can get! Thank you.