Seacast Transom Repair

I started with the chainsaw today. I was wondering how you cut through the fiberglass between the sheets of plywood. My saw would not make it through them.

If there is glass in between the sheets of wood, then it has been replaced before. Never heard of the factory putting glass in between the sheets before. They normally would use the little squares of wood like they did on the decking in the transom.
 
Yes i think it has been done before. The chainsaw really didnt do anything to the glass it just bounced off. I didnt realize that the arjay was half the price of the seacast and it seems to be just as good or better.
 
I think the Arjay 6011 and Nidacore pourable transom compound are exactly the same thing. Both are ceramic spheres in poly resin. The cured samples look exactly the same. The Arjay was from Fiberglass Services in Saraota for $106/ 5gal pail. Nidacore from their website is about $115. Shipping is what kills you. I got three 5 gal pails plus a quart of MEK-P shipped to Baton Rouge and the shipping ran about $130. Seacast was expensive and looks lumpy when poured. The Arjay ran like butter. We hammered the hull for air pockets but there was really no need. I guarantee every void in my transom was filled up by this stuff.

This is a quote from the member who just did his transom with ARJAY 6011. $130 a 5 gallon bucket shipped don't sound that bad. Last I heard SEACAST was going for $220+ shipped.
 
I started with the chainsaw today. I was wondering how you cut through the fiberglass between the sheets of plywood. My saw would not make it through them.

Drill bits and extensions, experiment with different types to see which is most useful.
Find out what size file the saw needs and sharpen the chain.
 
Just my .02 again. Seacast markets the heck out of their stuff so people naturally see it more and think its the standard. The boat manufacturers use the Arjay and Nicacore pourables. I doubt any boat manufacturer uses Seacast. DRJ, if you have the small transom (like the one in tsubaki's post), I guarantee you'll use much less than I did. Just guessing, I'd say you'd use around 10 gallons. Do what I did, measure the transom and lay it out on grid paper and use 1.75 inches as your width. The smaller transom means you have the luxery of probably reaching the limits of the entire inside of the transom with an 18" chainsaw. I had to resort to the metal pry bar method which was labor intensive, and would be moreso if your wood wasn't completely rotten. I was lucky, my wood was shot. Finally, if you can't get the middle piece of fiberglass out, leave it in there. You want all the wood out. It will make it difficult to shopvac the pieces out but pour around it. Once you coat it with resin, the pourable compound should adhere to it fine. Call around - you may be able to pick up the Nidacore or Arjay locally and save shipping.

Maury
 
Just my .02 again. Seacast markets the heck out of their stuff so people naturally see it more and think its the standard. The boat manufacturers use the Arjay and Nicacore pourables. I doubt any boat manufacturer uses Seacast. DRJ, if you have the small transom (like the one in tsubaki's post), I guarantee you'll use much less than I did. Just guessing, I'd say you'd use around 10 gallons. Do what I did, measure the transom and lay it out on grid paper and use 1.75 inches as your width. The smaller transom means you have the luxery of probably reaching the limits of the entire inside of the transom with an 18" chainsaw. I had to resort to the metal pry bar method which was labor intensive, and would be moreso if your wood wasn't completely rotten. I was lucky, my wood was shot. Finally, if you can't get the middle piece of fiberglass out, leave it in there. You want all the wood out. It will make it difficult to shopvac the pieces out but pour around it. Once you coat it with resin, the pourable compound should adhere to it fine. Call around - you may be able to pick up the Nidacore or Arjay locally and save shipping.

Maury
well I did my calculations and I was able to find out that I am going to need about 15 gallons. I tottally agree with you that seacast is marketed more heavily and my first thought was that the arjay and nidacore weren't available to non boat builders but then I checked out the supplier you said you got yours from and it turns out I am within range of their same day delivery service. That it my concern now that I won't be able to get all of the wood out because it is only rotted right where the motor is but where I drilled first the chainsaw had no problem handling. mauryc do you happen to know the item number of the drills that you mentioned from harbor freight. I got some auger bits and they seemed to work well but I couldn't find my bit extension so I want to try to get the same drill bit you said worked well for you. thanks guys for all your help and for answering my questions.
 
25'' LONG x 1/2'', 9/16'', 5/8'' WOOD BIT SET

ITEM 33450-3VGA

As far as the quantity, I'm not knocking your calcs, but if your transom is as thick as mine, there is no way you'll use 15 gallons unless you spill a third on the floor. I had calculated 16-17 for mine but only ended up using about 14. I guarantee my transom has more surface area than yours (if you have the older style transom). On the other hand, you'd hate to start the pour and come up short. If I recall correctly, I ended up calculating about 3900 cubic inches of void using 1.75 inch thickness.
maury
 
I've had this question in my head for a long time now...

If only the center section were rotted, and you removed all the roted wood, leaving a very rough jagged surface on the remaining wood, could you just pour that section?

Or would that leave you with a "3 Piece transom"?
 
That just makes me nervous. I'd feel much better with a uniform pour that I know has adhered to the skins.
 
I learned indirectly from the people at seacast that it will bond well to wood. I like the arjay now that I looked into it more. I could be wrong but the seacast and arjay are not the same. Seacast uses fiberglass strands and arjay uses ceramic. Do you think arjay will bond well to wood like seacast supposedly does?
 
I wouldn't chance it - and I wouldn't chance Secast bonding to wood either. If you're going to leave wood in the transom (which I don't recommend), soak it well with resin and make your pour when the resin is still green. In fact, coat it once and let it set then coat it again. This should go a long way toward proper adhesion. Arjay and Nicacore pour like latex paint. From what I've seen, seacast pours like chunky vomit. I used a rubber mallet on my transom to release any air pockets, but it wasn't necessary. That stuff filled every void with ease. Make sure EVERYTHING - even the smallest hole is sealed. It will run everywhere.
 
I'm just not comfortable about cutting the outside skin on any boat unless there is no other way.
THIS IS A PICTURE OF drj's BOAT.
IMAGE_00058_edited.jpg

And what you're proposeing looks rather radical, but that's just me.
Need somebody elses input.

I did not read this entire thread but if this is the boat I would just remove the inner shell. It looks like you have removed everthing that needs to be removed and all you need is a large tree limb, a pully, rope, and a truck. I took out my inner linner to replace my transom and after I got all the stuff off of the boat it only took about 1 hour to get the linner out and most of that time was rigging the pully and lines. You can then inspect the runners and the florring of the boat.
 
HI again.
I know you all may be tired of me changing my mind on this transom =) but I have finally decided I am going to do a full traditional transom replacement using coosa board. I am going to do it from the inside. A friend of my dad's that now manufactures boats with what used to be the manatee boat molds had a chance to come and look at it for me and this is what he recommended. He said there wouldn't have been any way for me to remove all the wood from the top because it was only rotted in a small place and the other wood had been bonded well. Also because I wanted to make it a full 25 inch transom the pour method wasn't the best method in this situation. I hope I will have an opportunity to begin this weekend. I'll take some good pictures as soon as I begin =).
I was wondering. When cutting fiberglass with a cutoff wheel of grinding it with a grinding wheel do you use metal cutting wheels or masonry wheels. I had been using metal but I though maybe someone may have tried both. thanks guys.
 
HI again.
I know you all may be tired of me changing my mind on this transom =) but I have finally decided I am going to do a full traditional transom replacement using coosa board. I am going to do it from the inside. A friend of my dad's that now manufactures boats with what used to be the manatee boat molds had a chance to come and look at it for me and this is what he recommended. He said there wouldn't have been any way for me to remove all the wood from the top because it was only rotted in a small place and the other wood had been bonded well. Also because I wanted to make it a full 25 inch transom the pour method wasn't the best method in this situation. I hope I will have an opportunity to begin this weekend. I'll take some good pictures as soon as I begin =).
I was wondering. When cutting fiberglass with a cutoff wheel of grinding it with a grinding wheel do you use metal cutting wheels or masonry wheels. I had been using metal but I though maybe someone may have tried both. thanks guys.

So are you going to cut the rear of the inner linner or are you taking the two section apart.
 
Cut the rear of the inner liner. This had been done before by a repair company to replace the transom the first time and I need to fix their finish work anyways.
 
Cut the rear of the inner liner. This had been done before by a repair company to replace the transom the first time and I need to fix their finish work anyways.

I still think now is a very good time to take the boat apart and check the stringers at the same time. You have everything done to just take the boat apart and its easy from here.
 
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