O/T Transom repair

[Steve A W]

I’m rebuilding the transom on my Smoker Craft Big Jon 16′
model/1672J yr/1994
What I need is a picture of the knee brace where it attaches to the bottom.
Some p/o of this boat rebuilt the transom with a white oak plank to make it
usable with a long shaft motor. They really buggered this up.
I’ve got to get some holes welded where they bolted the motor on.
There’s four pieces of angle iron mounting the knee brace to the bottom.
As long as I can get the transom board in I’m not going to mess with them
if I don’t have to. They don’t leak so I don’t want to fix it till it does.
I’d like to see what it should be like.
One more question, Can I use stainless hardware. This boat will never see
salt water.
The screws on the transom appear to be stainless but they used regular steel
nuts on them and it looks crappy, they’ve rusted and left rust streaks on the paint.

Steve A W

Member of the MOB chapter.
I live in Northwest Indiana

[jerry-ahrens]

Do those bolts that hold the transom brace to the hull have nuts and washers on the underside? If so, I would be worried about that causing a cooling system problem and possible overheating of the outboard. Maybe some stainless carriage bolts with some stainless flat washers [along with lock nuts] would be better. You can seal them all with 3M 5200 sealer, that’s made for use below the waterline. I wouldn’t use silicone as it’s not intended to be below the waterline.

[Steve A W]

Jerry
Those are carriage bolts up from the bottom. I’ve never had any trouble
with cooling.
And they don’t leak! As messed up as the transom job was, nothing
leaked.
I just got done gluing the plywood together for the new transom.
I never used that many clamps on one project.
It looks like we might have 4 or 5 days without rain! I should be able
to finish disassembly tomorrow.
I’m trying to be in the water by Saturday.
Thanks

Steve A W

Member of the MOB chapter.
I live in Northwest Indiana

[Author]

Posts