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Hi Brad1
I am so new to all of this stuff, but I have been around boats my entire childhood. Which is a few decades back. So please if I steer you wrong I apologize in advance.
The transoms do have wood in them and also wood in the floor sections. The wood seems to provide an anchor for fasteners in the floor and added strength as well as rigidity.
My boat has water in the hull foam, it came in from an all to familiar point. The drain tubes which are positioned in the forward anchor well (my trouble) and the bilge well on the right of my Outrage. I removed the corroded tubes and let the boat drip for about 4 months now. It has stopped dripping, but I know it is far from dry. There are also 3 tubes thru the transom which could be resulting in transom rot. I seem to have a good transom and good aft tubes. But for my ease of mind I am replacing them. There are of course many issues associated with an aged boat, corrosion of metal parts and such, but depending on the boat it could be perfect, we see those come by here quite often actually. Great luck to you, I'll be waiting for a picture or 10 of your new floater.