Great project album. Looks good now. Thanks for sharing.

Amazing job. I think I got the cause of all this as the thru hull that is in the starboard well [below deck] failing and letting water into the sandwich cavity. Did you dectect any moisture in the transom itself? I assume that it is plywood encapsulated by the glass. The approach you took through the splash well is unique and the photos are very enlightening. I have a 1985 18' that is kept on a lift so I pray never to go where you've been. I will sure as hell look at my thru hull next time I am at the boat though.

Nice work! Looks like a big undetaking. Seeing these projects really inspires me! Really nice job docuementing it all for us. THANKS!!!

Thanks! Sorry again for taking so long to post the final pictures, as I said in my posts, I really did get a chance to run it quite a bit last summer and the boat handles very differently (meaning much better) than it did when it had a "weighty" rear end......

As for detecting water in the transom, every time I did anything involving the transom, I got wet, especially when I replaced the transom thru hulls. That's where I got the first indication of trouble......

I just went through your project pictures and I'm extremely impressed with the job you did.
But it raises some questions about possible mods I should make to my new 190 outrage. Assuming the thru hulls are still manufactured the same as in your case.
If so this seems to be a weak point of BW design. I'm thinking of removing the thru hull tubes, enlarging the hole, replacing the plastic tube with copper or bronze. and pouring epoxy into the void around the new thru hull. Then any leak that might occur in the future would be contained inside the epoxy instead of leaking into the foam. I've used a similar process on my last boat to preclude water entering the wood between the glass layers on the deck and flying bridge.
What do you think?

Well done Finn, and thanks for finishing the album, great to see the final product and that it was worth all the effort!

I think that if thru-hulls are properly maintained, (i.e., replaced when needed) there is no need to take out perfectly good thru-hulls. I believe there are a number of other whaler owners that can attest to just maintaining their boat properly as not having any issues through the years....That being said, my thru- hulls were literally rotted out; I would hope that a new boat wouldn't have leaky thru-hulls! - just my opinion.

It never ceases to amaze me at what folks do to save their Whalers and the skill level those who do so attain-as-they-go. Excellent job.

fantastic!