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Hey all,

I have been putting this post off for a while because I was nervous about the response I would get. I have this crack in my Transom, it is on the upper starboard side. The rest of the transom is great, nothing, not cracks. But this one is bad and I was wondering what all of you thought. I have fixed it twice, with epoxy and fiberglass material, but it keeps coming back. I restored the boat about two years ago, and the entire rubrail area was in bad shape, but the transom was not bad at all. Here are a couple of pictures. Give me the bad news...

Beantown

1967 Nautauk

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odd crack
looks like an old repair that keeps resurfacing

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Truly enlightening. :D ;)

Beantown, is the crack completely through the outer layer of fiberglass? Partway through the glass? Can you push on it an move it, or hear cracking?

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It appears that the old repair is not adhearing to the existing fiberglass............you will need to cut out the bad and make sure you have a good surface for it to bond to.......What did you use to repair it in the past? Did you just add attempt to "patch" the bad spot before?

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Good point Tom,

I think the previous repairs need to be ground out. make sure you have cleaned the exposed surface well with acetone and follow the instructions on the resin's catalyst ratio to the "T". Good news about fiberglass is that is can always be repaired.

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Thanks for all the responses,

Yes the crack is through the entire top layer of fiberglass and more. it is kind of deep maybe 1/4" and it seems like the lower part of the crack is pushed out a bit from the top. So the crack is not flush anymore. I can't really push it in, maybe a little but not much. And I hear no cracking.

I repair it last winter, by drilling out the crack so it was wider. Filled it with West system epoxy and filler. let that dry, sanded below flush. Then used fiberglass fabric and wrapped it over the entire edge. 2" over the top of the transom and 2" down the back of the transom. Still cracked. Any advice on repair would be very helpful. Thanks everyone.

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Is there any wood in there? I am not really familiar with where the wood stops on your boat... I would imagine if you have rotten wood in there it would continue to sag under load regardless of your repair, which sounds like it was done correctly.

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Yeah, there is wood in there. Under the 1/4" piece of fiberglass on the outside of the transom. That's the funny thing. It doesn't seem to be in a place that would have any load on it.

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Was/is it wet in there?

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I don't remember it being wet. I would have been more concerned if was wet.

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The engine doesnt have to be sitting right on it for it to be under load. when your boat is moving, the transom is under load, the whole thing absorbs the weight of the motor and transfers it into the hull. It seems like the most stress would be lower though. i agree with you there. run a drill bit in there and see if the wood on the bit is dry, if there is wood at all.

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Did you remove the engine when you made the repair?

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No, then engine was on when I did the repair.

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I have a 68 Nauset with a similiar blemish as yours only smaller and on the left side of the transom. Perhaps an issue with the older boats. I filled mine in with Marine-tex and it seems to be just fine. Jeff, what do you think?