New Boat owner and first time Boatie

[Alchemy2007]

Hi,

I am a first timer to the boating scene after anticipating buying a boat for the last ten years. I fianally made the plunge and bought a 4.8M leisure Craft Half cabin.
The bloke I bought it off seemed genuine and I had a list of basic checks to conduct being a first time buyer.
The boat came with all the bits and peices and checked out fine the motor ran fine at his house(heard this story before?).
I took it down from Toowoomba QLD to Coffs harbour NSW and the motor would not idle. I took it to Ben's Marine at Yamba(Good bloke!) , He was very helpful in getting it to run and giving me the news that I dreaded.
The motor runs like a dream but it has got a hole in the head. The water pours out not making it to the head and not cooling the head resulting in the overheating circuit to shut the motor down.

This experience has taking the shine off the whole experience as I have looked forward to this for such a long time, but I have learn't my first lesson's of boat owenership.
I am going to purchase a brand new 70Hp Tohatsu and would like to know any advice of repairing glass transoms before I put the new motor on. The transom seems solid but I have noticed where the bungs are that they have no pipe inserts allowing the water to drain straight through the hole but it seems that the water drains into the wood void and then out of the bung hole. There is rot around the bung holes from inspection.
It seems fine and looks and sounds solid from inspection. Is there an epoxy mixture that you can use to possibly clean out the rotted transom wood and pour this mixture into the void instead of cutting the whole arse end out of the boat?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[FNQCairns]

Hello and welcome to boating, the pastime that is sometimes a pastime to covering your bum. Sad to hear you had the experience very early, google "seacast" and you will find the product you are looking for although to the best of my knowledge it is not sold here.
It can be made easy enough though.

cheers fnq

[Alchemy2007]

FNQ,

Is this stuff recommended or should the transom be removed and replaced as new. Its hard to even say if it needs it. I just have removed the old Yammy motor and have just bought a brand new 70 HP tohatsu and am a bit concerned bolting it on an loosing it on my second maiden voyage!

Regards

[ss--ss]

I hope you got it cheap to compensate a bit for the extra cost...
The guy should have told you it had a problem..

[Alchemy2007]

I rang him and offered him some feedback on the motor but at the end of the day it is buyer beware and I genuinley think that he had no idea that the motor had this complaint as he haden't used it for a long time. Massive addional expense.

[Hazard]

Welcome mate. Sorry to hear about being dudded by a A#$-hole. It doesnt sound good?

Haz.

[Knotpretty]

Welcome Alchemy sorry to hear about your troubles. Get the dealer who sold you the new motor to check the transom before installing it. If its still sturdy fit the towie if not could be a costly repair. Some boat builders (cheapies) used chip board in their transoms. My mate replaced his glass transom and fitted a Alloy pod to take a 90hp Yamaha (costly rebuild). Good luck and keep us posted .

[Alchemy2007]

If the transom needs rebuilding i would possibly have a crack myself as I am pretty resourcefull and like to repair things properly and not cut corners. But in saying that how much service life is a glass transom estimated to acheive?
My boat was built in 88 and I am confident to say that it would be the original transom. From the start I want to identify if the transom needs repairing before bolting thenew motor on. It is the same concept as restumping your house I would imagine, Stumps first everything else after.

[smiley_doobinator]

I am no expert by any means but I think there is enough info around for you to take the job on yourself if you have the time and patience to do it properly. trhere are some good books you can get on the subject of firelass repair and plenty of posts here to help you along as well. I have a book on trailer boats that goes into a fair bit if detail and has photo's etc. When I find it i'll let you know so Ic an email the article to you.

[Alchemy2007]

The gel coat side is straight and defect free, I noticed when I took the motor off that water did run out of one of the bottom motor bolt holes. I have given it the tap test and it seems fine except for one area. The top of the transom has a removable aluminium cap and it seems that 150mm of the top section dowm from the cap is rotted. I coould take on some of the repair proceedures mentioned in past posts but what I will need is the correct epoxy resin to carry our the repair. I can even drill holes around the mount holes in the transom and inject the resin in there to eliminate the sooden areas. I am pretty confident that this will do the trick , but in saying that I could go in from the inside as the outside gel coat is defect free. I

[boof]

hi there and welcome . we were in the same predicament as you.the transom sounded solid enough so we took the motor of to take a look at it was a bit flexy on the top of transom . we we pulled the motor bolts out dirty water seeped out of one bottom hole right side one mainly and we looked a bit further and bingo this is what we found . heres a few pics and the nearly finished one

[Alchemy2007]

Hi,

Boof. Thanks for the photos. It looks very similar to the predicament that I have found myself in , not only the owner of my first boat now with now motor and looks like a transom rebuild. Anyway, would it be worthwhile conducting the repair from the inside? On the inside I have 2 big gussets and the curved drain section to compete with. have you got all the names of the resins and equipment to carry out the repair? I have looked at the rotdoctor site and found it very heplpful but all the repair products are american. I can post some photos of my transom tomorrow so you can see if it will need the repair.
Once again thanks for the photos and effort responding to this post. It is appreciated.
Cheers

[MyEscape]

Hello, and sorry to hear of your situation. That's very disappointing regarding the motor and it's difficult to beleive the previous owner was not aware of the problem.

With regard to the transom repairs I've noticed there's a bloke called Nicholas under the name of BM who seems to have a lot of knowledge on transom repairs.

All the best with the boat.

Regards
Steve

[mik01]

the bloke must have known the head was damaged!
there are threads on here about repairing transoms etc. my Dad did it himself on his first boat - just have to be handy with some tools.
I would recommend you buy a book or mag on the subject. You could also pick yourself up the following - http://www.jeffwebster.com.au/shbw.html as it has instructional guides on replacing rotted transoms.
If you find it is all too much, and are happy to pay around 1-2k I can give you the details of a bloke on the Gold Coast who does transoms. good luck

ps - mate, that magazine has a full instructional guide including pictures on how to remove and replace a rotted transom. I highly recommend you get yourself a copy. if you can't get one through the website, pm me and I'm happy to 'work something out' for you ;) at no charge. are you in Brissy?

[indy]

Welcome to ausfish sorry to hear about your problems although it is to late and if you ever go to do it again which i doubt now that you have bought a new motor, but it is a very well spent hundred dollars or so to get a marine shop to inspect the whole outfit for you.

Just remember what BOAT stands for

BRING OUT ANOTHER THOUSAND.

Cheers and happy boating
pete...

[Alchemy2007]

I am in Toowoomba , it is close enough though. I apprecaite your help on the mater. I have taken some photos and will post the on the board soon for addional advice.

Cheers

[Alchemy2007]

Pete,

I am aware of the BOAT abreviation as I have kept my ear to the ground for a long time b4 I decided to take the plunge. Its dissapointing that I knew what I should be wary of when looking for a boat.

[smiley_doobinator]

Did you get your hands on a copy of that magazine cuse I can do a scan of that article tonight for you and email it to you.

[Alchemy2007]

I bought that Jeff Websters book on Ebay the other day. I have a fair bit to do between now and the book turning up. Once I have it all ground up I will set back a read the book before I start glassing. Am happy I started doing it. Will cost a bit but the boat is in good shape othger than this.
I appreciate your response and offer of the information.If you look at the other post from me you can see some pics.

Cheers

Simon