Transom screw hole repairs - yes I know, its been done to death but...

[Crunchy]

I have a few transom holes to repair and a few more coming after I lower my tranny. I have read all the posts from Grand Marlin (Thanks!) and others and are satisifed that the best option for this job is to:

Drill & clean out holes / Flowcoat / Sand / Polish,

but perhaps there are a few more tips before I tackle this job as I have not done it before and I don't want to puck it up....

Not sure what the previous owner did here but looks like rolled up pieces of silicon jammed into the hole, certainly not up to my required standard and they don't look sealed properly. There doesn't seem to be any moisture and the area around the holes is solid but needs to reparied properly I presume.

I guess the only option is to drill out these previous repairs so I can start with a clean hole. One set of holes (In the pic with tranny cable) looks like it has metal inserts?? apparently they were there from the factory for some kind of tranny bracket but not sure how true that be.

Questions:

Am I on the right track?
Any brands of flowcoat to look out for or avoid?
Any other tips?

Cheers for your help

114058

114059

[PROS]

Crunchy, I am no expert with repairs however this is pretty much what I have done for my transom during the resto.

Drilled any holes slightly larger and cleaned
Used epiglass to fill the holes and let it dry 24hrs at least

Gelcoat putty to level it.
As I was painting the whole boat, putty colour matching wasnt needed which will be the case for you.

Sanding the area to gradually increasing grids untill you achieve a great finish.
Polish the lot.


I thought flow coat is something you use over areas that doesnt require great deal of esthetics like inside the boat under gunnels and sides, etc...

[ranmar850]

For plugging holes in wooden cored transoms, you can't go better than shaping a hardwood plug to a tight fit, filling the hole with 24 hr Araldite, then hammering the plug home. This from a very experienced timber/fibreglass boatbuilder. As to the surface finish, you'll need to get the plug slightly below the surface then fill with something, maybe as suggested above. Nothing will match exactly, you would need to completely re-finsh the transom to get it perfect.

[CT]

For plugging holes in wooden cored transoms, you can't go better than shaping a hardwood plug to a tight fit, filling the hole with 24 hr Araldite, then hammering the plug home.

This worked for me. I had some dirty big 20 mm holes where the old teleflex steering brackets where. Fill alone wasn't going to work so I cut the plugs, soaked them in resin, filled the holes with resin and drove them home. Finished the plugs a few mm below the surface on both sides so the wood was fully encapsulated by the resin with no way for water to get in.

[scottar]

Do a bit of research into the resins as well Crunchy. Have seen plenty of repairs over the years where they pull away from the edges of the repaired hole due to shrinkage as they go off.

[Crunchy]

Yes that's why I was asking about brands that anyone might like reccomend, at this point I'm just going into Whithworths to buy the only flow coat product they stock which doesn't even seem to have a brand.

114074

[tug_tellum]

After pluging the area with hard wood, grind an area approx 50mm around the old hole then glass it prior to flowcoating. The glass wont shrink back from the edges and will support the flowcoat.
What side of town are you on? If you are near Redcliffe I can help you out with a small amount of materials to do the job.There is only a guaranteed 3mths shelf life on Resin and resin based products so there is little point in buying a litre or more if you only require a teaspoon full. It wont last forever.
Mick

[Crunchy]

Thanks Mick, do I really need to plug with wood? Holes are only 3-4mm diameter, 5 by the time I drill them clean.

[tug_tellum]

So long as the holes are filled and I think timber is easiest . Resin bog is harder to squash into the hole.
Mick