Tanzer 16 -- Rebuilding the transom

Tanzer 16 --  Rebuilding the transom  -- Phil manages to work in a tiny space -- June 6, 2015

Received a nice update from Phil Hopewell.  He is the guy that sent us the nice PDF of the Tanzer plans.

I am always amazed at what people can accomplish when restoring these fine old boats.  Previous owners that stored the boats where water could collect in the hull caused most of the damage.   Water finds its way through the glass to areas were plywood was part of the structure.  The floor and transom (and sometimes the deck) are frequently problems.  Here is how Phil Hopewell handled a transom situation.  jim

I ponied up the money for a nice new Yamaha 2.5 hp at the boat show last year. It worked really well but the transom was flexing every time I tilted the motor up, and I was worried the bolts that hold the outboard bracket might pull right out. I figured that area of the wood backing might be rotten but the more I dug at it last fall, I found the rot extended to the area around the gudgeons too, so I removed all the wood backing.

With the boat outside, I was dependent on the weather. I wanted to remove all of the old wet wood before winter to give it a good chance to dry. The access to the transom on the Tanzer 16 is not very good as you know, with the small opening having a sharp edge all around it. I found an old piece of carpet to lie on eased the pain that sharp edge caused on my shoulders and chest.

With the warmer weather this spring, I was able to press on with final grinding and fitting of the new pieces of marine grade ply using CAD technology (cardboard-aided-design).  I wasn't able to make it in one piece like the original, but took the opportunity to make the piece behind the outboard bigger as a result. I used thickened West system epoxy to attach the pieces to the transom and create a nice round fillet at the top. I also cut out the old serial number that was in the transom and glued it in place as well.

Then disaster struck. I had the fibreglass all cut out and had mixed up a medium sized batch of epoxy and started to apply the first layer of cloth, however, the darned stuff just would not stay in place. I just could not get enough of the cloth wetted out before the weight of the remaining pulled the whole thing down. I tried stapling to no avail. Meanwhile my expensive pot of epoxy got hot and hardened to rock. I quickly regrouped and tried cutting the cloth in four pieces. Success! I was now able to apply four smaller pieces, overlapping them, of course, and carry on with two layers.

After a couple of weeks of drying, I painted the whole inside of the transom with marine epoxy and re-installed the hardware with a good coating of Sikaflex.

The outboard now sits firmly on the stern and the flex is now gone from the transom. We hope to go on our first sail of the season next weekend.