Garboard/transom/bilge drain issue

[harryharls]

Hi,

I'm currently doing a massive restoration of my Maxum 1800XR, it all started from a slightly soggy area of floor...1 week later and it's now practically a bare shell. I'm replacing the stringers, floor, all internal wood; everything! Except the transom. I can't bring myself to do that, it's just TOO big a job. The transom wood is a bit wet and even very slightly rotted in places near the edges but it's not so bad that I'm going to go to the extent of lifting the top half of the boat off and replacing it! Structurally it appears sound with no flex.

Anyway, one issue I've found is that the hole through the transom for the drain hole is literally bare plywood for at least half of the diameter of the hole (some is coated in the original fibreglass), obviously the wood is extremely wet and slightly rotted here and this, presumably, is where the majority of the moisture has got into the transom wood. My question therefore is: shouldn't there be a tube of brass or plastic or something going through here? I would have thought so but searching Google hasn't really thrown anything obvious up.

[mmwjr]

My 1997 Maxum has a plastic tube glued in there. On older boats I had it was just bare wood that may have had a coat of resin.

You can replace the transom core without removing the upper deck. Most remove the inner glass and then cut out the wood. I lot of work but necessary if you have rot in structural areas.

[harryharls]

I was thinking about epoxying a piece of PVC pipe in there so I will do, thanks. I'm reasonably confident that the transom core is okay, wet but okay. I've cut a few little square pieces out of the inside glass coating and left a dehumidifier in there while I carry out the work, it seems to be drying quite nicely. Unfortunately, removing the transom core form the inside is impossible on mine because it's an outboard model; the well behind the outboard makes it impossible to remove/install the transom from the inside. Te outboard mounting bolts aren't sealed well either, the two lower bolts (below the waterline) had non-stainless washers fitted behind the nuts and both were very rusty, with rust stains running down the fibreglass. A clear sign that water was seeping through there too. I'm just going to dry the core as well as I possibly can and make sure everything is completely sealed, hopefully that should 'stop the rot'.

Thanks for your reply

[mmwjr]

Injecting resin or gitrot will solidify any minimally soft wood. I would install stainless bushings in the holes for the engine mounts with epoxy to seal them.