Thread:

Drying out a transom

so whats the best way to dry out a transom??????...I was thinking after the laborday bash at MARDON... I would just get one of those door nob drill bits and then on the inside of the transom JUST go deep enough to get the glass off to expose the wood so it can air out?????????

Originally Posted by BrotherWolf

so whats the best way to dry out a transom??????...I was thinking after the laborday bash at MARDON... I would just get one of those door nob drill bits and then on the inside of the transom JUST go deep enough to get the glass off to expose the wood so it can air out?????????

Your transom should be sealed good enough that it isn't getting water in it to begin with. If it is getting water in it, all you can do is look forward to a replacement down the road.

[QUOTE=BrotherWolf;805774]so whats the best way to dry out a transom??????...I was thinking after the laborday bash at MARDON... I would just get one of those door nob drill bits and then on the inside of the transom JUST go deep enough to get the glass off to expose the wood so it can air out?????????[/QUOTE]

You will still have trapped moisture in the wood..Drilling a hole at the bottom will help drain some of the water out, but will not allow the moisture above and to the sides to evaporate out..It will eventually pop the glass from the wood transom filler..The glass covering the wood should be removed ASAP so it doesn't rot the wood, let dry for a week or more to insure ALL moisture in the wood has disapated and reglass... If you wait to long the wood will rot and you will have to replace it also, making it a lot more unessasary work...

Originally Posted by ratso

Your transom should be sealed good enough that it isn't getting water in it to begin with. If it is getting water in it, all you can do is look forward to a replacement down the road.

You would think, But for 30 years old Its most likely dew for a replacement. One of the exhaust tips had a crack in it right in the transom and when I replaced the tips I noticed a litte but of water coming out when tighting the bolts. And also when I put the swimming platforms back on the boat on that same side when tightning the bolts a little bit of water also came out on only 2 of the bolts.

[QUOTE=Sangster;806557]

Originally Posted by BrotherWolf

so whats the best way to dry out a transom??????...I was thinking after the laborday bash at MARDON... I would just get one of those door nob drill bits and then on the inside of the transom JUST go deep enough to get the glass off to expose the wood so it can air out?????????[/QUOTE]

You will still have trapped moisture in the wood..Drilling a hole at the bottom will help drain some of the water out, but will not allow the moisture above and to the sides to evaporate out..It will eventually pop the glass from the wood transom filler..The glass covering the wood should be removed ASAP so it doesn't rot the wood, let dry for a week or more to insure ALL moisture in the wood has disapated and reglass... If you wait to long the wood will rot and you will have to replace it also, making it a lot more unessasary work...

I dont think it is total soaked but yep your right it would be better to just take all the glass off so that I can see what the wood looks like and let it dry out over for a few months and reglass... I already replaced the floor and runners....might as well do the transom also.

This is all due to a poor construction practice common in the inland boating industry. ALL through the core holes should be cut back away from the hole or drilled oversize and then filled with a thickened resin mixture and then re drilled. This assures that the wood core is never exposed to any water. The practice of using "marine sealer" also contributes to this as well, it would be better to at the bare minimum soak any exposed core with resin thinned with styrene monomer to get a bit of penetration.
This has been standard practice in the salt water marine world for the past 50 years, so it's not like the manufacturers aren't aware...

Cobra 1... get your "Quotes" right...No where did I post that quote..... but i do agree, if the wood's soft or delaminated it should be replaced as I posted...