1978 Lund S-14 Transom removal and replacement

[2stix]

Hi there, I don't post much but I thought my little job may help someone with the same boat.. last year I noticed some flexing in the transom and had a hunch the transom wood needed replacement. So here's what I found today. I'm not exactly sure how to go about fixing this yet but I just want it to be done right. Thanks in advance. Matt

 

[Brine]

I'm suprised it's not taller than that. Seems that if your new piece was taller, it would provide more rigidity.

 

[2stix]

Brine » Yesterday, 11:39[/url]"]I'm suprised it's not taller than that. Seems that if your new piece was taller, it would provide more rigidity.

Well, its a stock 15" transom. I would mind making it a little taller but unsure how the motor would perform and how the boat would handle the unintended modification..

 

[Brine]

Yeah... I'm not sure how handling would be affected. My guess is it wouldn't be affected. A piece of wood in the transom a foot tall (still approximately 3" above the bottom of your hull) would seem to add more rigidity to the back of the boat. How tall is the piece of wood where the motor attaches? Are there knee braces as well?

 

[muskiemike12]

That boat is a Lund. There are 10's of thousands of them in MN. I have never seen or heard of a transom failure in one. I would keep it just like the piece you removed. There is no reason to mess with success.

 

[2stix]

muskiemike12 » 17 minutes ago[/url]"]That boat is a Lund. There are 10's of thousands of them in MN. I have never seen or heard of a transom failure in one. I would keep it just like the piece you removed. There is no reason to mess with success.

Well, now you can say you have seen at least 1 transom fail. I love this boat, however the wood inside was failing and causing flex and stress on the whole stern. Not to sound rude but, you just can't ignore a serious problem like that just because of denial or some nameplate.

 

[muskiemike12]

The transom did not fail. The wood was rotten and caused it to flex some. That is normal with any boat with a wood transom, especially one that is 36 years old. Use the old piece as a template. Use either a solid piece of white oak or you can sandwich 2 pieces of 3/4 exterior ply and coat with spar urethane. Just do a search on transom replacement and you will get lots of results.

 

[rscottp]

muskiemike12 » 29 Apr 2014, 15:59[/url]"]The transom did not fail. The wood was rotten and caused it to flex some. That is normal with any boat with a wood transom, especially one that is 36 years old. Use the old piece as a template. Use either a solid piece of white oak or you can sandwich 2 pieces of 3/4 exterior ply and coat with spar urethane. Just do a search on transom replacement and you will get lots of results.

+1
Mine was waterlogged and in worse condition but didn't fail. I replace it with 2 pieces of of 3/4" MDO, solid as a rock now.

 

[2stix]

muskiemike12 » Today, 15:59[/url]"]The transom did not fail. The wood was rotten and caused it to flex some. That is normal with any boat with a wood transom, especially one that is 36 years old. Use the old piece as a template. Use either a solid piece of white oak or you can sandwich 2 pieces of 3/4 exterior ply and coat with spar urethane. Just do a search on transom replacement and you will get lots of results.

Oh ok. I guess "fail" is open to interpretation. Anyway, I just went out and measured the thickness of the original piece and its 1 1/4" . So I'll need need 2 5/8" pieces glued together. The white oak option is expensive overkill IMHO. Thanks

*edit* the thickness is 1 3/8" but tapered to 1 1/4" going towards the ends.

 

[muskiemike12]

I thought you guys used the metric system, Eh? LOL All kidding aside, It was all more than likely 1 1/4" and got thicker as the wood swelled from absorbing water. Now you have to remember that just because a piece of lumber is marked 5/8, does not mean that it actually measures 5/8. Bring your tape to the lumber yard.

 

[muskiemike12]

Stix, you will also want to review this post as you will need to fix your splash well drain hole. https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33818&p=347678&hilit=splash+well#p347678

 

[rscottp]

Most plywood these days is 1/32 under the old ply thicknesses. Replacing the tubes isn't too hard, I didn't spring for the flaring tool and just used a a ball peen hammer which worked pretty well.

 

[2stix]

muskiemike12 » Yesterday, 09:27[/url]"]I thought you guys used the metric system, Eh? LOL All kidding aside, It was all more than likely 1 1/4" and got thicker as the wood swelled from absorbing water. Now you have to remember that just because a piece of lumber is marked 5/8, does not mean that it actually measures 5/8. Bring your tape to the lumber yard.

Screw metric!, lol Thanks for the tips. Here's where I'm at now.