question about knee brace on transom and should I replace it

[amateurhour]

So when I was drilling out the rivets on my knee brace I missed one a little and when I was pulling it off it broke in half, so that's awesome.

I've got the specs for the new piece of wood and on my 70s RichLine boat there's a dozen places where it's held in place by angled aluminum, corner tops, and handle bolts in addition to regular old fashioned bolts.

I've got a 3 horse gamefisher that weighs maybe 10 lbs and I'll probably replace that with a 55# trolling motor next summer.

Do I really NEED to replace that transom brace? I'm thinking of just putting some fresh rivets or bolts where the old holes were in the bottom of the boat and calling it a day rather than having to fabricate up a new brace for the transom.

Thanks for the help!

 

[chevyrulz]

to answer the thread title, yes you should replace it, but to answer the question posed in the original post, nah the knee brace makes it hold more weight, so if you're not putting a 10+ hp motor, it should be fine

 

[JMichael]

If there is absolutely no possibility that you'll ever want to put a larger motor on it and even less chance that you'll want to sell the boat in the future, then leave it off if it's easier for you.