Johnny said:
I'm not sure of the information, but DaleH posted something about transom caps last year. I don't remember if it was how to fabricate them yourself or a source to purchase them.
Dale ????
I've seen them for sale on eBay or even available for some model years from the OEM hull maker. But you can make your own, just use a good thick piece of 5052 alloy and anneal it using a propane or mapp gas torch. A cheap temp stick is a bar of soap ... as soon as it bubbles you have reached the annealling temperature -
do not let it turn black and scorch! About 600-degrees is what you want and 5052 melts (I believe ...) around 1100 or so. See sketch.
For top corner caps: Cut to size needed (recommend making cardboard templates) then anneal and bend the two sides 'A' and single side 'B'. Bolt or rivet in place. Make sure there are no 90-degree or hard corners in your cuts, the bottoms or where they meet should be rounded, as like the bottom of the letter 'U'. This is to avoid
stress risers where stresses can congregate and start precipitating cracks.
Note that 5052 alloy work hardens as you work it, so each tab to be bent may need to be annealed prior to bending that section, or even small portion of a section, depending on your tooling and method to form the bend.
lckstckn2smknbrls said:
Due to the fact that the transom wood doesn't go in between the knee braces and the transom skin I would be very leary of putting any motor over 10hp on it.
I'd agree to a point, as one wants the transom thrust to push against the whole hull preferably. One can easily add triangle supports of wood where the wood is bolted to two 'L' right-angle aluminum pieces bolted or riveted to the sides of the hull.
For tin SIDE thrust supports: Cut to size needed (recommend making cardboard templates) then anneal and bend the two sides 'A' only. Then bolt or rivet in place. Then anneal tab 'B' while in place and then fold/bend it down. It won't be pretty, but it will work!
The OP hasn't told us
how big a boat or what the max horsepower rating is. If a 12-footer, I still wouldn't go over 15hp and I'd have to see more of the hull design before commenting on the max on a 14-footer.
But I think such a transom mods (strong transom caps and triangle thrust supports) should easily support a 20hp motor on a 14' tin.