2001 Champion 203 transom question

[mac87toy]

Long time champion wisher, first time owner! Just picked up my dream ride in a Champ 203 built in 2001. After looking at the boat for over an hour I decided to buy it, however two of the jackplate/motor bolts show like there's been water that has seeped through over the years. I did research on previous owners and it was fished by never kept outside or sat in a slip for days on end. I am thinking i can remove the bolt and put a fan on it for a couple days and hopefully dry everything out really well adn then seal the daylights out of the hole and bolt when i put it back in. Am I dumb for thinking like this, was i dumb for buying the boat with that issue, blinded by the prospect of finally owning my own champion? Thank you for any help y'all can give me on this and I am really excited to join the Champion family.

[pmgoffjr]

You can absolutely dry out a transom. But a fan? Nope.
You have to pull the motor, pull everything including the top strip away from the transom.
Get two heat lamps, set them about 18" from the transom, each one centered under each side of the motor mount holes. Turn them on and walk away. Two weeks, and you'll be good as new, reseal, and go fishing.

You have to completely vaporize the water that is trapped, and you have to give it a way out, and the time to do it.

[MMosher]

^ this

[mac87toy]

Makes a lot of sense, guess it was dumb to think a fan forcing direct air into the hole would dry it. I've got some heat lamps lined up, gonna give her some love over the next couple weeks and get her all set back up. Thank you.

[trashmanssd]

I have never understood why they didn't seal the transom hole edges with fiber glass resin or bilge coat.

[bigfishn902]

Not to hijack, but what is used to reseal it?

[Fishin Polock]

3M4200 big

[Fishin Polock]

Pat is right. Granted mine took 2 months to dry out but I live in Northern Michigan and the temps were not optimal in march and april .

[mac87toy]

So..........

I pulled the top trim piece and the lower jackplate bolts. They were slimy and had very little sealant on them as well as just being loose in general. I have heat lamps on it and going to leave it be for a couple weeks while I wait on other parts to come in. Once it's time to put things back together i will re-seal the crap out of everything and run it. Once duck/deer/elk/antelope season comes around again i'll pull it all back off and re-evaluate and go from there. I really hope that i'm not selling a diamond and getting into a lump of coal. guess you could say ignorance is bliss, because now that i know i'll worry constantly about it. Only thing i've ever owned as nice as my boats is my wife (she knows i say this and allows it in front of my friends). I am super nit picky about keeping it clean and mending any small things that come up, frayed carpet, loose wires, just all around work hard to keep it nice, clean and cared for so it does the same for me on the water. Still super excited to be in the 203, if need be i'll suck it up and get the transom replaced, but gosh dang i hope thats a long ways away!

[Surr]

Replaced my transom in my 181 a year ago. Never had a problem, just found out was wet when pulled the motor. Had Championship Marine and repair in Spokane Mo. do the work. Tom is a honest guy and really knows his Champs. Replaced with Coosa board, said its stronger than when it was built. Fished all last year with it, never know it was replaced, looks that good.

[mohawkman]

Pat's sdvice is the expert...and properly dry out a transom that is not yet oatmeal..... is a shop-specialized operation taking your engine off, and cracking that top cap up to get to the top edge of that transom board that is typically bare in Champion 203s... totally bare. I know few people that can safely take off an engine on a jack and remove the top cap a bit to let air into the top board.... Its damn hard to get water out of a transom board... maybe have a shop do it for you over the winter ?

Not to high jack this thread, but speaking from experience.... if you or any prior owner of an old fiberglass boat has ever had the boat out in down pours of rain for a day hear, a day there... with the drain plug IN and no auto bildge.... over 20 years of having this happen a year hear a year there... your foam will be soaked throughout the boat. That moisture does get through the stringer system over the years over time... it just does.... My point ? You have to be very weary and accept such risks that you cannot really inspect when you buy a 20 year old fiberglass boat. I love my 203 but mine was never garaged and it takes a toll on a wood transom and wood stringer system over 20 years... just does. Good luck with your new boat. It sounds like a nice one and what i'm saying is likely not your situation but most of the folks on this forum do not talk about wet foam and i would say that most non-garaged 20 year old fiberglass boats are foam waterlogged like you wouldn't imagine till you get in there and see some which i have. That water just doesn't come out once it gets in the foam.. and it can progress into your transom support stringers too. ... and why some of these old Champions have a very hard time breaking above 65mph :)

[190SCR]

Before you think your boat is full of water because of it's age you should weigh it first before thinking all your foam is water logged.
I weighed my 98 202 DC this week with nothing but an empty gas tank, carpet and the pos rite hite that is still on there and had a total weight of 1554lbs after subtracting my trailer weight...With that weight I am good to go with a 7" Rapid Jack Magnum with the 1" spacer mounts for the Power Pole brackets will give me 8" total set back for a bran new 200ish SHO...

[mohawkman]

Before you think your boat is full of water because of it's age you should weigh it first before thinking all your foam is water logged.
I weighed my 98 202 DC this week with nothing but an empty gas tank, carpet and the pos rite hite that is still on there and had a total weight of 1554lbs after subtracting my trailer weight...With that weight I am good to go with a 7" Rapid Jack Magnum with the 1" spacer mounts for the Power Pole brackets will give me 8" total set back for a bran new 200ish SHO...

My point was that non-garaged 20 year old boats that are wood stringer based are like finding a 1954 chevy with no rust...... the people that own the boat needed to have cherry treated the boat for the life. I personally have driven home from tournaments on a Sunday night and just drove the boat and truck into driveway... left it parked at night with plug in and power off..... bam! 3" of rain over night and my plug was in...... 5 hours later i take the plug out when i wake up..... do that to an old boat every few years and it aint good.... ANY crack/entry anywhere in your stringer system.... that water is there for life.... that's all i'm saying.... alot of us can't park our boats in garages and you need to be very disciplined maintaining a dry boat for 20 years.. and all those that owned your boat prior.. not you per se... just commenting.. its just an opinion from my experience not saying it is yours

[190SCR]

My point was that non-garaged 20 year old boats that are wood stringer based are like finding a 1954 chevy with no rust...... the people that own the boat needed to have cherry treated the boat for the life. I personally have driven home from tournaments on a Sunday night and just drove the boat and truck into driveway... left it parked at night with plug in and power off..... bam! 3" of rain over night and my plug was in...... 5 hours later i take the plug out when i wake up..... do that to an old boat every few years and it aint good.... ANY crack/entry anywhere in your stringer system.... that water is there for life.... that's all i'm saying.... alot of us can't park our boats in garages and you need to be very disciplined maintaining a dry boat for 20 years.. and all those that owned your boat prior.. not you per se... just commenting.. its just an opinion from my experience not saying it is yours

that's why I said "Before" just pointing out that a scale never lies...but yours could be broken...ha ha ha, I always liked that line for guys that claim 5's are 6's lol...but seriously, if you want to know if there are hidden issues use a scale...I happen to have a truck scale where I haul stone out of that I can roll up on and get a weight over the phone and I know probably not possible for some without a lot of effort but it can be done if you look into it...then you know if you have problems...if your hull is supposed to weigh around 1550 and weighs closer to 1800, that's bad!

[mohawkman]

that's why I said "Before" just pointing out that a scale never lies...but yours could be broken...ha ha ha, I always liked that line for guys that claim 5's are 6's lol...but seriously, if you want to know if there are hidden issues use a scale...I happen to have a truck scale where I haul stone out of that I can roll up on and get a weight over the phone and I know probably not possible for some without a lot of effort but it can be done if you look into it...then you know if you have problems...if your hull is supposed to weigh around 1550 and weighs closer to 1800, that's bad!

Agree...