I bought a used 19' 1993 Stratos 280 SF with a 1993 Johnson 150 in July.
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It was my first fiberglass boat and I have been learning some lessons. Lesson # 1 is, always get an expert opinion when you aren't sure. I had noticed some stress cracks in the transom when I was buying the boat, but didn't think it was a big deal. Later I went to the mechanic who had serviced the boat and he asked me if the seller told me about the bad transom. I was pissed. I knew the price was too good to be true. Anyway, that's water under the bridge. Fast forward a few months. I've replaced the powerpack and rebuilt the carbs, replaced the livewell valves and cables, upgraded the trolling motor to a 24v model and taken the family out a few times (cautiously).
After lots of research, I decided that I want to do a full "cap off" rebuild on the transom. I've never done fiberglass or any real boat maintenance but I've been reading and watching how-to's and I'm ready to get rolling. I've got 2 small kids, so most of my work will be after work for a few hours.
My first challenge was removing the motor. I decided to buy a shop crane/hoist to get it off. I picked up a 1-ton unit from Harbor Freight on sale with a 20% off coupon. It only took all night to get it together. Next, I pulled the motor, which wasn't too bad. Since I will need the crane for the cap removal, needed to get the motor off of the crane so I built a motor stand out of a bunch of spare wood I had laying around. After a couple hours, I threw in the towel on using the stand and picked up an engine stand from Harbor Freight the next day. That still didn't go so well. I ended up lay the motor on the ground, raise the crane up on boards enough to clear the engine stand, then pick the motor back up and mount it.
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After removing the motor, I was astonished at how bad the transom really was. I cut a small strip of the cap off to see inside and it made my heart sink. I couldn't believe that someone would sell a boat in this bad of shape and that I could have had my family on it when the motor flew off. Anyway, good thing I listened to some of you guys and decided to rebuild it. So that's where I am at this point. I will be unhooking everything and removing as much stuff from the boat as I can. I plan to remove the carpet to make it easier to find attachment points. Per Stratos support, I know that the floor is glued to the hull and bulkheads, so I'm still not sure how much access I will have underneath to cut everything free without actually cutting the floor up.
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Anyway, I wanted to get this thread going and will post more as I make progress. I'm certainly open to any suggestions or comments.