How many of you have really checked your transoms?

[grout-scout]

So I've been fighting this water issue on my 2005 198 and I finally got around to pulling everything through hull fitting, both tie downs, aerator, jackplate bolts and top cap trim plate.

Here's what I've found.

5 screws missing under the trim cap, (this is the piece by the motor on the transom).

No screws sealed with anything.

Holes between the topcap and bottom cap where it wasn't sealed very well.

Bottom 2 jackplate bolts were sealed, top 2 bolts were NOT sealed.

Tie downs had a little silicone around them, nothing in the holes.

I have a hard time believing that a boat could have left the factory this way, but I have no reason to believe that it did not either.

I've been thinking about this since the thread the other day where the motor was ripped off. My buddy has a 190 with the brown ooze and there's another member fighting this issue. Get this checked guys!

[druthomas]

If it's the original silicone it doesn't surprise me at all. It shrinks and degrades over time. I slopped it on my 184's a$$ end last year and as long as I have a wood transom I will probably do it every 2-3 years.

[Collin C.]

About 5 years ago on my 98 202 I striped everything off transom, every trough hull fitting, hull ID tag, tie down hooks, etc.... nothing was left on back of boat. Mine was wet due to someone not sealing bolt holes up good on jack plate. Set up some heat lamps and cooked it for 3 weeks, then put it all back together with some 3m 5200 (big mistake). It did not adear well on some spots you could lift it up with you finger nail, other spots acted like epoxy.

It was a big pain removing jackplate again, it would not budge with all bolts out. I could jump on it all I wanted, finally got it loose and lost some gel behind jackplate had use some white marine Tex. You can't see it cause it's covered with jackplate. I took things back off since I had used the boat a few months, put lights on it again. Bought some 3m 4200 and sealed it all up. I watch my transom a lot since it was wet.

[Milo30]

I know on mine, it really didn't show any signs. Well it did show a stain coming from under the motor mount but not from around the bolts. My motor has the oil reservoir on the engine and they are known for the cap leaking. I didn't know that at first and completely filled it in the beginning and dealt with oil running down when it was tilted. I thought the stain, because of it's location was where the oil had dripped from the motor to the bracket and then ran down the hull. It had seemed to dry and I never saw any more signs. When I disassembled the motor, I found that area to have a crack where it had been crushed by the mount in the past. Once the motor was pulled, it was obvious that it was a stain coming out of the crack. I also found one on the other side of the mount but it did not show any signs of leaking. The top of the transom was also showing delamination once the engine was pulled and the aluminum cap was removed. This too was invisible while everything was bolted up. Last year we had seen signs of a leak at the drain so we had changed out all of the thru hull fittings down there. We had checked it while it was opened up and did not observe any signs of dampness or rot. The transom had no flex in it and sounded solid when testing it with a rubber mallet. If water had not of run out of the engine bolt hole when I was trying to attach a Talon, I would have just put everything back together and had no idea that I had an issue until the transom broke away one day. It appeared to have been resealed recently but it looked like they had just used silicone and had not done a very good job of it. The boat never took on a drop of water that came out of the drain hole.

I was pretty confident after buying the boat that I was in good shape with the transom. Having had a transom issue in the past on a previous boat, it was something that I really checked out or thought that I had. The previous owner had the boat detailed before I saw it so the only visible stain had been cleaned off the hull. Now, I bet most boats out there have some sort of issue in the transom.

[Bruce2]

I redid my transom year and 1/2 ago with seacast...mine was rotted out really bad.

[1bluemcm]

I just got my jack plate back on mine. Took my time, planned everything out, ran though the step a couple of times and I think it came out ok. I put a sufficient bead of 4200 around each hole, inside and out. I didn't put any sealant in the holes, didn't want to get it on the bolt threads, but I put my beads pretty close to the edge of each hole. I ran all the bolts from the inside to the rear, and that allowed me to get the jack plate on the bolts by myself one time with no screw ups. I debated about which way to run the lower bolts, finally after a lot of searching I decided it wouldn't matter since I could reach them to hold them while tightening the nuts. Even though I have a seacast transom, I used 3/8" thick plates under the bolt heads on the inside. Very well might be overkill, figured it couldn't hurt though and I had the material laying around. After the rebuild work, the inner surface around the lower bolt holes was not totally flat, so I flattened the area with some sanding to get a nice flat surface for the backer plates. Torqued it down, no cracking sounds or anything out of the ordinary, should be good to go. Hope I didn't miss anything....

[ANDYE]

On my 06 166 Elite, this winter I pulled the top cap and resealed with 4200, no problem that I saw. There was a oops hole drilled in the top of the glass. Pulled the bottom jack plate bolts, 1 at a time. Ran a brass bore brush through em, literally there was dust coming out. Still , ran a heater on each hole for a week, just so I could say I did. resealed with 4200/ Didn't pull the top bolts. There was a little stain showing at the drain outlet, on the outside. I'm thinkin it's from a dirty bilge area. Put a new bilge pump in, and some new hoses. Cleaned the bilge area pretty good . Will see if that clears up the stain.

[ANDYE]

06 188 Elite

[1bluemcm]

06 should have a composite transom, yes? Still good that it was dry.

[FastBird]

My experience with my 89 201 was pretty close to the same as the OP. No sealant on anything. My transom was wet, but dried out nicely with heat lamps. Transom appears to be solid. Ive put 2 hard years on it. So far, knock on some major wood, all is good.

[grout-scout]

1bluemcm, nice job there! What does the hose/fitting on the step go to?

[1bluemcm]

That's the bottom end of the splash well drain.

[Royjulius]

I have called a few places around here to get mine done so I don't have to do it myself, (reseal the bolts) and everyone asks "why would you need to do that?" Which leads me to believe that it prolly won't be done right. I'm working 6 days a week now for a while. I wish I could find someone in my area to do my bolts so I could have it done before I go fishing.

[MMosher]

It's a 15 minute job, 1/2 hour max. Just do one bolt at a time (unless ya have a lift).

I have called a few places around here to get mine done so I don't have to do it myself, (reseal the bolts) and everyone asks "why would you need to do that?" Which leads me to believe that it prolly won't be done right. I'm working 6 days a week now for a while. I wish I could find someone in my area to do my bolts so I could have it done before I go fishing.

[grout-scout]

My buddy has a 95 - 190 elite and I showed him this weekend that water was dripping out of both his tie downs. He wants to deny a issue with this and I'm reminded him about his motor falling off into the water someday. He just kind of shrugs it off...

Guys, don't be an ostrich with your head in the sand. This is a real issue and it affects all of us at some point, if you keep a boat for long periods of time.

[champ210]

I've got a couple buddies like that too. I always do preventative type maintenance on the boat,motor and trailer in the winter. They always do none. Erks me but I just never go with them in there boat. One guy wont even take the time to put tie downs on his batteries. Just Dumb. And he's had them bounce up and short out.

[Royjulius]

It's a 15 minute job, 1/2 hour max. Just do one bolt at a time (unless ya have a lift).

I guess I could try that. I did already buy some 4200.....

[magnumb]

Is 4200 the best bet for holes that already have residual silicone?

[Lea]

grout...I sure hope your buddy doesn't wind up with the motor in his lap!!!!! That is just plain foolish!!!!

[Lea]

Is 4200 the best bet for holes that already have residual silicone?

Clean out the residual before sealing anew!!!!